The Two-tone Cookie Bag Filled with Chantilly Cream can be prepared as a cute gift for Mother’s Day. It’s the star of the fourth episode of “Bricolage in the kitchen,” where I propose easy craft projects that I will later transform into recipes. I hope you like it and that it can be a source of inspiration for new ideas not just in the kitchen! Two fun and simple projects to create even with children.

Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Cheap
Rest time: 45 Minutes
Preparation time: 45 Minutes
Portions: 2 bags
Cooking methods: Oven
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
5 tbsp butter
1/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 oz red beets, cooked, boiled
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
5 tbsp butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
3 1/2 tbsp sugar
3/4 cup milk
1/2 orange peel
3/4 cup heavy cream
as needed glucose (to glue the pieces)

Steps

Place the flour in a mound on a pastry board, make a well in the center, add the sugar, softened butter, well-blended beetroot, and start kneading without overworking the ingredients until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky. Wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for about half an hour.
For the preparation, you can follow the steps you find here. For convenience, I’ll leave the main ones below: work on a pastry board with flour, egg, sugar, and butter. Knead until you get a smooth dough, put it in the fridge for about half an hour wrapped in plastic wrap.
For the preparation of custard, you can follow the steps you find here. For convenience, I’ll leave the main ones: heat in a saucepan milk and peel of half an orange until it boils. In another saucepan, whisk the egg with sugar, gradually add the sifted flour while whisking. Pour the hot milk slowly into the egg mixture, passing it through a sieve. Put the saucepan on the stove and cook, stirring continuously, until it thickens. Place the cream in a container, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it cool.
Whip the very cold cream, add a tablespoon of sugar. It should be quite firm. Now add it to the completely cooled custard. Start incorporating it little by little, stirring with a spatula.
Afterwards, to make it more homogeneous, blend the cream together with the custard.
Roll out the red shortcrust pastry with a rolling pin to a thickness of about 1/8 inch and cut out a heart measuring 6 inches (wide at the widest part) x 5 inches tall. This will be the base of your bag.
Now cut out two shapes as shown, 5 inches tall and 3 inches wide. Divide them into three strips as you can see below.
With a knife, cut out two arches, with an opening of 2 1/2 inches and a height of 3 inches. The width of the arch is 3/5 inch.
Also, roll out the classic shortcrust pastry with a rolling pin to a height of about 1/8 inch. Cut out a heart of the same size as the red one.
At this point, cut out two shapes as shown below, the same dimensions as the red ones.
Also, in the classic shortcrust pastry, cut out two arches, identical to the red ones.
To prepare the top part of the bag, weave the red shape with the yellow one as shown. You need to make two. Trim the edges if necessary.
I kneaded the leftover pastry again and made many flower-shaped cookies of various sizes, with the appropriate cutters. Put in the freezer for about 15-20 minutes, they need to harden well.
Place all the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 350°F for about 13 minutes, the little flowers will take a few minutes less. Let them cool completely and then apply the handles both on the checkered heart and on the base by attaching them with glucose. Decorate the surface of the bag with little flowers, making them adhere always with glucose.
Place the bases on a plate, cover them with two layers of chantilly cream using a syringe, place the decorated checkered cookie on top, complete with some cream tufts.
And enjoy your meal!