When my friend named Violet inspired a purple-themed birthday gathering, I thought a collection of festive cookies would be perfect. And what better way to add more healthy-but-tasty items to my baking repertoire, using plant-based ingredients on some, and gluten-free goodies as well.
- Pressed Jam-filled Sugar Cookies (plant-based, no eggs)
- Ube Chocolate Checkerboard Sablés (traditional)
- Spritz Cookies (plant-based, no eggs)
- Roller-Embossed Ube Sugar Cookies (plant-based, no eggs)
- White Valrhona Chocolate and Coconut Truffles (gluten-free)
Standard favorites turned fabulous
My first task was to select some of my favorite baking treats. I knew I wanted to have a good mix of shapes, sized, and textures. Even though they would all be tied together with shades of purple, I didn’t want them looking or tasting alike. I also wanted them to be fabulous! The party was going to be held at a local bar that’s always decorated in lots of color, with low lighting, so sparkles and iridescent decor was definitely called for.
I also wanted to address more dietary restrictions of my friends. In addition to addressing the plant-based selections I am enjoying exploring, I wanted to include at least one gluten-free item. The selection process was on!
First, a favorite cookie that I could bring into the color family fairly easily was my pressed, jam-filled sugar cookies. I added a touch of food coloring into the dough to make them a pretty violet, and chose blackberry jam for the filling. To turn up the sparkle element, I brushed the cookies with purple edible luster dust (sponsored). Fabulous!
A few other cookies that made it into the mix are ones I love to make because they are just really yummy. Spritz cookies I have been making forever. They are quick to make, can be tweaked to fit any occasion, and are always popular. And they can be made into plant-based versions with no loss in flavor or texture by using Miyoko’s butter and Just Eggs. To fit the theme, they made an appearance as violet flowers, in ombré purple-pink shades, sprinkled with purple sugar and stars (sponsored).
Change shapes and pattern for more visual interest
I also gave my checkerboard sablés a purple upgrade to give the collection a different pattern, shape, and flavor. It took a couple of tries to get the purple to the shade I wanted. The first pass I used more chocolate than I should have, and the purple really wasn’t coming through. I decided to start over and used less chocolate, and more ube powder and food coloring so the purple would really pop. I think the overall effect was really fun, and the flavor was still great. And as a bonus, that gave me a chance to play around with the extra batch of dark chocolate cookie dough.
Trying something new
Never one to stick with the same thing, I wanted to try out something different. I really love the way the pressed jam cookies look, but while I was researching other embossing cutters I came across embossing rolling pins (sponsored). I was intrigued and thought they would add yet another texture and style to my festive cookie platter.
My plan was to do an ube purple plant-based sugar cookie. I had already made up the dough, and it was resting in the refrigerator, but since I had never used the embossing roller before, I decided the discarded batch of chocolate sablé dough would make a great test batch to figure out best practices for using the new tool. Turns out it was a great idea. Not only was the roller easy to use, but the chocolate-purple cookies made it onto the tray.
I found a suggestion on adding a glaze to the embossed cookie when they are still hot out of the oven to help bring out the embossed details, and by adding a bit of coloring the dark cookies got a nice violet sheen. The ube embossed cookies turned out great too. By cutting the two flavors into different shapes they added even more interest to the platter of cookies.
Fun With Truffles
I have never had an opportunity to make truffles before, but seemed like the perfect way to add some real pizzaz to the platter. I wanted to go with a contrast of color, so decided on white valrhona chocolate truffles rolled in coconut. To make them really special I wanted to top them with purple flowers. I don’t like fondant, so I found white modeling chocolate that looked perfect. The brand is called Hot Hands, and it uses the warmth of your hands to soften the chocolate for modeling. I did a few tests to try out the material, especially to make sure it would taste great, and it did. How fun! The modeling chocolate was really easy and fun to use.
Flower molds make decor easy
A bit more research led me to the perfect size silicone flower molds (sponsored) I needed. I was able to add purple gel food coloring to the chocolate, but I decided to give it more flash by brushing the luster dust I had used on my other cookies onto the flower molds. When I pressed the violet colored modeling chocolate into the molds they came out with the most gorgeous purple metallic sheen! Fantastic!
I wasn’t entirely sure how those white chocolate coconut truffles would turn out. Once they were assembled I gave them an try and I was happy with them. Well, it turned out they got rave reviews! They were especially appreciated by the gluten-free friends in the group. They have told me several times afterwards that they really enjoyed finally having something tasty and fun they could eat in such a festive collection!
All in all, this was one of the most fun cookie collections I have had an opportunity to create. I love that the cookies address lots of dietary needs, but still maintains a high standard for taste and style.
Of course, I needed to make a card to put on the table that identified the cookies, and who might be able to eat what. A simple way to help people make good choices.
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