Block Print Flower Cookies
These soft butter cookies are made with mooncake molds. I found these gorgeous floral molds online and they really remind me of block print stamps from Jaipur. Block printing is a very popular form of textile art where you use multiple wooden stamps (blocks) to tap on various designs onto cotton cloth. They can be extremely intricate and require a ton of hand-eye coordination, luckily, these cookies need neither! If you don’t have mooncake molds, you can use a 3" cookie cutter to cut out the cookies and then use any type of cookie press to mold them. You can get adventurous—use straws, thread bobbins, really anything to stamp a decoration into your cookies before baking.
Recipe information
Total Time
45 minutes
Yield
Makes 24 large cookies
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and set aside.
Step 2
In a small bowl, whisk together 1¼ cups (150 g) all-purpose flour and 1 Tbsp. (7 g) cornstarch until well combined. Set aside.
Step 3
Into a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, beat 5½ Tbsp. (80 g) unsalted butter, room temperature, ½ cup (57 g) powdered sugar, and ¼ tsp. kosher salt until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add 1 egg yolk and 1 tsp. vanilla extract and mix for another minute. Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
Step 4
Place the dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll the dough out until it’s ¼" (6mm) thick. Transfer to the baking sheet and freeze the dough for 5 minutes.
Step 5
Using a 1½"-diameter mooncake or cookie mold, cut and stamp out the cookies. Be sure to flour the molds well and shake off any excess flour before cutting so that the dough doesn’t stick. Return the cookies to the baking sheet and set in the freezer while you reroll the scraps to make more cookies. Freeze all the cookies for 10 minutes.
Step 6
When ready to bake, arrange the cookies 1" apart.
Step 7
Bake the cookies until the edges just begin to brown, 7 to 10 minutes.
Step 8
Let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheet before enjoying.
Do Ahead: Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks.
