Happy Pride Month!
Last year for June, I made this rainbow crepe cake. . It was a crazy cake, and took a really long time to perfect. I am happy to say that this years Pride recipe is a lot more simple.
I actually came up with the idea for these cookies last year when I made them for a bake sale for my schools GSA. They were a huge hit and one of the first products to sell out. I got a lot of questions about how I made them, so this year I decided to publish them as a recipe.
Before I talk more about these cookies, let’s talk about pride month. Pride Month celebrates queer history and milestones, and supports today’s community with parades, parties, and other celebrations. While you could just make these cookies (which I highly recommend), a great way to help celebrate is checking out or maybe even donating to some great organizations. Some of these could be The Trevor Project , GSA Network, The Pride Foundation, The Point Foundation, and many more!
Now, onto some cookie talk
Describe These Cookies to Me
Taste: These are sugar cookies, but they’re a little more interesting then your classic cut out cookie. They have a less sugary taste than your usual sugar cookie, and more of a buttery taste. Plus they have a pop of orange in there to lighten everything up, which makes them perfect for summer.
Texture: Unlike many sugar cookies, these aren’t crunchy. They don’t snap when you break them in half. Instead they’re a lot softer with a little crumb.
Ease: The dough is super simple to throw together, the shaping is when things start to get a little tricky. Dying the dough all different colors will take a minute, as will the shaping. But all things considered, even those steps are pretty simple.
The Dough
The dough here is super simple. It’s got all your usual ingredients like butter, sugar, flour, eggs, all that stuff. For this recipe, I add orange to make them a little more interesting flavor wise. This is optional, but HIGHLY recommended. Everyone who has tried these cookies says the orange flavor balances perfectly with the butter and sugar, making these extra tasty as well as visually pleasing.
Coloring
The really cool thing about these cookies is you can color them to be any pride flag you want. Just break your dough into the number of colors you want, dye each chunk, and then move onto shaping. I just made these a rainbow flag but you could make colors for the Bi, Trans, Non binary, Gay, Lesbian, asexual flags, whatever you want!
Shaping
For shaping, we line a bread pan with aluminum foil and layer each color of dough inside it. Then we freeze that big chunk of dough, and then chop it into little rectangular cookies. These cookies look super impressive and complicated but the secret is that they’re actually pretty simple. To finish these off I dip the corner in white chocolate. It’s optional but I think it looks cool.
Pride Flag Cookies
Ingredients
Method
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Pour the granulated sugar into a large bowl. Using your hands, massage the orange zest into the sugar to release the flavorful oils. Add the butter and use a hand or stand mixed fitted with a paddle attachment to beat on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and beat until just combined. Add in the dry ingredients and beat on low speed until just combined.
- At this point, you can customize the colors you use. If you want to make a different flag, split the dough equally into the number of colors you will be using and dye each chunk. For a rainbow flag (as pictured), split the dough equally into six pieces (they will be small ish). Add a couple drops of red food coloring to one section and beat in a small bowl until just combined. Repeat with the remaining chunks of dough using one of the remaining five colors for each chunk.
- Once you have all of your colored dough pieces ready, press each one into a thick disk and wrap in cling wrap. Chill for 1 hour.
- Line a 9×5 inch loaf pan with aluminum foil.
- Once chilled, remove the colored dough disks from the fridge. Take the red dough and roll it out on a lightly floured surface into roughly a 9X5 inch rectangle. Try and limit how much flour you use, or else you run the risk of the layers not sticking together. Press that into the foil lined pan and smooth it out to make sure it completely covers the bottom in a flat layer. Repeat with each of the remaining dough colors, going in rainbow order and layering tightly on top of each other in the pan. Once layered, place a piece of cling wrap on top of the pan and chill for 2 hours and 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.
- Remove the dough from the fridge. Pull it out of the pan and carefully peel the aluminum foil off of it. Place the brick of dough on a cutting board and slice the ends and sides off to give you straight sides. Then, slice the trimmed brick of dough into 1/2 inch thick strips. Slice them so they are 5 inches long (NOT the 9 inch direction). Then, cut each strip in half to form two rectangles. Place each rectangle on the previously prepared baking sheet, at least two inches apart. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until just starting to brown on the edges. Allow to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Place the chopped white chocolate and coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl. Melt in 30 second increments until melted completely. Once melted, dip the corner of each cookie in the white chocolate and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Chill the cookies for 10 minutes to let the chocolate set.
- Enjoy! Cookies stay fresh for up to 1 week sealed in an airtight container at room temperature.