I was so excited to participate in the First (Annual?) Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap this year! This online event took off with amazing speed, and resulted in more than 22,000 delicious being shipped all over the world! Pretty amazing, right??
Of course, after signing up I immediately went into planning mode as to what to make. Obviously, it had to be something delicious, and the requirements stated that it had to be a recipe not previously posted on my blog, and it had to travel well and still taste fresh 2-3 days later due to shipping time. With the help of my mom, I decided on these Empire Cookies!
Empire Cookies were kind of a funny choice for me for a couple of reasons. I cannot over-express my love for cookies, but I’m all about drop cookies – quick, easy, and addictive. These cookies require rolling of dough, which is definitely not my forte. I also don’t like jam, and these cute little numbers sandwich a layer of jam.
So what was I thinking? Why would I make a cookie like this to send around the country?? Well, it turns out they are rather delicious, and jam is not so bad when it’s spread thinly between two delicious cookies. And really, two cookies in one? You all know I’m gonna be down for that.
I may also have been influenced by the fact that my mom and her fabulous rolling skills were going to be staying at my house (they shared a bed), and, as an avid and talented baker, she was easy to enlist into my schemes. She even brought her cookie cutters all the way from Ontario to help me out!
She also had the patience to let a little one help with the process (don’t worry, her hands were clean :)). To be perfectly honest, I can’t even call this a group effort; this was all them. I supervised, shouted opinions, toasted the coconut, and kept the 1-year-old a reasonable distance from trouble. That should count for something, right? As you can see, they had things totally under control, discussing the best course of action:
These cookies are also my mom’s recipe, inherited from her British ancestors, and it is a classic that will never go out of style. So if you have some time to roll some dough, these make an impressive, traditional, delicious addition to any holiday baking platter. They are equally delicious with vanilla, almond, or coconut extract, so feel free to choose your favourite! Garnish with toasted coconut, as we did, or an almond slice, candied cherry, or some festive (edible) glitter.
As for my end of the cookie swap, I received delicious cookies from 3 amazing women: Kristy, Meghan, and Sharana, and you should definitely check out their blogs to see what delicious cookies I enjoyed! They arrived in perfect staggered timing too – just as I finished one box, another arrived! I’m a little sad the pattern won’t be continuing. :)
I was thrilled to hear that all my cookies arrived safely and were well received, and a HUGE thanks goes out to our organizers, Lindsay and Julie, who shouted out the idea and then took on the massive task of matching people based on location, food allergies, etc., and who, despite the immense amount of work it must have been, are already talking about a next year!! If you’d like updates on what’s up for next year,or if you missed out this year and want to participate next time, you can sign up here to get those updates – I highly recommend joining the fun!
- ½ cup butter, softened
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp almond, vanilla, or coconut extract
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ⅓ cup raspberry jam
- Icing:
- 1 cup icing sugar
- ¼ tsp of whichever extract you used in the dough (almond, vanilla, or coconut)
- 1 Tbsp hot water (approx.)
- Preheat oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In large bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and extract. In separate bowl, whisk flour with baking powder. Stir into butter mixture in 2 additions to make a smooth dough.
- On lightly floured surface, roll dough to a scant ⅛" thickness. Using 1½" round cookie cutter, cut out shapes, re-rolling dough as necessary. Place on prepared cookie sheet - you can put them very close together as they do not expand much when baking. Bake 9-10 minutes, until lightly golden on edges. Transfer to racks to cool completely before adding jam and icing.
- In small bowl,combine icing ingredients, adding more hot water if necessary to make a thin, very spreadable icing. Spread over half the cookies - these will be the tops. Decorate each top as desired before icing sets.
- Spread remaining half of cookies with a thin layer of jam and sandwich with the tops. Let stand until icing is dry and jam is set before storing; about 3 hours.
I made these and they were excellent! I doubled the recipe and used a mixture of vanilla and almond extracts in the cookie and then almond extract in the icing. I found that the cookies only needed 7 minutes in the oven.
Funny, I had the cookies baking in a gas oven at Convection Bake for 10 min, and I had to add an extra 2 minutes. Good thing we have windows on our ovens ;)
Almond-vanilla-coconut-raspberry… wow, that’s a unique combination. Can’t wait to try it out!
Love the design of these cookies – similar to bottle caps!
These look great, and they are sooo pretty! Yum!
Oh my, these look killer good. I love the pictures. Especially the one of your daughter and Mom. Can I get all sentimental and say how jealous I am. I lost my Mom when I was a teenager so we don’t get these experiences. Me or my kids. So cherish those moments. Super jealous!
They are definitely cherished! My mom lives on the other side of the country from me so it is always a big deal when we can be together…thankful though that she is always just a phone call away. Thanks for the reminder.
Oh yum, these cookies look so good and your pictures are just beautiful!
Anna! What cute little cookies?? They do look traditional and also very elegant. Love it!!
Ahhh, I didn’t expect my picture in here. I was quite happy to let you take all the credit…and photo opportunities. But it was special baking with Gemma :) She is an excellent helper.
These look so pretty. I will have to send these to my mom. She always makes these cookies. I love how you used toasted coconut and not the candied cherry.
How many cookies does this make? I would love to make these, but I’m curious to see if I will have to double the recipe or not :)
Oh sorry, I will add the info! This only makes about 20 cookies once they are sandwiched – I doubled the recipe for the swap (to make 3 dozen) and had 6 left over.
You may have shipped them across the county…but unfortunately none made it to my house:) Any chance you are bringing these to the bake exchange tomorrow night? :)
Haha, sorry Joni! My mom wasn’t around to roll my dough for me ;) But the recipe I made tonight did make an appearance quite recently…that’s all the hints you get! ;)