Brazilian Wedding Cookies Casadinhos Food

BRAZILIAN WEDDING COOKIES (CASADINHOS)

Steps:

• Cookies:In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, and salt.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and superfine sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg, vanilla, and lemon zest and beat until well incorporated. Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour mixture; mix until combined. Divide dough in half; shape each half into a flat disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Working with one disk at a time, roll out dough 1/8 inch thick on a lightly floured surface. Using a 1 3/4-inch heart-shaped cutter, cut out cookies. Transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets, spaced 1 inch apart. Refrigerate 20 minutes.
• Bake, rotating halfway through, until edges are just golden but still pale on top, 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool on sheets 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and let cool completely.
• Filling:In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine guava paste with 1/3 cup water. Cook until paste has melted completely and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and let cool completely.
• Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a 1/4-inch round tip. Pipe 1 tablespoon filling onto bottoms of half the cookies, then sandwich with remaining cookies. In a small bowl, mix together confectioners' sugar and food coloring until well combined. Sift over cookies. Unfilled cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days; filling can be refrigerated, covered, up to 3 days.

ITALIAN WEDDING COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°F (165°C).
• Cream butter or margarine in a bowl, gradually add confectioners' sugar and salt. Beat until light and fluffy.
• Add almonds and vanilla.
• Blend in flour gradually and mix well.
• Shape into balls (or crescents) using about 1 teaspoon for each cookie.
• Place on ungreased cookie sheets, and bake for 15-20 minutes. Do not brown.
• Cool slightly, then roll in the extra confectioners' sugar.

ITALIAN WEDDING COOKIES III

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Cream butter or margarine in a bowl, gradually add confectioners' sugar and salt. Beat until light and fluffy. Add almonds and vanilla. Blend in flour gradually and mix well.
• Shape into balls (or crescents) using about 1 teaspoon for each cookie. Place on ungreased cookie sheets, and bake for 15-20 min. Do not brown. Cool slightly, then roll in the extra confectioners' sugar.

BISCOCHITOS (MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES)

Steps:

• Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Using a food processor, grind 1 cup of nuts to coarse cornmeal texture. Transfer to a medium size bowl. Using either the food processor or chopping by hand, coarsely chop the remaining cup of nuts. Transfer to the same bowl and add the flour and salt.
• In a large bowl, either using hand mixer or stand mixer, beat the butter and superfine sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract. With mixer on low, slowly add the flour-nut mixture until combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape the bowl and beaters, then continue to beat on low speed until the dough is cohesive.
• Working with one tablespoon at a time, press and roll dough together into balls and lay on prepared sheets, about 1 inch apart.
• Bake cookies until pale gold and the bottoms are just beginning to brown, about 18 minutes, switching and rotating baking sheets halfway through the baking.
• Let cookies cook on the cooking sheet for 10 minutes, then move to cooling rack to cool completely, about 1 hour.
• Using either a bowl or a paper bag filled with confectioners' sugar, roll the cookies to coat. Just before serving, re-roll and gently shake off any excess.