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Raspberry-Cinnamon Slice-and-Bake Butter Cookies

By Lan Lam

Published on September 23, 2024

Time

1¼ hours, plus 1½ hours chilling and cooling

Yield

Makes about 50 cookies

Raspberry-Cinnamon Slice-and-Bake Butter Cookies

Ingredients

1¾ cups (8¾ ounces/248 grams) all-purpose flour ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon table salt ½ teaspoon baking powder 16 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled¾ cup (5¼ ounces/150 grams) sugar 1 large egg yolk 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cup (1 ounce/20 grams) freeze-dried raspberries

Before You Begin

You can substitute cardamom for the cinnamon and other freeze-dried berries for the raspberries. We don't recommend sweet freeze-dried fruit such as banana or mango. To ensure that your cookies are the same size, it's important to roll the logs so that they have a diameter of 1¼ inches. It's important to dust the cookies with the raspberry powder while they are still very warm; it will not cling to cool cookies. Tightly wrapped dough logs can be refrigerated for up to three days or frozen for up to two months. Thaw in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours before slicing.

Instructions

  1. Whisk flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder together in bowl. In second bowl, whisk melted butter, sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla until very smooth. Add flour mixture and stir with rubber spatula or wooden spoon until well combined (dough will be loose). Let dough rest until firm, about 5 minutes.
  2. Divide dough in half and roll each half into log that is 1¼ inches in diameter and about 10 inches long. Wrap logs tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or up to 3 days.
  3. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Let chilled dough sit on counter to soften slightly, about 15 minutes. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
  4. Place raspberries in zipper-lock bag, press out as much air as possible, and seal. Finely crush berries with rolling pin or skillet; transfer to fine-mesh strainer and set aside.
  5. Slice logs into ¼-inch-thick rounds and space 1 inch apart on prepared sheets. Let rest at room temperature for 10 minutes. Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until edges are just golden, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Let cookies cool for 2 minutes, then gently invert wire rack on top of cookies, being careful not to press them. Dust cookies with raspberry powder until evenly coated, then carefully remove rack.
  6. Let cookies cool on sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and let cool completely, about 30 minutes. Serve. (Cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 10 days.)
Raspberry-Cinnamon Slice-and-Bake Butter Cookies
Photography by Beth Fuller. Styling by Stylist - Catrine Kelty.

Raspberry-Cinnamon Slice-and-Bake Butter Cookies

Save

Time

1¼ hours, plus 1½ hours chilling and cooling

Yield

Makes about 50 cookies

Ingredients

1¾ cups (8¾ ounces/248 grams) all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon table salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
16 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
¾ cup (5¼ ounces/150 grams) sugar
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup (1 ounce/20 grams) freeze-dried raspberries

Test Kitchen Techniques

Ingredients

1¾ cups (8¾ ounces/248 grams) all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon table salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
16 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
¾ cup (5¼ ounces/150 grams) sugar
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup (1 ounce/20 grams) freeze-dried raspberries

Test Kitchen Techniques

Ingredients

1¾ cups (8¾ ounces/248 grams) all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon table salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
16 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
¾ cup (5¼ ounces/150 grams) sugar
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup (1 ounce/20 grams) freeze-dried raspberries

Test Kitchen Techniques

Why This Recipe Works

We started our slice-and-bake raspberry-cinnamon cookie dough with melted rather than softened butter. This allowed us to skip the usual creaming step and simply stir in the sugar along with an egg yolk and vanilla extract. A little baking powder opened up tiny air pockets in the dough and kept it from being too dense. The yolk's proteins and the sugar gave the cookies a pleasantly firm and crumbly texture and extended their shelf life to 10 days, making them ideal for shipping or gifting. We rolled the dough into logs and refrigerated them until they were firm. Finally, we cut the chilled logs into rounds before baking. After baking, we placed an inverted wire rack over the cookies and dusted them with freeze-dried raspberry powder to give them a striking red checked pattern and tangy raspberry flavor.

Before You Begin

You can substitute cardamom for the cinnamon and other freeze-dried berries for the raspberries. We don't recommend sweet freeze-dried fruit such as banana or mango. To ensure that your cookies are the same size, it's important to roll the logs so that they have a diameter of 1¼ inches. It's important to dust the cookies with the raspberry powder while they are still very warm; it will not cling to cool cookies. Tightly wrapped dough logs can be refrigerated for up to three days or frozen for up to two months. Thaw in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours before slicing.

Instructions

  1. Whisk flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder together in bowl. In second bowl, whisk melted butter, sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla until very smooth. Add flour mixture and stir with rubber spatula or wooden spoon until well combined (dough will be loose). Let dough rest until firm, about 5 minutes.
  2. Divide dough in half and roll each half into log that is 1¼ inches in diameter and about 10 inches long. Wrap logs tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or up to 3 days.
  3. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Let chilled dough sit on counter to soften slightly, about 15 minutes. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
  4. Place raspberries in zipper-lock bag, press out as much air as possible, and seal. Finely crush berries with rolling pin or skillet; transfer to fine-mesh strainer and set aside.
  5. Slice logs into ¼-inch-thick rounds and space 1 inch apart on prepared sheets. Let rest at room temperature for 10 minutes. Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until edges are just golden, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Let cookies cool for 2 minutes, then gently invert wire rack on top of cookies, being careful not to press them. Dust cookies with raspberry powder until evenly coated, then carefully remove rack.
  6. Let cookies cool on sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and let cool completely, about 30 minutes. Serve. (Cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 10 days.)

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