Thinking outside the box is not an unusual past time for me when it comes to creating fun recipes. In December, the idea for Vanilla Bean Poppers came into my head when Real Women of Philadelphia – Canada announced an intriguing contest for Recipes for Edible Gifts. Rainbow Poppers is a variation of the recipe I submitted called Vanilla Bean Poppers.
Instead of making ropes and cutting (like gnocchi), I separated the cookie dough into smaller portions, added food colouring (I used Wilton Gel Icing Colours, as I find that the colours stay vibrant once the cookies are baked). I explain this further in the steps of the recipe below.
In the photo above, you will notice that the technique is just a bit different than making the vanilla bean popper ropes. In the rainbow poppers recipe, make several coloured ropes and join them together, rolling to smooth them into a colourful cylinder, chill and cut into disks, bake and enjoy. Follow along step by step in the recipe for Vanilla Bean Poppers provided below.
RAINBOW VANILLA BEAN POPPERS
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 – 8 oz. package Original Cream Cheese, softened to room temperature
- 2/3 cup icing sugar, sifted
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or gluten-free flour alternative)
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 1 dash fine salt
- 2 cups icing sugar, sifted (for coating the cookies)
METHOD
- Preheat the oven to 325oF.
- In a mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter, cream cheese and 2/3 cup icing sugar until light and combined.
- Add the vanilla bean paste and mix to combine.
- Combine the flour, cornstarch and salt together. With your mixer on low speed, add these dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix just until they are combined.
- Remove equal size pieces of dough from the mixer. For each individual piece of dough, add food colouring to your taste. Roll each coloured piece of dough into ‘snakes’ about 1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter.
- Once you have all of the colours you want for your rainbow cookies, place the coloured snakes together lengthwise and start to roll them together. You might have to cut the larger rope into sections in order to get the colourful cylinders of dough to a circumference that will be small enough to cut into 1/2 inch (or less) cookies. (Remember, these are tiny cookies – the tinier the better). With a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1/4 to 1/2 inch or smaller coin-sized pieces.
- Place these tiny pieces of coin size dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet. The cookies do not spread, so you can place them fairly close together.
- Chill the tray of prepared cookie dough for a few minutes in the refrigerator. CHEF TIP: I find that most cookie doughs benefit from a chill in the refrigerator before baking. It helps the cookies to retain their shape. Try this the next time you make chocolate chip cookies.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 12 – 15 minutes, depending on the size of your tiny pillows or balls (for example, the recipe on the Kraft Canada website indicates baking for 25 to 28 minutes for 1/2 inch cookies). The bottoms of the cookies should just start to turn a very lightly golden and will feel firm.
- Place the colourful rainbow cookies in a decorative container or jar, label and decorate with ribbon. Give them to your favourite someone.
Please CLICK the link above to access my UrbnSpice LEARNING TIPS, which are listed alphabetically on the Learning Tips blog post under the following subheadings:
- Creaming
- Oven Temperature Accuracy
- Vanilla Extract
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More Urb’n’Spice Cookie Fun:
Vanilla Bean Poppers – Holiday Food Fun Variations
My Dee’s Old Fashioned Oatmeal Coconut Cookies
Italian Almond MacGluten-FreeGluten Free Cookie
Urb’n’Spice Chocolate Cookbook Series – Cookies, Brownies and Squares
As you can imagine, the possibilities are endless! What shall I create next?
As always, if you give this recipe for Rainbow Vanilla Poppers a try, please come back and leave me a comment below with your feedback.
You can find me on social media – just be sure to tag @urbnspice and #urbnspice so I am sure to see it. Enjoy!
Denise Paré-Watson
The Urbnspice Chef
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