Butterfly Pea Cookies

❓What is butterfly pea?

• Butterfly pea plant (Clitoria Ternatea) is a creeper plant commonly found in the Southeast Asia region. It produces blue flowers called the butterfly pea flowers (also known as the Asian Pigeonwings). 
• The butterfly pea flowers have a deep blue color and are widely used as a natural food color in both food and drinks. 
• Butterfly pea flowers can be used in their fresh from, as dried flowers or even in powder form (referred to as blue matcha). The most common use of butterfly pea flowers is in making the butterfly pea flower tea. This is a herbal tea made by infusing the butterfly pea flowers in hot water. This herbal infusion is often served without any sweeteners.
• Butterfly pea flowers (either in dried flower form or powder form) are increasingly being used as a natural food colorant in making food and drink recipes, and these are no longer limited to the traditional ones. See how I have used the butterfly pea to make butterfly pea jelly, blue matcha latte, butterfly pea milk tea with boba, butterfly pea syrup and butterfly pea lemonade. 
• A distinct feature of the butterfly pea flowers extract is its ability to change from blue to purple when mixed with acidic ingredients or substances like lemon juice or lime juice like in this butterfly pea lemonade recipe. Hence when using these butterfly pea flowers as a natural food color, it is important to keep it mind of this feature to preserve its blue color. 

For the Cookies:

• All purpose flour - sift first before using.
• Cornstarch - used in small quantity in the recipe. Cornstarch helps give the cookies a light texture.
• Butter - I use salted butter. If using unsalted butter, add an extra pinch of salt in the recipe. Butter should be firm enough to hold its shape but soft enough to poke your finger into it.
• Powdered sugar - helps with the fine texture of the cookies. Sift first before using as powdered sugar tends to be lumpy.
• Salt - enhances the taste of the cookies. Use fine salt.
• Vanilla extract - adds a lovely aroma and flavor to the cookies.
• Butterfly pea flower powder (blue matcha powder) - this is butterfly pea flowers in powder form. Make sure to sift first as this powder also tends to be lumpy.
• Dried butterfly pea flowers - these are optional but add lovely specks to the cookies.

For the Lemon Glaze:

• Powdered sugar - sift first before using.
• Lemon juice - use fresh lemon juice and strain to remove any pulp or seeds before mixing into the sugar.
• Water - use filtered water.

Decoration

• Dried butterfly pea flowers

*Refer to the recipe card below for full list of ingredients and exact quantities. For best results, use a digital kitchen scale where applicable*

Step 1: Mix the Cookie Dough

Cut the dried butterfly pea flowers to separate the blue petals from the green stems. Discard the green part and add the petals into a food processor. Since the quantity of the flowers is to little to be processed on their own, add half of the powdered sugar into the food processor to create volume (image 1).

Pulse the flowers and sugar until the flowers are broken into small pieces. Set aside. (You can skip these steps if you choose not to use the dried flowers in your cookies as the flowers are optional)(image 2).

Next, place the butter into a large bowl. Add the remaining powdered sugar. Cream until both the ingredients are well combined. Do not overbeat. Add the processed butterfly pea flowers and sugar mixture into the butter mixture and mix again until well combined (image 3).

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, salt and the butterfly pea powder and mix with a hand whisk.

Sift the dry ingredients and add them into the creamed butter and sugar mixture (image 4).

Mix the ingredients on low speed until the mixture turns crumbly like breadcrumbs (image 5).

Add the vanilla extract and transfer the cookie dough mixture onto a clean surface. Press it with your hands until it comes together into a dough ball (image 6). Do not overmix. If you find it hard to bring it together, let the dough rest for about 10 to 15 minutes and try again.

Step 2: Cut and Bake the Cookies

Divide the dough into 3 or 4 sections for easy rolling. Start with the first section. Form it into a ball and press it down lightly. Place the dough in between 2 sheets of parchment paper. Place 2 dowel rods on either side of the dough (image 7).

Roll the dough flat, making sure your rolling pin rolls on both the rods (image 8).

Note: This will ensure your cookie dough does not get flatter than the diameter of the rods and the cookies are of a consistent thickness.

Set the rods aside and peel off the parchment paper on top. Use a round fluted cookie cutter (mine is 2 inches in diameter) to cut out as many cookies as you can from the rolled dough (image 9).

To lift the cut out cookie dough, remove the excess dough on the sides (image 10).

Lift the parchment paper and gently push the cookies up with your fingers (image 11).

Note: Another option is to slide a flat spatula underneath each cookie to lift them.

Remove any excess bits of dough around the cut outs and place the cookies on a lined baking sheet.

Note: The cookies do not puff or increase in size during baking, so you can place them fairly closely to one another on the baking tray. Leave about 2 cm distance between each cookie for easy handling.

Bake the cookies in a preheated oven at 170 degrees Celsius for about 8 to 10 minutes. If your cookies are browning too much on the sides, reduce the baking temperature for the next batch so that your cookies retain as much of the lovely blue color on the edges (image 12).

Remove the cookies from the oven and let them rest in the tray for about 3 to 4 minutes before transferring them onto a wire rack to cool completely. Keep the cookies in an airtight container as soon as they cool down to room temperature to retain their crisp and crumbly texture.

Step 3: Decorate the cookies

Start by preparing the flower flakes. Separate the blue petals from the green stems with scissors (image 13).

Discard the stems and chop the petals into tiny flakes. You can use a pair of scissors to cut the petals or use a knife to chop them. Set aside (image 14).

Next, make the lemon glaze. Sift the powdered sugar into a small mixing bowl. Strain the lemon juice in followed by the water (image 15).

Mix well until the sugar is all well incorporated. Test the consistency of the glaze by dripping it in lines on a plate (with a spoon). If it spreads out too much, add more sugar to thicken it.

Transfer the glaze into a piping bag (image 16).

Arrange the cookies on a wire rack, with at least 1 cm space between each cookie. Snip the tip of the piping bag (make sure it is a small hole). Drizzle the glaze onto each cookie (image 17).

Quickly sprinkle the top of each drizzled cookie with the dried butterfly pea flower flakes (image 18). It is best to do the drizzle in batches to avoid the glaze from hardening on the cookies as it will then not be able to hold the flower flakes in place.

Allow the glaze to set completely before storing the cookies back in an airtight container.

Note: When stacking the cookies in a cookie jar or a container, place paper doilies parchment paper cut outs in between the cookies to prevent the glaze icing for sticking to other cookies.

💭FAQs