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bakery/italian/sprinkle butter cookies?

post #1 of 28
1/8/11 at 7:16pm
Thread Starter 
Hello all!

Butter cookies have me completely obsessed! I am a good home baker, and cookies are my specialty, but I can't find a recipe that really emulates the butter cookies I have gotten at bakeries during my life. I want to make ones like these:

Image

or these:

Image

but I can never get the same flavor or the same dry, crumbly texture. I know there are some professional bakers here-- would any of you divulge the secret to making these? Are they actually done with shortening and not butter? Put me out of my misery if it really is just a mix that I couldn't buy anyways!

I've caught onto the flavor emulsion thing and I have a bottle of Princess flavoring that I'm going to try but would creme bouquet be better?

All the recipes I've found on the internet are just combinations of flour, (icing) sugar and butter, some have hard-boiled egg yolk, some have a regular egg, some have cream of tartar, some have baking soda, but I've tried these and they don't have the right "bakery" texture. Does anyone have a recipe to suggest?

Thank you!
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post #2 of 28
1/8/11 at 8:16pm
My sentiments exactly! I was hoping to see that recipe in the Cake Boss book, but it's not there. How could he not include this staple from Italian bakeries?

And then, I sent an e-mail to someone I met a couple of years ago, whose father owns 3 Italian bakeries in NYC, asking for their recipe. Their cookies are da bomb, because if you tin them for about two weeks, and let them mature, the floury taste and crumbly texture goes away and all that's left is the butter/sugar/vanilla taste with a perfect consistency. I guess I hit a sore note, because I never heard from him.

Anyone out there have a cookie like I just described?

Theresa icon_smile.gif
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post #3 of 28
1/8/11 at 8:27pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by playingwithsugar

I guess I hit a sore note, because I never heard from him.



I get the impression that they're carefully guarded recipes!

I hope someone shares one though, because they are my favorite cookies and I don't live by a bakery that makes them anymore. When I was little there was a bakery on Main Street in Evanston, IL that would give a free sprinkle cookie to me and my siblings (my mother never bought bakery or packaged items so this was a big deal). It isn't there anymore. My little brother especially likes them and I'd love to be able to make some for him when he comes home from touring next month.
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post #4 of 28
1/8/11 at 8:32pm
Touring? Is he a soldier or a rock star?

Theresa icon_smile.gif
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post #5 of 28
1/8/11 at 8:47pm
Thread Starter 
Not a soldier (thankfully, but no disrespect)! Far from it-- he is part of Legally Blonde the Musical's production as one of the musicians. Though he might be a rock star one day...
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post #6 of 28
1/8/11 at 9:51pm
very cool

Theresa icon_smile.gif
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post #7 of 28
2/2/11 at 10:24pm
Thread Starter 
*bump*

Just in case anyone new knows something about this mysterious cookie.
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post #8 of 28
2/3/11 at 7:18am
I know the bakery by us uses an ingredient called Kernal Paste in theirs. I don't know the rest of the ingredients, but that one is definitely in there.
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post #9 of 28
2/4/11 at 7:15pm
Thread Starter 
drdm99: that is intriguing! I'll have to look up kernal paste.
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post #10 of 28
2/5/11 at 10:41am
It is used as a substitute for almond paste or marzipan. It is produced by pulverizing the pit of an apricot into a paste.
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post #11 of 28
2/12/11 at 11:07pm
Thread Starter 
I wonder if it affects the texture much, because I have several emulsion flavorings that already have almond in them...
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post #12 of 28
2/13/11 at 12:11am
Thread Starter 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eShK7esE31I

I found this video today-- it isn't exactly what I've been looking for, but it IS a piped, sandy-looking butter cookie. Of course the measurements do nothing for me and what in the world is all that "vanilla"? Probably the secret ingredient.[/url]
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post #13 of 28
8/28/12 at 11:15am
That picture is the EXACT cookie I'm trying to make!!!!! They sell them in every grocery store.. Any luck finding a good recipe???
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post #14 of 28
8/28/12 at 11:44am
In the North End of Boston they use anise extract as well as other stuff.

Google turned these up in addition the the millions of others for "italian butter cookie sprinkles recipe"

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Sprinkle-Cookies

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Italian-Sprinkle-Cookies

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1610,141191-243196,00.html
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post #15 of 28
8/28/12 at 11:47am
Thanks for posting those links, Irene!
Friends don't let friends buy grocery store cakes.
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Friends don't let friends buy grocery store cakes.
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