Description
Delight in these charming Piped Butter Bow Cookies, featuring a buttery, slightly salty, and crisp shortbread texture. Perfectly pink and beautifully piped into bow shapes, these cookies are easy to make with soft butter and a simple dough that's great for baking and decorating. Ideal for tea time or gifting, these cookies combine elegance with irresistible flavor.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookie Dough
- 1 cup butter (very soft but not melted)
- ¾ cup powdered sugar (or icing sugar)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- pink food coloring (as needed)
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour (300 g)
- 3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream (or milk)
Instructions
- Preheat Oven and Prepare Baking Sheets: Preheat the oven to 355°F (180°C) and line cookie sheets with parchment paper to prevent sticking.
- Soften the Butter: Use very soft butter that is easy to press with your finger but not melted into liquid. Softer butter makes the dough easier to pipe.
- Mix Butter and Sugar: In a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the very soft butter and powdered sugar, mixing with an electric mixer just until combined.
- Add Flavor and Color: Mix in the vanilla extract, sea salt, and pink food coloring. Add enough coloring to achieve your desired shade, noting that the color will lighten slightly once flour is added.
- Add Flour and Cream: Incorporate the all-purpose flour into the butter mixture and mix until the dough begins to come together, then add the heavy cream and mix just until a soft dough forms.
- Prepare Piping Bag: Transfer the dough immediately into a piping bag fitted with a coupler and a small open star piping tip. For better support, use two disposable piping bags, one inserted into the other, to prevent tearing as the dough can be stiff.
- Pipe Bow Shapes: Pipe bow-shaped cookies onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. If the dough is hard to pipe, gently massage it in the bag or warm it with a hair dryer to soften evenly.
- Freeze Before Baking: Freeze the piped dough for 10 minutes to set the shapes and help maintain their form during baking.
- Bake Cookies: Bake one sheet at a time in the center of the oven for 8 minutes, or until the bottom of the cookies is slightly golden.
- Cool Cookies: Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for several minutes before handling, as they firm up upon cooling, ensuring they retain their shape.
Notes
- Use very soft, not melted, butter for best piping results.
- Double piping bags and couplers prevent breaking when piping stiff dough.
- If the dough is too stiff to pipe, warm it slightly with a hair dryer or massage it in the bag to soften.
- Freezing the dough before baking helps maintain the cookie shapes.
- These buttery, slightly salty shortbread cookies are perfect for decorating into bows or other shapes.
- The pink food coloring intensity can be adjusted to preference; it lightens slightly after flour is added.
- Cool cookies on the baking sheet to firm them up before moving.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 82 kcal
- Sugar: 2 g
- Sodium: 66 mg
- Fat: 5 g
- Saturated Fat: 3 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 1.2 g
- Trans Fat: 0.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 8 g
- Fiber: 0.2 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Cholesterol: 13 mg
