Here’s a recipe I made last month for my daughter’s 5th birthday. She is in a shieldmaiden phase of her life (the first of many, I hope!), and has been especially interested in all things Viking, including “old letters”, or runes.
So in addition to a rather stunning crow cake surrounded by sparkly edible crow treasures, I thought it would be fun to make her some rune cookies, as well! I made several of her favorite designs, and then brushed the runes with some edible luster powder to give them a shimmery magical flair.
She’s 5, and knows her own mind, so she wasn’t a big fan of the flavor, but I found myself sneaking cookie after cookie for days, especially with a mug of tea or coffee. The flavor is subtle, but satisfying, and that little touch of magic might just be what gave me the extra oomph to power through the holiday-packed month of February (3 birthdays, and Valentine’s Day, our second biggest family holiday!). So here’s hoping it brings a little magic to you, as well!
Rune Shortbread Cookies
Note: I found that the cookie crumbles gave the cookies enough interesting color, but you could also add food coloring, if so inclined, to give the cookies a little more grey or brown tone.
Makes: about 2 dozen – Prep: 30 minutes – Baking: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup crumbled chocolate cookies (I used Oreos)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- edible luster dust (optional, but looks like magic!)
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and powdered sugar until it’s light and fluffy, then add in the vanilla extract, salt, and cookie crumbles. Gradually mix in the flour until you’ve got a pretty soft dough that doesn’t crumble apart.
To form the cookies, begin pinching off pieces of the dough and forming into balls roughly 1-2″ across. Using a rolling pin or the flat bottom of a glass, press the dough flat into a roughly stone-shape, reforming any cracks that might appear. Set the cookies on a baking sheet.
To make the Runes, I used the end of a wooden chopstick to press the shapes into the dough. I went with Norse Runes, but you could make any shapes you like! Chill the shaped and stamped cookies in the fridge while the oven preheats to 350°F.
Bake the cookies for around 15 minutes, until just turning golden on the edges. Remove from heat and allow to cool until they can be handled. (it may take several batches to bake all the cookies, depending on the size of your oven and baking sheets)
Using a clean small paintbrush, brush the edible luster powder onto the runes to give them a magical shimmer.
Those look really interesting!
How fun! I never would have thought of shortbread with crumbled cookie inclusion. Delicious!