Spelt Butter Cookies with White Chocolate

These spelt butter cookies are from a recipe that I have used many times. In fact, it is my no fail, go-to cookie recipe. I’ve used it to create some gorgeous recipes, like these strawberry and cream cookies, and added a little festive spice (and a dipping of chocolate) for these spiced butter cookies. 

They are so unbelievably easy to make, with just a handful of everyday staples. You can decorate them (or add other ingredients) in any way you like. They are delightfully thin and unbelievably crunchy, and that crunch never fades, even two or three days after baking. I think the secret is the icing sugar and how long they’re baked for. These spelt butter cookies are ready when they look underbaked. Leave them any longer, and they burn. Literally 30 seconds too long, and they are ruined. And yes, I speak from vast experience. 

These cookies also requite no time in the fridge. This means that if you ever get that gut-wrenching craving for a hit of sugar, these cookies will be ready to gobble up in less than 30 minutes. 

I made these particularly cookies for my students who were graduating (in Sweden, this is grade 9, when they are 15-16). I chose the basic cookie recipe because it’s quick and easy, but as they were for a special occasion, I wanted to dress them up a little. All I did was melt some white chocolate and shape it a little like a flower and sprinkle a little decoration. 

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Spelt Butter Cookies with White Chocolate

Ingredients

Cookies:

• 115g (½ cup) butter (softened)
• 50g (½ cup) icing sugar
• 140g (1 cup + 1 tbsp) spelt flour (see notes)
• 1½ teaspoons vanilla sugar (or essence)

Decoration:

• 100g (3½ oz) white chocolate (melted)
• sprinkles (or any other decoration)

Instructions

Cookies:

• Pre-heat the oven to 175ºC (350℉) and line a large baking tray with grease proof paper.
• Cream the butter and icing sugar together until fluffy.
• Combine the flour and vanilla sugar and mix with the butter/sugar until a dough forms (it will be sticky).
• Roll the dough out between two sheets of baking paper until it is thin.
• Using a round cutter, cut circles out of the dough. For this particular recipe, I used a large cookie cutter, and ended up with 6 cookies, but you can use a smaller one and make more. Just remember that baking time might vary a little, depending on their size.
• Bake for 8-10 minutes, just until the edges are starting to brown (keep a very close eye on them). They will look underbaked, but take them out or you will end up with overbaked cookies.
• They will be very soft, so leave them on the tray for five minutes until they've hardened a little, then move to a wire rack and allow to cool completely.

Decoration:

• Melt the chocolate and spread over the cookies. I created a flower shape by smoothing the chocolate out towards the edges with a spoon, but this is not necessary. Sprinkle or add any kind of decoration you like (again, I used sprinkles to make it look like a flower).

Notes

Disclaimer: I use grams in my recipes as weighing ingredients is the most accurate method. However, to help out, I've also converted the measurements to cups, but as I have not baked the cookies using these, results cannot be guaranteed. 

I've made these with both spelt and regular flour, and noticed that they were a little drier with regular flour. Therefore, if you would like to substitute the spelt flour for regular, just use 130g instead.