LGBT Rainbow cookies

Menno de Koning, winner of Heel Holland Bakt 2014, shows you in this recipe how to make the most colourful rainbow cookies ever, inspired by the iconic LGBT flag.

This is what Menno says about his rainbow cookies in the book:
‘The rainbow flag, an iconic symbol for the Lesbian, Gay, Bi & Transgender community, represents diversity. It originated in America, where the first flags waved proudly during San Francisco Pride in the late seventies. The rainbow is a mythical sign of joy, a bridge to another world, an enigmatic natural phenomenon with pots of gold supposedly waiting at the end. I can’t help but feel proud of what it represents. And this cookie, whose recipe I found on a blog years ago, surely makes you very happy, doesn’t it? Make them for a party before you go to Gay Pride, or simply because they are fabulous.’

Method:

Hard-boil the eggs for 10 minutes. Cool them under cold running water and peel them. Halve them and remove the yolks (you will not use these egg whites). Press the egg yolks through a fine sieve.

Put the sugar and lemon zest in a bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar turns yellowish. Beat the butter, sugar, salt and egg yolks with a mixer in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, in about 5 minutes. Add the vanilla extract. Add the flour and mix on the lowest setting until the flour has been incorporated. Continue kneading by hand until you have a dough. Do not knead for too long.

Divide the dough into six equal portions (use scales for this) and colour each piece as desired. Roll each piece of dough in plastic wrap into a long, straight strip of approximately 8 x 25 x 1 cm. Wrap them in the plastic wrap and leave them to firm up in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 175 °C. Place the strip of purple dough on a cutting board, brush it with egg white using a pastry brush and repeat with the other strips of dough in the order blue, green, yellow, orange and red. Trim the sides with a sharp knife. Brush the sides with egg white and press the dough into the sprinkles on all sides. If the dough is too soft, leave it to firm up in the refrigerator for another half hour. Work as quickly as possible and with cold hands. Cut the dough into rectangular cookies just over half a cm thick. Place the cookies on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Bake the cookies for 12–15 minutes until done and make sure they do not brown. After baking, let the cookies rest on the baking tray for 5 minutes and then leave them to cool further

Tip: Use oven-safe sprinkles! Ones that don’t turn into a pile of sugar when baked. Otherwise, you’ll have to leave out the
sprinkles. Most American sprinkle brands retain their shape in the oven. I use CK Products sprinkles, which are easy to find on amazon.com.

Adding boiled egg yolks makes the dough light and results in a crisp, buttery-soft cookie. You can also use this trick with other cookie recipes without changing anything else in the recipe.

Menno’s superheroes cookbook

Menno de Koning
€ 24,99
Kosmos Uitgevers