Pansy Topped Shortbread Cookies
Buttery shorbread cookies topped with fresh pansies
Ingredients
- cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) at room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- Optional you could add lemon zest to the dough
- 30 Assorted fresh pansies approximately 30 flowers, Best to use homegrown pansies to avoid pesticides (I just used flowers from the garden center)
Instructions
Make Shorbread
- Put the sugar and soft butter into the bowl of a mixer or food processor and combine completely.
- Add the flour and extract, and mix just until the dough comes together into a lump.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and bring together into a smooth flat disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm enough to roll, about 2 hours.
Prepare Pansies
- Remove the stems from the pansies, and place them on a large sheet of paper towels or waxed paper. Place another sheet on top, and then weigh it down with a baking tray or other large flat surface, topped with several heavy books. Let the pansies press for at least 30 minutes, or overnight if you like.
Bake the cookies and top with pansies
- Preheat the oven to 325FRoll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness and cut out with a cookie cutter. Use a 2 1/2 inch cutter.Bake the cookies for 9-11 minutes, depending on thickness. Your cookies will not brown, they will be pale and soft when done.Remove the tray from the oven and gently press the flat pansies onto the hot cookies, pressing slightly to adhere the flowers to the cookies. Don’t press too hard, the heat of the cookies will do the job. Sprinkle lightly with granulated sugar. Let the cookies cool completely on a rack.Note: the cookies will be soft when they come out of the oven, but will firm up as they cool.