Piggy German Cocoa Butter Cookie

Just some simple German Butter Cookies but shaped into adorable piggies. Although you/ll spend a longer time shaping them, they'll definitely be your presentable festive cookies on the table to usher the 2019 Lunar New Year 😊

Update: 21 Jan 2019
I used a small remaining chunk of cookie dough and some black sesame seeds to create a miniature dice for fun 😆

Yield: about 45 cookies (2cm size)

Ingredients

125g unsalted butter, softened
50g icing sugar
pinch of salt

120g Prima Plain Flour Plus*/Plain flour
95g potato starch
10g milk powder

1/4 tps cocoa powder

Some black sesame seeds as eyes

* Plain flour plus is plain flour mixed with 25% of superfine wholegrain flour

Directions

1. Mix Plain flour plus, potato starch, milk powder in a bowl. Set aside.

2. Cream softened butter with icing sugar and salt till pale and smooth.

3. Sieve and fold in the flour mixture from Step 1.

Stop mixing when no loose flour can be seen.

4. Take about 40g or 10% of the dough weight, and mix with 1/4 tsp of cocoa powder.

If you are not making the cookie immediately, you can keep the dough in separate plastic bags and store in the fridge. Thaw the dough in room temperature for about 1 hour before shaping.

5. Take about 8g each of the plain dough and shape them into smooth balls.

Divide the cocoa dough into smaller dough balls corresponding to the quantity of plain dough balls you have. As the weight falls below 1g, it is difficult to weigh them out individually.

6. Place two black sesame seeds on a plain dough ball. Use the pointed tip of a bamboo tooth pick to move and station the sesame seeds.

Use the round tip of a chopstick to make an indentation around each eyes.

split a cocoa dough into three portions for the nose and eyes.

Shape one of the cocoa dough into the nose.

Use the tip of a tooth pick to create two nostrils.

Shape the other two cocoa dough into two ears.

and attach to the top of the plain dough ball.

 7. Place the finished pieces on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

8. Bake in a preheated oven at 150℃, at middle rack, for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn off the oven, and let the cookies stay for about 5 minutes in the oven.

7. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool down completely before keeping them in an air-tight container 😋

Recipe adapted from my FB friend Enny Ty. Thank you for sharing the great recipe 💓