Saffron White Chocolate Cookies

What would winter be without saffron? During the past week, I’ve seen a multitude of delicious Lussekatter aka sweet saffron buns baked for Saint Lucy’s Day. It’s a popular feast especially in Sweden but also in Norway and in Finland amongst the Finnish Swedish culture.

Personally, I adore saffron both in cooking and baking. Previously I’ve shared my trusted saffron bun recipe, but for Christmas gift boxes I have designed these simple saffron white chocolate cookies. After all, saffron brings bright festive yellow color and indulgence you don’t want to miss.

These cookies are crunchy and white chocolate works so well with saffron. The cookies are soft the first day but after a day or two, the cookies will build on their crunchiness. Perfect for dunking in milk or tea!

Tips for baking

These are easy butter cookies. Prepare the cookie dough and let it harden and build flavors in the fridge. Shape the cookies by hand. Use a cookie stamp, a fork, or the bottom of decorative glass to design the cookie surface.

The cookies will spread in the oven. My dough pieces were 22 grams each, and the diameter of the final cookie changed from 6cm to 8cm (2,4 < inch) depending on how equally round I shaped and pressed the dough pieces. Leave 1cm thickness when pressing the cookies down.

Saffron White Chocolate Cookies | Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• Saffron (0,5-1 teaspoon, you can use less of course)
• 8g water
• 120g butter (room temperature)
• 70g sugar
• 30g egg
• 150g wheat flour
• 2g baking powder
• 35g white chocolate

METHOD

1. In a small bowl, combine saffron with hot water (not boiling). Let it cool and release its flavor for at least 20 minutes. Whip butter and sugar with a hand mixer together until smooth. Add egg little by little and finally the saffron mixture. Fold ingredients gently until creamy. Mix all dry ingredients together. Shred chocolate into the dough and fold the flour mixture into the dough. Chill the dough for 1 hour in the fridge.

2. Pre-heat oven to 200C/400F and prep baking tray(s) with parchment paper. Divide and weigh the dough into equal pieces. Each at a time, shape and roll into a ball until smooth. Gently flatten the ball down with your hand and decorate the surface. Place the cookies 3 cm apart from each other leaving space for the cookies to spread.

3. Bake the cookies for 7 – 10 minutes on the middle rack. Rotate the trays if baking multiple at the same time. Let the cookies cool on the baking tray for 10 minutes before removing them to a cooling rack. 

4. Store the saffron cookies air-tight in a cool place.

Love, Saara