Sakura Cookies

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I adapted this recipe from one of my favorite blog.

I bought the preserved sakura  and sakura essence from an online shop. Not a cheap thing so i was waiting for the right recipe to use the flower. Until i stumbled into this picturesque cookies. So here it is : Sakura Cookies

rows of flowers

rows of flowers

Things you need:

90gr Unsalted butter
50gr Granulated sugar
2-3drops  Sakura Essence or use Vanilla essence instead
1 pinch of salt
1 Egg yolk
120gr Cake flour (For Almond flavour – you can subtitue 40 gr of the cake flour with some almond ground)
16-20 pieces preserved sakura

Fine sugar, for sprinkle on top of the cookies

Things you need to do :

Put the preserved sakura in a bowl, cover with enough water, leave it for  6 hours (or overnight – so you can do this the night before). This step is to reduce the saltiness from the sakura. I really recommend to leave it as long as you can since the sakura can be pretty salty.  Drain the sakura and discard the water. Pat the sakura dry with kitchen towel.

Beat the butter with salt until soft, add the granulated sugar and beat until light color. Add the sakura essence and egg yolk, beat to combine.

Pour the flour into the bowl, mix until moisten, then knead gently until smooth.
Cover the dough with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven 200 °C.

Line the baking tin with baking paper. Then roll the cookie dough until 6 mm thickness.  Cut it with 6 cm cookie cutter.
Place the cookies on the baking sheet, and then decorate it with the preserved cherry blossoms on each cookie. Press it a little bit to stick it into the cookies.

Lower down the oven temperature to 170°C.
Put the cookies into the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown, sprinkle with superfine sugar immediately. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 15 minutes then move it to the wire rack until it is completely cool.

Combining the cake flour with some almond ground to give a little hint of the almond crunch in it ;).

Note: Photo port-folio can be found here.