Butterfly Hair Clip Spritz Cookies

It's up to you.

13 detailed steps, from preparation to service.

1. Prepare the butter and the plates

   Take out the 200 g of butter sufficiently in advance so that they are very soft, without being melted: a finger must easily leave an imprint. Preheat the oven to 170 °C, conventional oven setting (no fan), with an oven rack at mid-height. Cover the two baking paper baking tray and prepare a solid piping bag with a 12 mm fluted sleeve. Chocolates are reserved for the finishing of cold biscuits.

2. Weighing the egg white

   Take 1 egg. Break them one by one over a small bowl and separate the white from the yolk by passing the yolk between the two half-shells; pour each clean white into a second bowl. No piece of yolk should remain in the whites. Weigh 30 g of whites for this recipe and keep the yolks in the refrigerator for another preparation. Also set aside the 80 g of icing sugar, the 230 g of flour, the vanilla teaspoon and the pinch of salt. A white much larger than 30 g would change the hold of the dough: use the scale rather than pour a whole egg by mistake.

3. Cream butter and sugar

   Place the 200 g of soft butter in a bowl. Whisk it 1 minute with hand whisk or beater at low speed to make it creamy. Add the 80 g of icing sugar in two, starting gently to avoid a cloud of sugar. Scrape the sides with a spatula: the mixture should be flexible and homogeneous, without butter pieces.

4. Add white and flavour

   Pour 30 g of egg white in two small batches while mixing. Add the vanilla teaspoon and pinch of salt, then frolic for another 20 to 30 seconds. If the mixture appears slightly grainy, scrape the bottom and gently continue for a few moments; add no milk or other liquid to make it more fluid.

5. Add flour to spatula

   Pour the 230 g of flour in two. With each addition, use a spatula to bring the dough back from the bottom to the top, gently crushing the flour piping bag against the wall. Stop as soon as there is no dry powder left. The dough must be thick but flexible, able to come out of the piping tip without you over-pressing on the piping bag.

6. Fill and close the piping bag

   Fold the top of the piping bag over a high glass to keep it open. Place half of the dough using the spatula and then raise the edges, flush the air and twist the top. Take a little dough out on the paper to check the grooves. If it resists too much, wait 5 to 10 minutes at room temperature and gently knead the pouch; do not heat it in the microwave.

7. Pipe the chosen shape

   Draw twelve rectangles of 7 x 5 cm on the back of the sheets to guide the poaching. For each butterfly, pipe a small S, then a second mirrored S right next to it. Make the two centers touch each other firmly by adding a little dough to this place: the two wings must cook together and not remain two separate cookies.

8. Space and cook one baking tray at a time

   Leave about 3 cm between the cookies and spread them on the two plates. Bake the first for 12 to 14 minutes at 170 °C, then cook the second. Look at the edges as early as 12 minutes: they must become golden while the grooves on the top remain clear. Do not wait for the whole cookie to brown, as it would continue to harden as it cools.

9. Cooling cookies before chocolate

   Place the oven tray on a heat-resistant surface and wait 5 to 10 minutes. Then slide a spatula under each cookie and place it on a rack. Let it cool completely, about 30 minutes. Also check the underside with a clean finger: a sponge still lukewarm would sink the decor and would be more fragile when soaking.

10. Trace the body of butterflies

    Chop 100 g of dark chocolate with a knife and put it in a small, perfectly dry bowl. Place the bowl on a saucepan containing 2 cm of barely simmering water, without the bottom of the bowl touching the water. Stir gently with the spatula and remove the bowl as soon as the pieces are almost melted; continue to stir off the heat. Wipe the bottom of the bowl before moving it: no drop of water should enter the chocolate. Pour the chocolate into a small baking paper cone or piping bag, fold the top and cut an opening of 1 to 2 mm. Test on a piece of paper: the chocolate should flow with gentle pressure, without running on its own. Hold the tip a few millimetres above the surface and guide it with your hand, without dragging the decoration. Draws a black stripe about 1 cm wide in the center of each cookie, on the junction of the two S, from top to bottom. This band emphasizes the body without masking the wings. Leave to freeze for 20 minutes to avoid mixing the black with the pink dots of the next step.

11. Preparing the pink chocolate

    Chop 40 g of white chocolate with a knife and put it in a small, perfectly dry bowl. Place the bowl on a saucepan containing 2 cm of barely simmering water, without the bottom of the bowl touching the water. Stir gently with the spatula and remove the bowl as soon as the pieces are almost melted; continue to stir off the heat. Wipe the bottom of the bowl before moving it: no drop of water should enter the chocolate. Add the 5 g of lyophilized raspberry powder in two and mix with the small spatula to remove the dry clumps. The mixture may thicken slightly; keep it lukewarm on the hot water bath turned off if necessary, without pouring water into it. You must be able to drop a small hazelnut with the tip of a spoon.

12. Putting the points on the wings

    Place a large pink dot on each side of the butterfly, or two dots per cookie, using the tip of a spoon or small cone. Spread the mixture between the twelve cookies, leaving the grooves visible around. Do not draw thin antennas: the body and two touches of color are enough. Leave the butterflies flat for 30 to 45 minutes until the chocolate is firm.

13. Lift through the center and keep

    Take off the cookies with a spatula placed under their center rather than pulling on a wing. Store them in a box by separating the layers with baking paper and keep them cool and dry. If there is any dark chocolate left, make it harden into lozenges for another use; do not unnecessarily enlarge the body, which would mask the cookie and make the bite too hard.