I am so looking forward to a new year filled with having time with my family again. My husband and I had a full house for Christmas, and I must say, even though it was a lot of work, I totally enjoyed the chaos.
So I want to celebrate the coming new year with a champagne cookie and a fruit frosting. New Year's Eve parties are usually in dimly lit rooms just before midnight, so I wanted to make a cookie that would be the star of the show.
Champagne Cookies with Raspberry Buttercream Frosting
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Champagne and Fruit
First, when making these cookies go with your budget. Some champagnes can be expensive.
I like pairing sweet champagne with fruit. Where ever you shop for alcohol in your state, ask them for their selection of sweet champagnes. Then you can decide based on the price and recommendation from the shop owner.
Now for the fruit; I always liked strawberries or raspberries. They are classic and, quite frankly, the easiest to make into a buttercream frosting.
Probably the easiest test is to pick a champagne brand, crack it open and do a taste test using a little bit of champagne with each fruit you are thinking about using. This way, you will know firsthand which fruit works best with your chosen champagne.
Ingredients You Will Need
Champagne Reduction
- Champagne
Raspberry Puree
- Raspberries
Champagne Cookies
- Butter unsalted
- Sugar white
- Egg
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Kosher Salt
- Champagne reduction
Raspberry Buttercream Frosting
- Butter unsalted
- Powdered sugar
- Raspberry puree
- Sprinkles
Making Champagne Cookies
To get any champagne taste from your cookies, you need to make the champagne taste stronger. This is achieved by boiling out the water and alcohol. This will concentrate the flavor.
Champagne Reduction
Add the champagne to a small saucepan.
When you first add the champagne to the saucepan, it is light in color. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Turn the temperature to medium once it has come to a boil.
As you boil out the water, it becomes a rich darker red. Keep boiling until you have about ¼ cup left in the saucepan. This could take about 20 to 30 minutes.
See the difference between the jar on the left, which is champagne right out of the bottle, and the right jar, which is the ¼ cup reduction. This will have a much stronger taste. Even at this strength, it is still a subtle flavor in the baked cookies.
Mixing the Cookies Dough
Weigh your sugar and set it aside. Next, weigh your flour, baking powder, and salt into another bowl, running a whisk through to blend.
Add the butter and sugar to your mixer bowl and mix on medium-high for 3 to 4 minutes. You want the butter sugar to become a lighter color and the mixture to look fluffy.
Now add the egg and the champagne reduction and blend. Next, I scrape down the bowl and slowly add the flour mixture. The cookie dough will have a slightly pink color from the champagne.
Shape and Chill the Cookie Dough
Take the cookie dough in the mixer bowl and place it onto a pastry mat. You want to incorporate any flour that may not have been mixed. It is always better to finish mixing the flour by hand or with a spatula instead of incorporating every last bit of flour using the mixer for a longer time.
You cannot overbeat butter and sugar, but you can overbeat the flour. Knead the dough until all the flour is blended into the dough and you have a round shape.
Divide the dough in half. You want to flatten it into a round disk. This will make it easier to roll out later.
Time for the plastic wrap!
I lay the plastic wrap sheet on top of the cookie dough disk and then tuck the end of the plastic wrap under the top part of the disk I pull up. Then I can wrap the underside of the disk.
Once you have both halves wrapped in plastic wrap, then off to the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Cookie Cutter Stars
Since I wanted the cookies to be ¼" thick, I used the next to the smallest star in size. I didn't want them too big. I found the star set at the Webstaurant Store online.
To achieve the ¼" cookies, I used ¼" bands at the end of my rolling pin. They come out perfect every time.
I placed 12 stars on a parchment-lined cookie sheet pan and baked them at 350°F (175°C or 180°C) for 7-9 minutes.
Raspberry Buttercream Frosting
Rinse off the raspberries and place them in a food processor, or you can use a blender. I turned the food processor on and let it run for 30 seconds. Next, I poured the raspberry mixture into a strainer with a bowl under it to capture the raspberry juice. The goal is to get all the juice into the bowl and not any of the seeds.
In a mixer, add the butter and mix for a few minutes. Now add the powdered sugar and the raspberry puree. Start the mixer on the lowest speed until the powdered sugar has incorporated with the butter. Next, I scrape down the sides to get everything into the bottom of the bowl.
Now turn the mixer to medium-high speed and mix for 4 to 5 minutes.
When I was developing this recipe, I wanted the raspberry buttercream because it is a great frosting to add flavor to, unlike royal icing. But with buttercream, the frosting is harder to frost those stars. But they look so cute.....
I mix the sprinkles I will add on top of my stars in a bowl.
Frost the tops of the cookies and add your favorite sprinkles.
Storage
These cookies can be stored in an air-tight container, and they will stay soft for at least seven days. The buttercream frosting stays as flavorful as the day you frosted the cookies.
Other Cookies To Try
Recipe
Champagne Cookies with Raspberry Buttercream Frosting
Barbara HallIngredients
Champagne Reduction
- 1 ½ cups Champagne
Raspberry Puree
- 12 Ounces Raspberries
Champagne Cookies
- 1 cup Butter unsalted
- 1 cup Sugar white
- 1 Egg
- 3 cups All-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons Baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 3 ½ Tablespoons Champagne reduction
Raspberry Buttercream Frosting
- ½ cup Butter unsalted
- 2 cups Powdered sugar
- 4 Tablespoons Raspberry puree
- ½ cup Sprinkles
Instructions
Champagne Reduction
- I used Korbel Sweet Rose, but you can use whatever champagne you prefer that pairs nicely with either raspberries or strawberries. Add the champagne to a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once it is boiling, reduce the heat to a medium but still have a soft boil.
- As you boil the champagne, it will get darker and reduce in volume. You want the champagne to reduce to about a ¼ cup. Once reduced, I add the champagne to a glass jar and put it in the refrigerator to cool.
Raspberry Puree
- I used raspberries, but you could also use strawberries if you prefer. First, rinse the raspberries and add them to a food processor or blender. I let my food processor run for 30 seconds to ensure they are blended before adding the smushed raspberry to a strainer. Next, take a spoon and go back and forth in the strainer so that just the raspberry juice goes into the container below the strainer. You don't want the raspberry seeds.
Champagne Cookies
- Weigh or measure the sugar and set it aside. Next, weigh or measure the flour, baking powder, and salt in another bowl. Finally, I run a whisk through to blend.
- Add the butter and sugar to your mixer bowl and blend on medium mixer speed for 3 or 4 minutes. Now add the egg and the champagne reduction and mix. Scrape down the bowl sides turn the mixer on to a slow speed, and gradually add the flour mixture. Don't overbeat; you can bring any small pieces or loose flour together once you place the dough on the pastry mat.
- Once the cookie dough is placed onto the pastry mat, you can knead the dough until all the dough is together into a large disk shape. Next, divide the dough in half. Take each half and make a flat round disk. Next, you want to wrap each disk in plastic wrap. Place both wrapped disks into the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes.
- Take the dough out of the fridge and unwrap one of the disks. Place the disk on a lightly floured surface. I have bands on the ends of my rolling pin for ¼" thickness, which is the perfect thickness for your cookies. The star shape cookie cutter I used was 3 ¼" across from point to point. It was the next to the smallest size of the 4 in the Wilton Cookie Cutter star pack.
- Roll out the dough, place 12 cutout stars on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake at 350°F (175°C or 180°C) for 7-9 minutes. Then, move to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
Raspberry Buttercream Frosting
- After your cookies have completely cooled, you can start the frosting. First, add the butter to a mixer and mix for about a minute. Next, add the powdered sugar and the raspberry puree. Start on a low mixer speed and gradually increase the speed until you reach a medium-high speed. Mix for 4 to 5 minutes.
- Now you have choices on how you want the frosting on your cookies. You can do as I did and use a knife, or add the frosting to a piping bag and pipe the frosting onto the cookies. I thought about piping the frosting but could not decide on a tip, so I just used a knife. Finally, I added my sprinkles to a bowl and mixed them before adding them to the top of each cookie.
NUTRITION DISCLAIMER
I am not a certified Dietitian or Nutritionist. The nutrition amounts given below are provided through a program and are only a guideline.
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