Naturally Colored Tulip Cookies

Food coloring allows for a lot of beautiful vibrant colors straight from the bottle. But I think it can be a lot more fun to try and achieve color, by just using natural means. Not only is it a fun challenge, but using natural elements also means you are adding not only color, but also flavor to your cookies. For these tulip cookies the green has a very mild matcha flavor, without the bitterness that too much matcha can add, and the purple has a vibrant berry flavor. Not to mention they’re beautiful.

1. 400 g flour
2. 180 g sugar
3. 2 medium sized eggs
4. 200 g butter
5. Pinch of salt
6. 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
7. 1 teaspoon matcha powder
8. 2 teaspoons freeze dried berry powder (I used blackcurrant)

Using a paddle attachment on the stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until combined. One by one beat in the eggs. Mix in vanilla extract and salt. Add flower bit by bit while mixing until it’s all mixed in. It should form a dough that you can form with your finger without it losing shape.

Measure out half the though place it in plastic wrap and place in the fridge. Divide the remaining dough in half. In one half add 1 teaspoon of matcha in the other half – 2 teaspoons of berry powder (sift the powder to avoid seeds in your dough). For each dough knead it so the powder is just mixed in with no streaks, try to avoid warming the dough too much. Form dough balls and wrap in plastic wrap. Cool al the dough in the fridge for at least 1 h.

Roll out a sausage with an elliptical cross section out of the purple dough. Flatten the top. Roll out a thick piece of green dough and cut it into a rectangle the same length as the purple shape. This will be the stem. Roll out two smaller sausages from the green dough, pinch the tops and bottoms to create a leaf shaped cross section. Place all the pieces in the freezer for at least 30 minutes to firm up. Remove all dough from the freezer. For the purple tough, cut out triangle shapes from the top to make a tulip shape.

Roll out two thin sheets of white dough and cover the leaf pieces in them. Fill in the triangle cut outs of the tulip bud by pressing in thin pieces of soft white dough. Because the tulip was frozen ant the white dough only refrigerated the softer dough should form around the frozen dough. Assemble all the colored pieces into a flower and fill in the gaps with white dough. Cover the outside in white dough as well to make the final cane have an oval or circle cross section. Leave in the refrigerator for 2 h so the temperatures even out. Stretch and roll the dough until the desired cookie diameter is reached (mine is about 5 cm). Place in the freezer for 2 h.

Take any cutoff mixed color or white pieces and press them into a sausage shape. Roll out the left over green and purple dough into sheets and wrap the center piece in purple then in red. Roll it and stretch it so it’s the same diameter as the flower cane and place in the freezer for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Take the canes out of the freezer and with a sharp knife chop into around 1 cm thick pieces and place them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Try to avoid letting them warm up to much before placing in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes or until the bottom edges start to brown. Enjoy.