The Strawberry Cookies with Beetroot Shortcrust Pastry are the third episode of the new series “Kitchen Crafting,” where I propose easy DIY projects, which I will then transform into recipes. I hope you like it and that it can be an inspiration for new ideas not only in the kitchen! Two proposals that evoke spring to prepare with children.

Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Low-cost
Rest time: 2 Hours
Preparation time: 1 Hour
Portions: 8 cookies
Cooking methods: Oven
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
5 tbsp butter
2.5 oz beetroot
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
5 tbsp butter
1 egg
as needed food coloring (blue gel, about two pinches)
16 sugar eyes
1 tsp powdered sugar
1 tsp cocoa powder
as needed water
as needed glucose

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 place it in the fridge for about an hour.
Place the flour in a mound on a pastry board, make a well in the center, add the sugar, softened butter, egg, and start kneading, without overworking the ingredients, until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky. At this point, add a bit of blue coloring and knead again until you achieve an even color. Wrap it in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for about an hour.
On a pastry board, roll out the red shortcrust pastry to a thickness of about 0.2 inches.
Lay the bubble wrap on top and roll over it with a rolling pin, applying light pressure.
Cut out heart-shaped cookies with a cookie cutter (approximately 3.15 inches tall and 3.54 inches wide). Re-knead the scraps and continue.
In total, I got eight hearts.
Draw the leaves on parchment paper and cut them out. The larger ones are approximately 2.17 inches tall and 2.76 inches wide, the smaller ones 2.17 inches tall and 1.38 inches wide.
Roll out the green shortcrust pastry to a height of about 0.2 inches and cut out eight larger and eight smaller leaves.
Place both the hearts and leaves on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or on a tray) and put them in the freezer for about an hour. After the time has elapsed, take them out and immediately put them in the oven at 350°F for 15-18 minutes. Remove from the oven and let them cool.
Now let’s proceed with the assembly. First, you can gently grate the bottom part of the smaller leaf with a knife so that the green color is more visible. At this point, put a little glucose on the edge of the smaller leaf.
Glue the smaller leaf in the center of the larger one, as shown in the figure. Let it dry.
Very gently make small holes in the larger leaf as shown in the figure. I used the tip of a toothpick. You must be very careful, otherwise, you risk breaking the cookie.
In the direction of the holes on the leaf, make two more on the heart, always very gently. I also used the tip of a toothpick here.
All that’s left is to assemble the two parts. Insert two small pieces of toothpick into the holes made in the leaf and slot them into those on the heart.
Decorate the little heart with two sugar eyes; for the mouth, I mixed a bit of water in some powdered sugar until it became a rather solid mixture and used a brush.
Alternatively, you can mix cocoa with a little water if you prefer a darker mouth.