Rainbow Flower Butter Cookies

My other flower inspired bake are these pretty butter cookies. They were re-created from my previous baking post on Colourful Checkered Butter Cookies. These are just too pretty and tasty to resist.

Rainbow Flower Butter Cookies

For ease of reference, I have included the recipe and preparation steps for making these lovely flower cookies here. Happy reading and have fun baking!

Rainbow Flower Butter Cookies
Re-created from The Dream Baker's Colourful Checkered Butter Cookies

Ingredients Required

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon pure orange extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
Edible food colourings - basic colours (red, yellow and blue)

Bakeware Used

Two baking sheets with dimensions 15.25"x10.25"x0.75"

Preparation Steps

1. Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl using an electric mixer or stand mixer until well blended.
2. Add vanilla extract, orange extract and salt, mix until well combined.
3. With the electric mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary, until incorporated.
4. Turn dough out onto a clean work surface, it will be loose and crumbly. Knead down with heel of hand for one to two minutes. Dough is non-sticky and pliable.
5. Measure and divide dough into six equal portions. Add a few drops of food colouring to each divided dough according to the colours of the rainbow (red, orange (mix red and yellow), yellow, green (mix yellow and blue), blue and violet (mix red and blue) and knead dough until colour evens out. 
6. Using the size of a 1/2-teaspoon measuring spoon, portion each coloured dough into small round pieces. Repeat for all the remaining coloured dough.
7. Assemble six individual small coloured dough in the shape of a flower. Using a flat bottom glass or measuring cup, gently flatten the assembled dough to approximately 1/4-inch thick.
8. Place flattened dough on baking sheet lined with parchment paper spacing about 1-inch apart.
9. Bake at preheated oven at 350 degrees F for approximately 10 to 12 minutes, or until the edges are slightly brown. Cookies may be soft while hot but will gradually harden, so do not over-bake.
10. Remove baking sheet from oven and let cookies cool for two minutes. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely. Store cookies in airtight containers once they are completely cooled.

The Dream Baker's Experiment

1. I did not refrigerate the cookie dough before shaping them as they were pliable and not too soft to work with. If the dough gets too soft, wrap dough with cling wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes or until hardened before shaping.
2. I weighed and divided the initial dough into approximately 110 grams for each of the respective rainbow colours.
3. I covered the rest of the dough with cling wrap and left them at room temperature while working with one coloured dough. Depending on your environment, you may also keep the rest of the dough in the fridge while working on one.
4. I used a 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon to portion each coloured dough which yielded approximately 28 pieces. You may use a larger spoon or portion the dough by weight, depending on the size of cookie preferred. Make sure that the each small individual pieces of dough are similar in sizes.
5. I placed the baking sheet in the middle rack of the oven and baked one tray at a time (because I was too slow in working on the "flowers"). Each tray were baked for 12 minutes.

I think it is more efficient to divide each coloured dough into small round pieces before assembling them all at once.

Unlike assembling the checkered cookies, I did not brush the sides of the individual pieces of dough here with egg wash because these dough will "stick" together once they are flattened. Just make sure there is minimum gap in-between when assembling the dough.

I used a flat-bottomed measuring cup to flatten the assembled dough. The grease from the butter in the dough helps in sliding the flattened dough off from the measuring cup bottom easily. Gently press to smooth the dough with fingers to mend the cracks (if any) during the flattening process.

Before and after the cookies were baked.

Look how these flower cookies have been "planted" (using a photo editing program). ^_^

I am submitting this Rainbow Flower Butter Cookies to the Aspiring Bakers #40: Rainbow and Ombre Party! (March 2014) hosted by Cynthia of The Baking Biatch.

And I have updated this baking post on Rainbow Flower Butter Cookies to share with AlphaBakes (July 2014: Letter "R") hosted by Ros of The More than Occasional Baker and Caroline of Caroline Makes. I'm so glad that I'm able to share this baking creation which didn't make it to its initial intended event (above) with another meaningful baking event. ^_^

Dare to dream.

The Dream Baker