Martini Cookies, a recipe for a cutout cookie shaped and decorated like martinis, from the book “100 Best Decorated Cookies”.
A fun Pumpkin Martini Cookie recipe for you today! If you’ve followed my site for a while, you know that I love creating fun ‘tini cocktails. Today, I’m bringing you a fun ‘tini but in cookie form! I recently received a review copy of 100 Best Decorated Cookies by Julie Anne Hession and was so inspired by the book that I couldn’t wait to turn my Pumpkin Cheesecaketinis into a cookie! So many great recipes and tips in the book, that the cookies were a piece of cake (or cookie…) to make!
You might remember Julie when I wrote about her book 175 Best Mini Pie Recipes or you might know her from her popular blog Peanut Butter and Julie. She is super talented and inspiring, so be sure to check out her books and blog for some great ideas and recipes. When I heard Julie had a new book out, I couldn’t wait to see it because I knew it would be full of great recipes and idea.
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t decorate cookies very often. I can’t even remember the last time I worked with royal icing, if ever. I don’t have the patience for pastry bags so I was super excited when I saw Julie had various ideas for decorating including squeeze bottles. Yep SQUEEZE BOTTLES. I might not have the patience for pastry bags, but I can handle a squeeze bottle.
So as the name suggests 100 Best Decorated Cookies has step-by-step pictures and directions for 100 cookies including seasonal cookies (Easter bunnies, witch hats, pumpkins, snowmen, Christmas trees, etc.), cookies for kids (rocket ships, trains, animals, soccer balls, etc.), and party cookies (leapoard-print purses, champagne glasses, baby onesies, dice, etc.).
Besides all the decorating, there are also cookie dough recipes including a whole wheat sugar cookie, gluten-free sugar cookie, dark chocolate sugar cookie, Vermont Maple Sugar Cookies, and more. Also a recipe for a classic royal icing and a vegan royal icing. The book also has A LOT of great tips for beginners or advanced cookie decorators. If you have a foodie on your gift list this holiday season, I’d definitely check this book out. To make these Pumpkin Martini Cookies, I adapted the recipe for the Pink Martini Cookies. Hope you enjoy!
(photo courtesy of Robert Rose and posted with permission)
The dough for the cookies came together quickly. For full instructions see below. Be sure to refrigerate the dough until it is well chilled. I actually made these cookies over 3 days but you don’t need to. The first day, I made the dough and then put the dough in the fridge overnight. Second day, I rolled out the dough, cut out the cookies, and baked. The third day I decorated and let the icing set.
You could use any martini glass cookie cutter, but if you are looking to get one, I bought this martini glass cookie cutter from Amazon. It’s about 4 1/2 inches tall and about 3 inches wide and made about 40 cookies. The size of your cookie cutter may affect the yield of the recipe.
I was a little hesitant making pumpkin sugar cookies and thought for sure the pumpkin cookie dough would spread and not hold the shape, but they baked up beautifully with no problems.
For the decorating for these martini cookies I used a regular squeeze bottle like this squeeze bottle from Amazon. You could also use a pastry bag and tips, but I really loved Julie’s tips for using a two-step process with the squeeze bottles. I think getting the icing the right consistency is the toughest part but loved Julie’s tip that it should be the consistency of hair gel.
Check out the picture above of the pink martini to see how to apply the icing. I used black for the outline and orange for the martini part but you could use any colors. You could also use any color for the sanding sugar but I decided to use some leftover orange sugar from Halloween.
Hope you enjoy the cookies! Be sure to check out 100 Best Decorated Cookies on Amazon this holiday season!
Hope you enjoy!
This fun Pumpkin Spice Cake Martini would be a fun cocktail to serve with these cookies!
Pumpkin Martini Cookies
Ingredients
Cookie Dough:
- 4 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup pumpkin purée (unsweetened)
- 2 teaspoons grated fresh orange zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Icing:
- 2 pounds confectioners sugar sifted
- 6 tablespoons meringue powder
- 14 tablespoons warm water + more to thin
- 1 teaspoon almond or hazelnut extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- black gel paste
- orange sanding sugar
- orange gel paste
Also needed:
Instructions
- Whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice in a medium bowl.
- Beat together brown sugar, sugar, and butter with an electric mixer or stand mixer (with paddle attachment) on medium speed until well combined. Beat in egg, pumpkin, orange zest, and vanilla until well combined.
- Slowly beat in dry ingredients into wet ingredients with mixer on low speed until combined.
- Divide dough into 3-4 equal pieces onto plastic wrap. Form into disks and completely wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place oven racks in upper and lower third of oven. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll out cold dough on a well floured work surface until dough is about 1/4-inch thick. If dough is too sticky, roll with more flour. Using cookie cutter, cut out cookies and place on prepared baking sheets leaving about 1-inch space between cookies. Reroll scraps and cut until dough is gone. Repeat with remaining dough. If dough becomes too soft, refrigerate again for about 20 minutes or until cold and firm.
- Bake cookies in batches about 16-22 minutes or until lightly browned, rotating pans halfway through baking. Cool cookies on pan for about 10 minutes then transfer to wire racks. Cool completely before decorating.
- When cookies are cool, prepare icing. Beat together sugar and meringue powder in the bowl of a stand mixer (or use an electric mixer) on low speed until well combined.
- Stir together water and extracts in a mixing cup or bowl with spout.
- With mixer on low speed, slowly add water mixture, mixing until well combined. Icing may appear runny at first. Increase speed to medium and mix for 4 minutes scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Then increase mixer speed to high and beat an additional 3 to 5 minutes or until icing is stiff and glossy and the whisks can stand up in icing without sinking.
- Spoon half of icing into another bowl. Slowly add more water to one bowl until icing is consistency of hair gel. Dye icing black with gel paste then pour or spoon into squeeze bottle.
- Gently squeeze icing to outline martini onto cookie with black icing. While icing is still wet sprinkle rim of glass with sanding sugar and gently shake off excess. Let icing set a few minutes to firm.
- Slowly add water to other bowl of icing until consistency of hair gel. Dye icing orange with gel paste then pour or spoon into squeeze bottle. Gently squeeze to fill in martini glass as desired. Let icing set about 6 hours or overnight.
Notes
Nutrition:
(Nutrition data is provided when available for informational purposes only and calculated using an online nutritional calculator. For the most accurate information please calculate based on specific ingredients and brands you use as well as any changes you made to the recipe. I am not a certified nutritionist or registered dietician and any nutritional information provided should only be used as a general guideline and estimate.)
Sheila Johnson says
How cute are these?! Loving the martini glasses.
Michelle says
How much pumpkin pie spice would you use for the substitution?
Lisa Huff says
It’s a personal decision as far as how “spicy” you’d like them. I’d suggest starting with 2 teaspoons. You could substitute the whole amount which would be 3 1/2 teaspoons but may be a bit strong for some people.