Hogwarts worthy Butterbeer Cookies!

I have said before, I am an official nerd. I will 100% own up to that. In all the Harry Potter books and films, they always refer to Hogwarts during Christmas time. It always seemed like a magical place to be at Christmas. I was inspired to make a Butterbeer inspired cookie for our Christmas party.

I also submitted this recipe into #CreativeCookieContest being hosted by Cookies & Cups and Confessions of a Cookbook Queen. I hope that Harry Potter fanatics like me can enjoy it this holiday season!

Hogwarts worthy Butterbeer Cookies

Ingredients

For the cookies:

1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon butter extract

For the ganache:

½ cup heavy cream
5.5 ounces butterscotch chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line your baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine together the flour and salt and set aside. In your electric mixer bowl or bowl with hand mixer, cream together the butter, powdered sugar, butter extract and vanilla extract until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Add the dry ingredient mixture all at once, and mix on low speed for about a minute. Wipe down the sides of the bowl and increase the speed to medium, and mix for another minute until a dough forms.

Use a tablespoon as your size estimate. Scoop a tablespoon of dough, roll it into a ball and place on your baking sheet. You can use your thumb or the back of a teaspoon to make an indention in the cookie. Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

Remove the cookies from the oven, and use your teaspoon to push down again on your cookie. We want to make sure we have a place to put the ganache. Return the cookies to the oven and continue to bake for another 10 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a few minute before you transfer them to cooling racks. Allow them to cool completely.

While the cookies are cooling, let’s make the Butterbeer ganache.

In a bowl, place your butterscotch chips. In a small saucepan on medium heat, bring the heavy cream up to scalding. Remove from the heat and pour over the butterscotch chips. Allow to sit for a minute or so and whisk until smooth. You need to allow the ganache to cool to room temperature before using.

Once the cookies have cooled we are ready to assemble our Butterbeer cookies. You can transfer ganache to a plastic squeeze bottle or zip top bag to create a piping bag. Pipe the ganache into the center of each cookie. You can drizzle the top with additional ganache if you want. Allow the cookies to set up before stacking them for storage.

These cookies are a twist on a traditional thumb print cookie. I hope you enjoy!

Until next time,

Kara

The cookie base was inspired by Ambrosia.