![Sparkling Shortbread Cookies](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/12/07/multimedia/YK-Sparkling-Shortbread-1-a959/YK-Sparkling-Shortbread-1-a959-mediumThreeByTwo440.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
Technicolor Cookies
Updated Dec. 7, 2023
![Technicolor Cookies](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/11/29/multimedia/29cookieweek3-technicolor-qvwp/29cookieweek3-technicolor-qvwp-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 1 hour 30 minutes, plus 7 hours chilling and setting
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 hour 20 minutes, plus 7 hours chilling and setting
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 2½cups/320 grams all-purpose flour
- 1½teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1½teaspoons ground ginger
- ¾teaspoon ground cardamom or 1 teaspoon freshly crushed cardamom
- ½teaspoon baking powder
- ½teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
- ¾cup/169 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1cup/200 grams granulated sugar
- 2tablespoons freshly grated orange zest (from about 2 large navel oranges)
- 2teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1large egg, at room temperature
- 6cups/680 grams powdered sugar (1½ pounds)
- 6tablespoons/50 grams meringue powder
- 4different colors of gel food coloring
For the Cookies
For the Royal Icing
Preparation
- Step 1
Make the cookies: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, baking powder and salt.
- Step 2
In a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together butter, granulated sugar, orange zest, vanilla extract and egg. Add flour mixture to butter mixture, and beat until combined.
- Step 3
Set a 12-by-16-inch sheet of parchment paper on a work surface. Set the dough on top and cover with another piece of parchment. Roll dough into an even ¼-inch-thick rectangle, squaring off the edges. Set the dough, still sandwiched in parchment, on a rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate until very cold and firm, about 30 minutes.
- Step 4
Prepare the royal icing: Combine powdered sugar and meringue powder in a large bowl. Add ⅔ cup water and beat with an electric mixer on medium until thick and glossy, about 7 minutes. Check the consistency of the icing: When you drizzle the icing over itself, it should take 10 seconds to reincorporate. Add more water, 1 teaspoon at a time as necessary, to reach that consistency.
- Step 5
Separate icing into 5 bowls and tint 4 as desired, leaving one white. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Step 6
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Step 7
Pull the dough from the fridge, and, working quickly, cut dough into 1-by-2½-inch rectangles. If dough is still cold, separate rectangles and place on prepared baking sheets ¼ inch apart. If the dough has gotten warm, chill (or freeze) it until cold before baking.
- Step 8
Bake, rotating halfway through, until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool completely, about 30 minutes. Set the rack over a parchment-lined sheet and line up the cookies, sides touching, in rows of 8.
- Step 9
Set another rack over a parchment- lined sheet. Into a small (4-inch- diameter) bowl, spoon some of each color so you have several parallel bands of colored icing. (Cover any unused icing.) Pour icing in thin ribbons over the cookies moving left to right, then right to left and back again, filling in holes, until you run out. Repeat with more icing. Immediately and carefully separate cookies, one by one, with an offset spatula and transfer to the clean rack.
- Step 10
Let the cookies stand at room temperature, uncovered, until set, at least 6 hours.
- Make the dough and refrigerate it, well wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 3 days or freeze it for up to 1 month. Alternatively, you can freeze the baked cookies, without icing, well wrapped for up to 3 months.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
As a cake decorator, I would use this icing instead: 2 cups sifted (yes, you need to do this) powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons light corn syrup, 1- 2 tablespoons milk or water, 1/2 teaspoon clear vanilla or almond extract. Mix til smooth using a spatula or portable mixer. Adjust to pourable thickness with addtl water or sifted sugar. Color and apply as directed in NYT recipe. This icing tastes good, dries hard, but isn't brittle like royal icing. Let the cookies dry overnight before packaging.
I just made these stunning cookies and they are delicious. It did take time to make them. The dough needs to be chilled for 30 minutes, the cookies cooled after they are baked, the icing rested, and then the icing on the cookies set for 6 hours. I’m a novice baker and the video was a big help. Especially the way the icing is layered.
I made the dough the day before, rolled between the parchment and refrigerated until I was ready to cook. Worked well and the biscuit was crisp and delicious. The royal icing was tricky --I didn't make it thin enough and didn't realize until it was all colored then globbed it on. Unfortunately, rather than technicolor, they turned out mostly brown as I tried to spread it. I think I'd err on the side of too thin rather than too thick. Or test it before you color it to make sure it pours.
I complained to a friend yesterday that of the 7 cookie week recipes, 3 are shortbread. I was wrong to complain! This cookie is DELICIOUS. I didn’t get quite the color definition, but I limited my colors to red, green & white for Christmas so they still look quite festive. Unfortunately I have to let them dry overnight before I can try a frosted one. One change I did make was that when thinning the icing to the correct consistency, my first teaspoon was vanilla extract rather than water. Yum.
This recipe made about 3x the amount of icing we actually used
Fresh, raw egg whites can be contaminated with salmonella. But since the egg used in meringue powder has been dried and pasteurized, it's okay to eat without cooking. That makes it a better, safer choice to use in uncooked recipes like royal icing and other frosting recipes.
These were fun, but I had trouble getting decent stripes of color. After some frustration, I just used a skewer to marble the colors instead and was happy with that result. If you try this, pull the skewer across the iced cookie in figure eight shapes soon after the icing has been poured.
I reached out to the recipe author to confirm the amount of butter. She said it IS the amount listed--3/4 cup.
Do you use a hairnet when baking at home? I bet not; I've never met someone who does. But more seriously, touching one's own clean hair is not much of a hygiene risk. I'm sure she is not letting hairs fall in the food.
I made these today and they were delicious! The cookies had a wonderful flavor. The icing was a little tricky though. I didn’t have 6 hours for the icing to set up so I put them in the oven at 200 with the convection fan on. They dried out very quickly that way.
Royal icing. How could something so simple be such a pain? I doubled the cookie recipe, wanting to gift some. The cookies are best if really golden BROWN, ie very done. The cookies are lovely. My food gel could not achieve the strength of color needed to get the beautiful results. ( video said oil based food coloring interfering with the set of the icing. IMO this should have been in the ingredient info.) My frosting has not set after overnight. Great technique. I need to work on it!
My cooking time for cookies was about 15-17 mins to make them less floppy. I found meringue powder for $6 at Safeway here in Oregon (Albertsons for other west coasters). The frosting is much easier than it looks! A time consuming but beautiful recipe. Worth it if you want a fun little project.
A show stopper! Next time I will thin out the icing more so it is not so thick and sweet. I would also make sure there is space between the cookies. Thanks for this impressive cookie.
So I just finished making these cookies and have lots to say! The cookie (plain) is delicious! This recipe makes WAY too much icing I left some of the cookies 1"x 2 1/2" and cut some in half as I thought they were too big to put on a plate of mixed cookies. (I think these are better) After making a mess pouring the icing over the larger cookies, I decided to thin the frosting a bit, cover all the smaller ones with white icing, and then drizzle the colors over with a fork. This is MUCH easier.
wondering if you need to let the cookies cool completely before putting the icing on...the video has the icing setting for 30 minutes and the cookies haven't yet gone in the oven...so maybe they were still hot when iced?
These cookies are delicious thanks to the cardamom (I used fresh ground). They can stand up to the heavy icing. My colors didn’t come out so bright but were still very fun. Definitely watch the video. I didn’t have meringue powder but fresh egg whites worked fine. Warning, this is a very messy recipe and labor intensive! Rolling and cutting is difficult and mine definitely didn’t come out like they do in the video, but the fun icing distracts from that.
I had a hard time getting decent stripes using the technique shown in the video but I found that using a knife to swirl the different colors in my bowl just a bit before pouring helped get the various colors to show up as stripes when i poured. The cookies themselves were very fragrant and delicious! I used tangelo zest because that’s the citrus I had lying around.
Falls short…I’d do a shortbread if I made again instead of a sugar cookie. The icing was fun and groovy but too thick and it overwhelmed the cookie. Since 10x sugar isn’t delicious, having that be the predominant flavor was underwhelming. If I make again, I’d try to give the frosting more flavor and really thin it out…of course then you run the risk of the colors blending too much and if that happens then what’s the point?
Assembly is a bit difficult but beautiful payoff. Not my favorite cookie but one of the prettiest
Absolutely delightful!! The flavors of the shortbread are phenomenal - I'd eat them on their own, happily! However, the icing is such a fun touch - I'd recommend letting them set longer than 6 hours, closer to 8.
I made these cookies and they came out great! I then decided to use the same dough, make hearts for Valentine’s Day, and ice with pink, white, red, purple. They look good. The hearts are more difficult to ice than the small rectangles. But I’m curious to know if anyone found there was a lot of waste with the icing? I had a lot of wasted icing that poured over the edge, or dripped off, maybe 1/3 of the total icing was wasted. Is it just me? Is there a way to remedy?
I had so much fun making this recipe. Of all the cookies I made from NYT Cookie week, this was my favorite. The orange spice cookie was just delicious and it was a creative endeavor icing them. Like others, I had some trouble making the icing pourable and found out quickly that when I tried to use a knife to spread it out, I ended up with some grayish bits where all the colors just combined. But I can't wait to try it again, thinning the icing, and with different colors. Edible art, for sure!
I wasn’t successful pouring the icing in layers, so I poured it in three or four stripes on each cookie then swirled with a toothpick. Looked quite beautiful!
The biscuit flavor was really nice. However, it was very tricky to get the biscuits in the right shape and the icing was difficult to pour in such a uniform way. I also felt that the icing was too thick and overwhelmed the cookies. They did look nice though.
I baked these right after reading the recipe. I have been a cookie/biscotti baker for 50 years but have never made anyting this beautifully deorated. I followed the recipe to a T and my cookies were the talk of the town. Did not find the frosting too sweet and it poured and set beautifully.
I reversed the amounts for cinnamon and cardamom, subbed in 1 c. almond flour, doubled the salt, added a bit of lemon and orange and almond extracts. I used 1.5x Gayle's icing with a few drops of almond and a pinch of salt. There will be excess, but moving fast after making several colors, a lot gets lost. Next time I'd thin the icing a little more than I did. I got several requests for the recipe.
fabulous cookies, the stronger flavor of the cookies is needed against the sweetness of this icing. Next time I’ll make the icing a bit thinner so it covers better. Let them dry all day - they stored nicely in glass and disappeared slowly over Xmas week! Video is a must if you make - and the video baker is adorable! 😊
I knew I had to try these the moment I saw them, and I found the recipe perfect, It was a dazzling experience, pouring on those vibrant stripes of color. Two observations: the cookie itself, without icing, is delicious! I would and did enjoy them naked. In fact, I felt the icing sort of overwhelmed them. But the icing is the thing! So what to do...I may try Gayle's suggestion in the comments to see if a slightly less brittle icing would allow the cookies to shine beneath their fancy dresses.
The cookies themselves are SO GOOD and the icing (tho sometimes I’ve had royal icing turn out just so-so) turned out phenomenal with her video!!! It was incredibly helpful !
Looked beautiful, tasted good but not great partly bc such thick icing.
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