Various shapes, various colors. These spring-like die-cut cookies have become a staple in our home. Matcha, cocoa, purple sweet potato, beet, pumpkin, butterfly pea, simple tasting dough is colored with all natural ingredients, hollowed out into various shapes and baked.
I bake every year from January through spring, and it became a regular winter to spring cookie. For my daughter, whose birthday falls around this time of year, the cookies are a way to welcome spring after a long winter. They are small bites and are gorgeous to the eye with different flavors, colors and shapes. These cookies as an annual, to give for classmates at her birthday celebration in the class. It will be lighten the spirits that spring is just around the corner. Or good for potlucks at various events throughout the year by changing the cookie cutters and colors,
I don’t usually use refined white sugar in our home, but when making these cookies, I’m not too strict and enjoying it.
These cookies are a fun way to enjoy the arrival of spring. Here is the recipe for the dough.

About the Cookie Cutters

The cookie cutter used in this project was handmade by Japanese artisans. The precision and sharpness of the cut is something that we can be proud to show the world as being Made in Japan. They are not inexpensive, but I have been collecting them little by little because I consider them to be a part of my life. Only the oak leaf cutter is from this product bought in the US. Other items were purchased at Aritsugu in Kyoto and Hitachiya in Tsukiji. In LA, they are available at Hitachiya USA.

Instructions for making

Step 1. Mix the Base Dough

Remove butter from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature. Place in a bowl and let sit in a warm place indoors for 1 hour.
Beat the softened butter with a whisk until well combined. Next, add the sugar and mix. At this point, the mixture will be white and creamy in the bowl. Add the beaten eggs in small amounts, about 3 times. When fully incorporated, the mixture should be lumpy. The base dough is ready.
*About the sugar, Confectioners sugar with fine particles is recommended. It blends easily into the dough and bakes beautifully.

Step 2. Divide the Dough

Weigh out the dough in Step 1. Then divide evenly into the number of colors you want to make.
Add 1.2 times the amount of flour to the weight of each dough. If you want to add color, add the powder for each color along with the flour.

This time, 700g of dough was produced and 7 colors of dough were made. First, put 100g of the dough source into a bowl and add 1.2 times as much flour (120 g) while mixing with a spatula to cut the dough and finally bring it together. Be careful not to knead too much when mixing.
Cover with plastic wrap and roll out the dough with a rolling pin to a thickness of 5mm, and let rest in the refrigerator for 30minutes to 1 hour.
For the other 6 colors, mix the flour and color powder in the same way, roll out the dough to a thickness of 5mm, and let it rest in the refrigerator.

Step 3. Cut Out the Cookies

Remove the dough from the refrigerator, smooth it out again to a thickness of 5 mm, and cut out the cutter.
Place a baking sheet on a flat surface and arrange the dough cutouts on the sheet. The dough will expand slightly as it bakes, so be sure to space them out so they don’t stick together.

Use a skewer to make the birds’ eyes and the plant patterns. The non-pointed end of the skewer is used to draw the birds’ eyes, and the pointed side is used to draw the veins on the leaves.

Step 4. Bake

Preheat the oven to 340°F and bake for 13 minutes. The cookies should be slightly browned around the edges and the underside should be browned as well. Baking time will vary depending on the size of the cookies and oven conditions. Watch carefully and adjust the baking time.
After baking, remove the cookies from the oven and leave them on the hot pan for a while to dry out in the residual heat. After that, place the cookies on a tray to cool down sufficiently.

As a Birthday Cookie

These cookies work for my daughter’s birthday every year. I stuff them into a package with an illustration of her. The illustrations are updated every her current appearance. It is my secret pleasure to draw the illustrations and grow little by little as well.

For Various Occasions

We have also made potlucks for Halloween, Christmas, and many other occasions. Sometimes my daughter helps me and we even try my hand at icing. They are small, slightly sweet, and rustic cookies. Once you eat one, you can’t stop.

Halloween and Christmas cookies we made.
For Halloween, my daughter drew a face with chocolate. The black is amazing squid ink powder.
For Christmas, we tried icing for the first time.

Cookies for Earth Day. Butterfly peas (blue), matcha (green) and plain dough were gently mixed together. When I cut out with a round cutter, became various expressions of the earth.

Flower cookies made with two type of cookie cutters. They are colorful and bite-sized.
This simple cookie dough can be used to make a variety of cookies depending on your ideas. I hope you enjoy them.