I purchased the bee skep and honey bee cookie cutters from Foose Cookie Cutters through Amazon Marketplace.
The recipe for the cookies is as follows. I use royal icing to decorate the top of the cookies, dilute with water so that it flows like maple syrup. I outline the cookie first and then fill in the center. There are lots of tutorials on youtube on how to decorate with royal icing. One of my favorite decorators is Sweet Ambs. She has several tutorials and her own website. She is an amazing decorator.
Orange Vanilla Spice Cookies
This recipe makes about 2 dozen 3” round cookies
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1-¾ cups granulated sugar
¼ cup agave nectar*
4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cardamom
Zest of ½ of a large orange
½ vanilla bean, scraped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Fit mixer with paddle attachment.** Cream butter and sugar on med-high speed
until light and fluffy. Periodically stop mixer and scrape bowl. Add agave nectar
and mix until combined.
Sift flour, baking powder, salt and cardamom in a separate mixing bowl. Use a
whisk to combine ingredients. Set aside.
Zest orange directly into butter and sugar mixture. Add vanilla bean seeds and
vanilla extract. Mix on low until combined. Add one egg and mix on low until
incorporated. Scrape bowl. Add second egg and mix on low until incorporated.
Add flour, baking powder, salt and cardamom and mix on low.*** Stop mixer and
scrape bowl. Continue mixing until dough pulls away from sides of bowl.
Divide dough in half and roll each half to a 1” thick rectangle. Wrap in plastic and
chill for at least one hour in refrigerator or freeze the dough for later use.
Remove dough from refrigerator and let soften slightly. Roll dough on floured
parchment to 3/16” thick. Chill sheets for another half hour.
Cut out cookies and freeze for 15 minutes. Bake at 350ºF for 9-10 minutes or until
the edges are a light golden brown. Rotate after 5 minutes.
Let cookies cool completely before decorating.
* If you cannot find agave nectar, you can use honey instead. The flavor will be
affected slightly, but the texture of the cookie will remain the same.
** Use a hand mixer to cream the butter and sugar if you do not have a stand mixer
with a paddle attachment.
***Hand mixer users: Use the hand mixer only to incorporate the ingredients. Once
incorporated, turn off the mixer and continue to form the dough by hand. Do not
over mix.
