Empire Cookies...a favourite

Empire Cookies

From what I’ve read, empire cookies originated in Germany and are a form of linzer cookie (the ones with the cut out on top and various jams inside). Later they were adopted in other countries in various forms, but they are basically supposed to look like a little crown. 

This is one of my favourite simple cookies. I use the same cookie dough recipe for special holidays. I cut them out with seasonal cookie cutters, and decorate accordingly. In this case, I don’t double them up and I make the individual cookies a bit thicker. 

Basically, these are a sugar cookie and pretty easy. My original recipe came from Canadian Living, but I have made some adaptations as necessary over the years and they're my "go to" emergency cookie.

I prefer smaller cookies, because I’m a dainty person, and because after the effort, I want them to last for a few minutes before they all get eaten. I think that most recipes are similar, and when I google the photos, most look like mine.

The last time I made these cookies was in Atlanta, Christmas 2019 while visiting my daughter. I worked with what I had because there was no rolling pin, and none were available at stores. In the words of one sales person, “What do you use those for?” 

We did manage to find a vast array of cookie cutters on sale and there was one which I found suitable, roundish with wiggly edges, although regular round, or a small juice glass will work as well.

Ingredients                                                                          

1/2 cup butter, softened                                                        

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg                                                                                     

1 tsp. vanilla                                                                         

2 cups flour                                                                           

1 tsp. baking powder     

Filling & Topping

raspberry jam (for inside cookie)

1 cup icing sugar

1/4 tsp. almond extract

2 tsp. hot water approx. (add more by drops if necessary)

maraschino or candied cherries

Directions

Cream butter and sugar together until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder and add gradually to creamed mixture. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough quite thin because, don’t forget they get doubled. Cut into rounds. Place on parchment paper or ungreased baking sheet.

Hint - I usually use a large cafeteria type tray to sprinkle flour and roll out the dough. This saves a lot of mess, and clean up later.

Bake 325 for about 7-10 minutes for small, or 10 minutes if you made larger ones. My oven runs hot. Don’t let them get brown...just a bit at the edges. Let cool. Spread half the cookies with raspberry jam.

Combine icing sugar, almond extract and enough water for a thin icing...start with less and add lest it get too runny. Frost tops of cookies. Put a small piece of cherry on top. I usually cut about 3 or 4 cherries into bits and dry them on a paper towel (not drying them will make the red bleed into the icing). Size of cookie cutter determines how many you get. I usually have a couple dozen.

What can I say...no rolling pin? Use a liquor bottle. Only problem is that it’s hard to get the dough really smooth and even harder to get all the dough off the bottle.

I'm not too fussy so they never look perfect. They still taste the same.