We're making peach cookies. I remember these peach-shaped cookies with blushing sides from my childhood, from the school cafeteria and pastry shops. I adore them because they are delicious and look just like real peaches.
I've wanted to try this recipe for a long time, but I thought making these cookies was labor-intensive and time-consuming. In reality, it was very simple, quick, and even fun.
Ingredients for 10 portions
For the dough
- 2 piece Eggs
- 2.75 cup Wheat flour (350 g)
- 1/4 cup Butter (60 g)
- 2 tbsp Sour cream
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 cup Sugar (210 g)
For decoration
- 1/4 cup Alchermes liqueur (60 ml)
- 5 tbsp Sugar
- 1/3 cup Apple juice with pulp (100 ml)
For the cream
- 4 tbsp Dulce de Leche
- 1 tbsp Apricot jam
How to cook
Combine the sugar and eggs in a suitable bowl.
Whisk the eggs into a homogeneous mass; the egg mixture should fall off the whisk in a ribbon, not in drops.
Add softened butter, sour cream, salt, and vanilla extract to the egg mixture. Mix everything until smooth.
The butter may separate slightly, but don't be alarmed by this.
Add sifted flour and baking powder to the mixture. Mix well with a spatula.
Ideally, combine the flour and baking powder and mix them well before adding to the wet ingredients. This ensures the baking powder is evenly distributed throughout the dough.
The dough should be soft, but it shouldn't stick too much to your hands.
If the dough is too sticky, add more flour until the consistency is right.
Form the dough into small balls, about the size of a small walnut, each weighing approximately 1.2 oz (35 grams). Place these balls on a parchment-lined baking tray, spacing them about 1 inch (2-3 cm) apart as they will expand during baking.
If necessary, you can moisten your hands with water or oil or lightly dust them with flour to prevent sticking.
Place the tray in a preheated oven at 350°F (180°C) and bake the cookies for 10-15 minutes.
It's important not to overbake them. Once they're done, remove the cookies from the oven immediately. You can check for doneness using a toothpick or break a cookie in half.
This time, I slightly overbaked the cookies; you can tell by the golden color, deep cracks, and hard surface.
Properly baked cookies should be pale in color, without deep cracks, and should have a fairly soft texture when pressed. The cookies will harden on the outside as they cool.
Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and let them cool down to a warm temperature.
You can also begin pairing the cookies into matching sizes and shapes at this stage, preparing them for the next assembly step.
While the cookies are still warm, turn them over and make an indentation in the bottom part of each cookie.
You can use a dedicated fruit scooping knife or a simple teaspoon. This indentation will later help hold the filling.
Mix the Dulce de Leche with apricot jam until well combined. This mixture will be used as the filling for the cookies.
Fill each cookie half with the cream mixture, lightly spreading the cream over the entire base of each half. This helps the halves stick together and ensures every bite has a delicious creamy flavor.
Pair the filled halves and gently press them together to form peach cookies.
You can refrigerate the assembled cookies for 10-20 minutes to firm them up before decorating, or you can decorate them immediately.
Prepare three containers for the decoration process: one with apple juice, one with Alchermes liqueur, and one with sugar.
- Soaking in Apple Juice: First, dip the assembled cookie in apple juice, ensuring it's moistened on all sides. Hold each side in the juice for just a few seconds.
- Coloring with Liqueur: Next, dip your "peach" into the red liquid, coloring about 1/2 to 2/3 of the surface. This step mimics the peach's blushing side while leaving part of the surface lighter, simulating the varying ripeness of natural fruit. The extent of coloring can be adjusted to your preference.
- Coating in Sugar: Finally, dip the moistened cookie into the sugar, rolling it around to coat all sides evenly.
If the cookies absorb too much liquid and the sugar starts to clump, you might lightly dab them with a paper towel before rolling them in sugar.
If you have overbaked the cookies, you might want to slightly extend the soaking time to ensure they absorb enough moisture.
The peach cookies are now ready.
You can garnish them with mint leaves for freshness and visual appeal if desired. This decorative step can enhance the presentation and give the sweet treats a hint of minty aroma. Enjoy your beautiful and delicious peach cookies!
Recipe Tips
Do not overbake the cookies
This is probably the most important tip for achieving the perfect texture. These cookies should be pale and relatively soft when they come out of the oven, especially in the center. They will firm up as they cool. As I learned the hard way (you can see in my photos!), overbaking leads to a harder cookie that's prone to cracking and doesn't absorb the soaking liquids as nicely, resulting in uneven color. Aim for just baked through, usually around the 10-12 minute mark, but keep a close eye on them!
Getting the Filling Consistency Right
The filling needs to be quite thick to hold the cookie halves together well and not squish out too much. Both the Dulce de Leche and the apricot jam should be thick. If your Dulce de Leche seems a bit thin, you might chill it first. If your jam is runny, you could perhaps simmer it gently for a few minutes on its own to thicken it slightly before mixing, or choose a thicker preserve-style jam.
Coloring Your "Peaches"
As mentioned in the recipe, dipping part of the cookie in the red liquid (Alchermes or substitute) and leaving the rest soaked just in juice (apple, peach, etc.) gives that lovely realistic blush. Don't be afraid to experiment! Some like just a hint of red, others like a deeper color. You can even use two different colors (e.g., dip one side slightly in red, the other slightly in yellow/orange using carrot or peach juice) for a multi-toned effect before rolling in sugar.
Achieving Uniform Cookie Halves
For cookies that pair up nicely, try to make your dough balls as uniform in size as possible. Using a small cookie scoop (around 1 tablespoon size) is a fantastic way to ensure consistency. Weighing them, as suggested in the recipe (around 1.2 oz / 35g), is also a great method if you have a kitchen scale.
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