Saturday, May 16, 2009

Decorate Cookies Like the Pros... Cheating :P

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I’ve always admired how people can take a simple sugar cookie and transform it into a work of art. Some of the creations are absolutely beautiful. I’d love to be able to do even 1% of what they do, but I can’t :(. I’m taking it up as a challenge, and WILL decorate cookies with royal icing at some point of time.
But until then , I’m going to rely on TRIOS – I love them. They are my favourite thing to take to a party, because people can’t stop gushing about the cuteness :D And an added bonus is that I love looking at them, too.
I first made trios when I had to take something to a party, and decided it was time to take something that didn’t involve chocolate, and looked great too. I’d seen the recipe around a lot, and it was on top of my to try list. I’ve made it manyy times since, and everytime I just marvel at how easy they are. After making it a few times, I can have them ready in about 2 hours [from making the dough, to them being ready to eat] – a far cry from the *almost* 5 hours that I took the first time,

TRIOS
Adapted from gourmet

yield: Makes about 3 1/2 dozen cookies
Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
About 2 tablespoons seedless raspberry jam
About 2 tablespoons apricot preserves
About 2 tablespoons strawberry preserves [Use any 3 jams you have handy, just make sure they aren't too similar colorwise]
Equipment: a 1/2-inch-thick wooden spoon handle or dowel


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Instructions -
Make dough:
1. Cream butter and sugar using a mixer until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating in between additions. Beat vanilla in.
2. Sift together the flour and salt. Add in 3 parts to the butter mixture.
3. Wrap dough in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, or atleast 1 hour.

Assemble and bake cookies:
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Roll 3 separate level teaspoons of dough each into a ball, then flatten each ball slightly (to 1 inch wide and less than 1/2 inch thick). Arrange them in a triangle on baking sheet with edges touching in center, then make a deep indentation in center of each round with wooden spoon handle. Make more cookies, arranging them 1 inch apart on baking sheets.
Fill each indentation with jam, using a teaspoon. - I found it much easier to cut a hole in a bag and pipe it out. Make sure not to overfill. You might want to try a few first, to get the exact amount.
Bake until cookies are baked through and golden-brown on edges, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on baking sheets 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.


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13 comments:

  1. Those look awesome and I've actually never seen or heard of them before--single thumbprint cookies, yes, but not trios!

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  2. Thanks Katrina. I like these much more than single thumbprints, it takes almost the same effort, but the results are much prettier. Ofcourse, you can always make them as single, double or even quadruplets.. :)

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  3. These cookies are very cute!!! I think I will make these for my daughters b-day party. Thanks!

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  4. Oh my goodness! These trios are absolutely fabulous! I've yet to try my hand at royal icing, but who needs all of that mess when you can have a gorgeous, sophisticated trio? Great job!

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  5. Cate - Thank you :)

    April - You must, they'l love it. Also try stained glass cookies, they'l just take 5 more minutes of your time.

    Elyse- Thanks so much. Royal icing is also on my must try list, hopefully I'll be posting about it soon :)

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  6. those are so cute!

    a foil tent is when you take some aluminnum foil and cut out a piece larger than your loaf (or pie or whatever). then just slightly crease it into a tent shape so it covers your baked good to keep it from over browning.

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  7. Jaime - Thank you so much for coming over and explaining it to me :)

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  8. these look very professional :) really nice and yummy

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  9. These are soooo cute! You did a wonderful job. I hope I'll get time to try them soon. Glad I stumbled on your blog!!

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