Cooking Up a Hooley in the Kitchen: The Tastiest Little Cookies

Cooking Up a Hooley in the Kitchen
By Katie Gagne

~~ The Tastiest Little Cookie ~~

Our Christmas cookie platters are incomplete without this little gem each year.  My mother began making these light and flaky cookies when I was young. She would make dozens of these in early December and freeze them to have on hand for any party or holiday get-together. So sweet and crispy and buttery they are more like a tiny pastry.  The small, one-bite size is just perfect with tea. The dough and filling can be made several days ahead and refrigerated. The finished cookies store beautifully in the freezer. The dough and filling can be tinted different colors and using colored sugars adds a beautiful touch.

Swedish Crème Cookies

Makes 4 dozen cookies – 24 sandwiches

Ingredients

Dough

4 cups of Butter — softened to room temperature

1 1/3 cups of Heavy Whipping Cream

8 cups of All-Purpose Flour

1 1/3 cups Granulated Sugar

Filling

2 cups Butter – softened to room temperature

6 cups of Powdered Sugar

8 Egg Yolks

8 teaspoons Vanilla

For Dough

Beat butter with hand mixer or in stand mixer until fluffy.
Add in heavy whipping cream and flour and mix until a soft dough forms.
Turn out dough onto board or counter and form into several round disks.
Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and chill at least 2 hours.
(You can keep this refrigerator for several days or several weeks in the freezer)

Take dough out of refrigerator and allow to soften for 15 minutes.

Roll out dough to 1/8 inch on a floured surface.

Use a 2-inch cookie cutter to cut out shapes (You can use any shape you would like – I do circles and stars most frequently).

Dredge each cookie in granulated sugar that was placed in a shallow bowl.

Place each cookie on lined baking sheet and using a fork, poke each cookie 3 times. (This allows the steam to escape the cookie, so they are light and flaky.)

Sprinkle with colored sugar if desired.

Bake in a preheated 375* oven for 5-7 minutes until very lightly golden around the edges.  Be careful not to over-bake. They should still be mostly white when fully done.

Allow to cool.

For Filling

Beat Butter, Eggs Yolks, Powdered Sugar, and Vanilla together until creamy.

Add food coloring if desired to small batches. (I use red, green, and blue often.)

Put filling in pastry bag or baggie with tip cut off.

Pipe a small dollop of filling onto inside of a cookie and top with another one to make the sandwich.

Enjoy!!
*Katie Gagne teaches English at Trinity High School in Garfield Heights. She is also the owner of her in-home bakery Sassy’s Sweets and Oh So Much More. You can contact her at (440) 773-4459 or at [email protected].