Giant Linzer “Shooting Star” Cookie
Makes: 1 giant 6-inch Linzer cookie and 6 small “stardust” cookies. Optionally, you can simply cut out identical-sized cookies, and this recipe will yield about 6 - 7 Linzer cookie sandwiches (12 - 14 individual cookies), approximately 2"-inch across in size.
One giant shooting star and little bits of stardust, all in the form of lavender shortbread cookies...doesn’t get prettier (I mean tastier) than that, right?
Ingredients
GROUP A: LAVENDER SHORTBREAD
1/2 cup AP flour
1 tbsp almond flour
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1/4 cup softened butter
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp culinary lavender
GROUP B: LEMON ICING
1 tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp whole milk
Violet coloured gel food dye (optional)
GROUP C: TOPPINGS
Orange marmalade
Powdered sugar
Method
Shortbread cookies: Preheat oven to 320 F. Beat the softened butter on high speed till it’s creamy. Add the sugar, salt, and vanilla, then beat again to a creamy consistency till everything is well combined. Sift and gradually add both the flours and the lavender, mixing the dough at every addition, till it comes together and forms a uniform ball. Flatten the dough into a disc, cover in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 20 minutes.
Dust your working surface with flour and roll the chilled dough into a 1/4” thick sheet. Cut out 2 giant star-shaped cookies approximately 5” to 6” across, with a mold (or use a knife to free-hand it). In one of the giant cookies, cut out a small star shape in the center, using a tiny mold. Use the remaining dough scraps to roll out a new sheet and cut out tiny cookies, till all the dough is over.
Transfer to a parchment-lined baking tray, and bake for 8 - 10 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to turn a light brown. Take them out of the oven and let the cookies cool completely on a wire rack before decorating.
Lemon icing: Mix all the Group B ingredients to form a smooth, slightly thick icing. Divide the mixture in half and to one half, add a tiny bit of violet food dye, and mix well. Transfer each icing mixture into its own separate piping bag (or simply use sandwich bags as a cheaper alternative), snip off the tips of the bags, and decorate the giant cookie with the cut-out in it, as well as all the tiny cookies.
Assembly: Turn the other non-decorated giant cookie over on its face and add dollops of marmalade to the center, spreading it slightly into the corners. Place the other giant cookie over it, dust with powdered sugar if you’d like, and voila! One ginormous Linzer cookie star with tiny little cookies of stardust, is all ready for the taking.
