Burberry Trenchcoat Cookies & A Giveaway!

The last time I visited London, I made it a point to drop by the Burberry Outlet on Chatham Place in Hackney. You know how outlets work–not quite perfect, but still acceptable and sometimes pretty great! These Burberry Trenchcoat Cookies are like the outlet version of the real deal, the classic Burberry Tea Trench Cookies you’ll find at afternoon tea at The Berkeley in London.Mourad Khiat is the head pastry chef at The Berkeley in Knightsbridge. He recently came out with a cookbook called Prêt-à-Portea: High-Fashion Cakes & Cookiesand as an avid baker and tea enthusiast I couldn’t be more over the moon about it. The book is a collection of high fashion items in pastry form, from Dolce & Gabbaba Chocolate Owls to Jason Wu-inspired Catwalk Coconut Cherry Compote!

The base of this cookie is flecked generously with vanilla bean seeds. There was only one decoration adaptation I made here, and that was to change the buttons and buckles to be black in color, true to the classic Burberry trench you see in the photograph below.You might have to play around with your brand of food coloring to get the right hue for these jackets. As a reference, I used a few drops of brown, and then added some yellow and violet/purple gel food coloring to the white icing base. Surprisingly, violet food coloring is key to getting just the right shade of tan.For me, the hardest step of piping was the inner sleeve and arm portion of the coat. Notice how the piping edge isn’t completely parallel to the cookie’s edge. Piping into the middle of the cookie helps to create a defined waist to the look of the trench–as hard in cookie-decorating as it is in real life!I’m serving these cookies today with black tea from Big Island Tea in Hawaii, the same tea served at the Burberry Flagship store in London. Cookies as intricate as these should only be enjoyed with best-quality tea!If and when you’re in London, don’t forget to make a stop at The Berkeley for tea time. In addition to the Fashionista’s Afternoon Tea, the hotel also offers a 2-hour masterclass with Chef Khiat himself!

***Enter the Giveaway***

To celebrate the book’s debut, Laurence King Publishing has generously offered to host a giveaway here at Thirsty for Tea!

The winner will receive a hardback 112-page copy of  Prêt-à-Portea: High-Fashion Cakes & Cookies! The book is full of gorgeous photos and cookie templates to create the most stylish sweets.

Get those teapots, teacups and piping tips ready…tea, baking and couture become one in this fabulous book!

To Enter: 1. “Follow” Laurence King Publishing on Facebook and 2. Leave a message on this post.

Two lucky winners will be announced next Friday, November 11, 2016. Good Luck, Fashionistas!!

***Congratulations to Patricia & Chaviva–you’ve each won a copy of Prêt-à-Portea: High-Fashion Cakes & Cookies!  Thank you to all for entering the contest!***

Burberry Trenchcoat Cookies

Makes 10-12 cookies.

Ingredients:

{Cookie Dough}

5 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted, plus more as bench flour

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped out

{Border/Drawing Icing- make a half recipe each in white, black & gold}

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 egg white

food coloring

{Flooding Icing- in tan}

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 egg whites

food coloring

Directions:

1. Make the Cookies. Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla bean seeds, then beat for another minute. Add the flour, then mix in until just incorporated. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, then place in fridge to rest for 1 1/2 hours or overnight. Trace out the Tea Trench Template (in the book) then cut it out to use as a cookie stencil. After the dough has rested, roll it out to a thickness of 1/4″. Use bench flour on the work surface and on your rolling pin as needed. Transfer the rolled cookie dough to a large baking pan fitted with parchment, then place in fridge to rest for 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Take the rolled dough out, then use a sharp paring knife to cut out cookies using the stencil. Place the cut cookie dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment, at least 1″ apart from one another. Bake for 8 minutes or until pale brown on the edges. Remove and cool on wire rack for 20 minutes. These are ready to pipe on when completely cooled.

2. Make the Border Icing (in tan). Mix the powdered sugar, egg white and food coloring together (to create a tan color, see above text). Place mixture in a piping bag fitted with a #3 piping tip. Pipe the edges of the trench coat according to the photo found in the book.

3. Make the Flooding Icing (in tan). Mix the powdered sugar, egg white and food coloring together to create a tan color. Place the mixture in a bag with a #4 piping tip. Flood the insides of the border created in step 2. Let this dry until completely hard.

4. Make the Drawing Icings (in white, black, and gold). Mix the powdered sugar, egg white and food coloring together to create each color. Place the white mixture in a piping bag with a #1 tip. Place the black mixture in a piping bag with a #1 tip. Place the gold mixture in a bag with a #1 piping tip.

5. Pipe the Details. Use the white icing to pipe the outlines of the jacket. Let this dry completely. Then, use the black icing to pipe the buttons and buckle of the jacket. Finally, use gold icing to pipe a necklace around the collar of each jacket.

This recipe is adapted from Mourad Khiat’s recipe for Burberry Tea Trench Cookies. 

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