Sliced Penguin Cookies

Votes: 7

Time: 4 hours.
Complexity: easily
Quantity: 24 cookies

Although Santa resides at the North Pole, these guests from the South Pole look just as at home in their festive red hats and will perfectly fit into the Christmas theme of your holiday party. This recipe provides detailed step-by-step instructions on how to make and decorate these amazing penguin-shaped cut-out cookies. Your guests won't believe they're handmade! To make the penguins even more cheerful, trim their red hats with different colors. These beautiful cookies can be packaged, tied with ribbon, and given as gifts to friends for Christmas.

The recipes use measuring containers with the following volumes:
1 glass (st.) - 250 ml.
3/4 cup (st.) - 180 ml.
2/3 cup (st.) - 160 ml.
1/2 cup (st.) - 125 ml.
1/3 cup (st.) - 80 ml.
1/4 cup (st.) - 60 ml.
1 tablespoon (tbsp) - 15 ml.
1 teaspoon (tsp) - 5 ml.
1/5 teaspoon (tsp) - 1 ml.

Ingredients for the recipe:

2 and 1/4 cups of premium flour, plus extra for working with the dough
0.5 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
165 g unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg + 1 beaten egg for brushing
2 tsp vanilla extract
Orange gel food coloring
Black gel food coloring
1/4 cup (80 g) red confectionery chocolate icing granules
12 mini marshmallows, cut in half crosswise
1/4 cup (80 g) white confectionery chocolate icing granules
48 mini chocolate chips

Ingredient Substitution Suggestions

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Recipes with similar ingredients: premium flour, eggs, vanilla extract, marshmallow, chocolate chips (granules)

Cooking the dish according to the recipe:

Cookie:

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes.
Beat in 1 egg and vanilla extract until fully incorporated. Reduce mixer speed to low, add the flour mixture, and knead the dough.

When measuring flour, spoon it into a dry measuring cup and remove any excess. Scooping flour directly from the bag with a measuring cup will compact it, resulting in dry baked goods.

Turn almost all of the dough out onto a floured work surface, reserving ¼ cup in the bowl. Add 3 drops of orange food coloring to the remaining dough and mix on low speed until it's evenly colored bright orange.
Form the orange dough into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Wash the bowl and return 3/4 cup of the remaining uncolored dough to the bowl. Add 4 drops of black food coloring and mix on low speed until evenly colored a rich black.
Form the black dough into a rectangle, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 20 minutes.
Make a penguin body:

Form the remaining uncolored dough into a cylinder 23-25 cm long and about 4 cm wide. Wrap in plastic wrap and set aside (not in the refrigerator).
Divide the orange dough into 3 equal parts (these will be the legs and nose). Roll 3 ropes 23-25 cm long and about 0.8 cm wide. Shape one rope into a triangle along its entire length, smoothing the sides (a ruler will help here). Wrap the orange pieces individually in plastic wrap and place in the freezer to set, about 15 minutes.
Cut the unpainted cylinder in half lengthwise. Brush the cut edges of both halves with beaten egg. Press the orange triangle rope into the center of the cut edge of one half. Cover with the other half and press them together to seal and form a cylinder again.
Make the black part of the penguin's body:

On a floured surface, roll the black dough out with a rolling pin into a 0.5 cm thick rectangle measuring 22 x 10 cm, with the long side facing you. Using a rolling pin, roll out the edges by another 2.5 cm to make them thinner and create a raised rectangle in the center. The rectangle should be 22 x 15 cm. Brush the black rectangle with beaten egg, then wrap it around the unpainted cylinder, pressing down with your hand to ensure the two layers of dough adhere to each other. The black dough will be thicker at the top of the cylinder (the penguin's head) and thinner at the bottom.
Glue the legs:

Brush the thinner bottom of the black dough with beaten egg and press two thin orange ropes along the entire length, about 0.5 cm apart (these will be the legs). Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and use your palm to form a cylinder into an egg shape (the head should be narrower).
Place in the freezer to chill, about 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Using a very sharp knife, trim 0.5 cm off each end of the cylinder to reveal the penguin's face. Slice the cylinder into cookies approximately 0.5 cm thick. Place the slices on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 4 cm apart.
Bake, rotating the baking sheets halfway through, until crisp and just beginning to brown, 10-12 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Line another baking sheet with parchment paper. Melt the red icing in a small glass bowl in the microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring until smooth. Dip the top of each penguin's head into the red icing to create a hat; dip the heads at a slight angle for a more playful look.
Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheet. Glue a piece of marshmallow to the center of each hat (these will be pom-poms) and let the icing set for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt the white icing in a glass bowl in the microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring occasionally, until smooth. Transfer to a small zip-lock plastic bag and seal. Snip off a small corner and decorate the hats with white icing. Use the white icing as glue to attach the chocolate googly eyes to each penguin. Let the icing set completely, about 15 minutes, and serve.