Butter cookies are usually found on every cookie platter for several reasons – they are delicious, and pretty much everyone loves them. These are completely egg-free, but they are still very soft, rich, buttery, and delicious, and perfect for the afternoon tea, or with a cup of caffè macchiato. They are also pretty amazing on their own, right off the baking tray, still slightly warm.
After chilling, the dough should seem just ever so slightly tacky, but should not stick to your hands, and you should be able to easily form little pink spheres. That being said, if you wish to make them more intense in colour, feel free to add more red food colouring, or on the other side, feel free to completely omit it, they will be just as good. If serving these to children, you can replace the liqueur with strawberry cordial (squash).
Ingredients
200 grams plain flour
120 grams icing sugar
4 levelled tablespoons cornflour
120 grams butter, softened
4 tablespoons freeze-dried strawberries
3 tablespoons strawberry liqueur
2 drops strawberry red food colouring
Preparation
Sift together the flour, icing sugar, and cornflour twice. Set it aside for the time being. Place the softened butter in a large bowl, add in the freeze-dried strawberries, and blend with an electric mixer on high, until the butter is smooth. Add the food colouring (if using), and blend really well. Sift in half of the dry ingredients, and mix with an electric mixer on low, until crumbly, then add the rest of the dry ingredients, along with the strawberry liqueur, and blend completely. The dough will look sticky at this point, but that is fine.
Cover the top with cling film, and place the bowl in the refrigerator for about an hour. When ready to make the cookies, line a large cookie sheet with baking paper, take out tablespoons of chilled dough, and arrange them a few centimetres apart, because they will spread a bit whilst baking. If you want to have a flatter cookie, press them slightly with your palm. Bake them in a preheated oven, at 180˚C (350˚F), for 10-12 minutes. They will be very soft when you take them out of the oven, but they will firm up and sink a bit as they cool down. Yields 20 cookies.
