Glazed Chinese Five Spice Cookies
How is it possible that Christmas is a mere 2 weeks away?! December is just flying by and I wish it would slow down a bit so I could actually decorate our apartment with some sort of festive cheer and curl up for a viewing of Love Actually with a hot mug of cocoa and some cookies. Alas, my desire to see Hugh Grant dance around like a fool will have to be suppressed for a little bit longer.
It feels like everyday this month is jam packed with holiday/new year recipe development, dumpling events, ramen photoshoots, holiday shindigs, and top secret meetings for top secret projects. Gah! I wish I could tell you… I’m so bad at keeping secrets. It’s a very good secret though. I promise I’ll tell you soon!
Okay. Sorry, talking about secrets is annoying… let me change the subject… COOKIES! Just look at these beauties! One of the best parts of the holiday season (aside, from family, love, and great food) are all the cookie tins! I look forward to the assortment of pretty buttery, chocolatey, spicy, and sprinkle laden biscuits all year! The only cookie I’m actually not a huge fan of is gingerbread. Ugh, I know. Does that make me a terrible Christmas person? I’ve just never had a gingerbread cookie that didn’t tasty like spicy cardboard. I love spice, but it needs to be balanced! A cookie shouldn’t attempt to break your tooth either…
These Glazed Chinese Five Spice Cookies are the answer to my gingerbread woes! They are crisp but tender. Sturdy enough to cookie tins and cross country mail journeys. Just sweet enough and balanced with a kiss of Chinese Five Spice! Using a mooncake mold or a cookie stamp creates the most lovely and whimsical designs that will delight all your loved ones!
Chinese Five Spice in a Cookie?
YES! It’s actually really lovely in a sweet application! Chinese Five Spice is composed of… well, 5 spices: Cinnamon, Cloves, Star Anise, Fennel, and Sichuan Peppercorns. Some mixes might include ground ginger instead.
I love to use Chinese Five Spice to season meat and add a little kick to dumpling fillings or sauces. Until these cookies, I had never used them in a sweet recipe. I’ve waited way too long! The key to incorporated Chinese Five Spice in sweets is to make sure you don’t use too much. It’s a VERY potent spice blend and a little goes a long way.
The Cinnamon, Cloves, and Star Anise are pretty standard flavor characters when it comes to holiday baking. The Sichuan Peppercorns add a hint of spice to the cookies and the fennel adds a little herbal flavor as well! It’s really lovely and once you have one cookie with a glass of cold milk you won’t be able to stop!
Use your Mooncake Mold for Cookies!
Dust off your mooncake molds because they make the perfect cookie stamp! People ask me all the time if it’s worth it to purchase a mooncake mold. Well, if you’re going to get into making mooncakes every September, then I say definitely! The molds are so beautiful and don’t only need to be used on mooncakes. They work essentially the way as European or Persian cookie stamps! If you want to go one step further with the mooncake molds, you could even make pressed butter blobs lol like the ones you see in seashell form at weddings!
Using a mooncake mold takes some time to get used to. Here are a few of my tips for mooncake mold trouble shooting:
Dust the mooncake mold with flour in between each cookie to help prevent sticking.
Apply firm and even pressure when pressing the cookies.
Place the dough ball on the baking sheet where you want to stamped cookie located and then press down with the mold. This way you don’t have to handle the delicate cookie so much.
Of course, if you don’t have a mooncake mold or cookie stamp, you can still make these cookies. Just cut them into rounds and glaze as flat cookies. Maybe score them with a fork, peanut butter cookie style, so the grooves can catch some extra tasty glaze!
Pastry Flour for Cookies
Just a quick note about flour! These cookies were made using Bob’s Red Mill Fine Pastry Flour for an incredibly tender and light texture! Pastry flour has less protein than regular all-purpose flour, which is great for cookies, cakes, and muffins! Pretty much awesome for anything thing where you want a moist and tender crumb texture! If you can’t find pastry flour, all-purpose flour will work just fine! The texture will just be a little different, but still delicious nonetheless!
Glazed Chinese Five Spice Cookies
makes 24 cookies
cookies:
2 1/2 cups Bob’s Red Mill Fine Pastry Flour
1/2 tsp Chinese Five Spice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 cup butter - softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp Chinese Five Spice
2 tbsp milk
steps:
In a large bowl, combine flour, Chinese Five Spice, salt, and baking powder. Whisk to combine and set aside.
Place softened butter in the bowl of a standmixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat for 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Add brown sugar and beat for 1 minute. Add vanilla and egg and beat for another minute until combined.
While mixing on low, gradually add the flour mixture and mix until the flour is incorporated and a thick dough is formed.
Divide the dough in half and form into discs. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.
Divide the dough into heaping 1 tbsp sized balls (a 1 1/2 tbsp cookie scoop is great for this!) and slightly flatten the dough balls. Prepare a mooncake mold or cookie stamp by dusting the mold with flour using a pastry brush. Place dough ball in the mold and firm press down. Gently release the stamped cookie from the mold and place on baking tray. Repeat process with remaining dough balls.
Bake the cookies for 15-17 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack (over the baking tray to catch the glaze) and allow to fully cool.
To make the glaze, whisk together powdered sugar, Chinese five spice, and milk until smooth. Adjust consistency as needed. Brush the glaze on to the cookies using a pastry brush or dip into the glaze and allow an excess glaze to drip off. Allow the glaze to set and enjoy!