Fiori di Sicilia Sugar Cookies

Fiori di Sicilia.

Have you heard of or ever used this special flavoring?

I have an obsession with "secret" ingredients. And this cookie features two. 

The first one, Fiori di Sicilia or "Flowers of Sicily", is to be used sparingly. A little goes a long way. The scent and flavor is a heavenly mix of floral, citrus and vanilla. You can order your own here!

My other favorite is Vanilla Bean Crush. With a crazy good combination of Madagascar Bourbon and Tahitian Vanilla beans, I use this liberally in my candies and baked goods.
But the best part is a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this vanilla go to support breast cancer research!

I made these cookies last week as I knew I would be down (literally and figuratively) for a while.
I've just had the first of three foot surgeries.
I will have to miss Mother's Day at church Sunday..sad..and I won't be able to kick around in my kitchen..bummer..for a while.

But on the bright side, I've made a couple of sweet treats with lots of photographs that I get to sit and sift through to keep me occupied for a few days. That and the fact that my hubby is pampering me makes recuperating not so bad after all!

So..here are the ingredients for these sweet and soft cookies.

 In case you missed the link for this flavoring, here it is one more time.

Once you make your dough and chill it, just roll into balls (I used a tablespoon scoop) and place on parchment lined pan. Bake @ 350 for 12 minutes or just until the edges are  lightly browned.

 I wanted to pretty my little cookies up. 
I think this simple tiny fondant flower does the trick along with some yummy sugar icing. 

 Roll out fondant and cut with a tiny little flower fondant cutter dusted with powdered sugar. 
Just a dab of water will hold the sugar pearl when pressed into the center of the flower.

You can just use a clean, dry paintbrush to remove the excess sugar.

 I made this simple sugar icing to dip my cookies in.
Two cups of powdered sugar stirred together with three tablespoons of milk
 and 1/4 teaspoon of Fiori di Sicilia does the trick.

 The cookies do look mighty plain..so let's get to the fun part. Dip the cookie into icing and flip back over. Sprinkle on some colored sugar and place a flower on each one.

That's so much better..and yummy too!

Fiori di Sicilia Sugar Cookies

1 cup coconut oil
1 1/2 sticks butter softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla bean crush
1/4 teaspoon fiori di sicilia
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

In a mixer bowl, cream coconut oil, butter and sugars.
In a small separate bowl, lightly mix eggs and flavorings. Add to butter mixture, mix well.
Combine flour and baking soda and add gradually just till combined.
Chill dough.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Roll cookie dough into one tablespoon size balls. 
Place on parchment lined baking pan and bake 12 minutes or until edges are just lightly browned.
 Let cool.

Sugar Icing

2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons milk

1/4 teaspoon fiori di sicilia

(colored sugar for decoration)

Gently stir all ingredients together.

Dip cookie into icing. Flip over and sprinkle with colored sugar.

Fondant Flowers

fondant

sugar pearls 

powdered sugar

 water

Roll out fondant. Dust cutter with sugar and cut out flowers.

Dab a drop of water to center of flower and press in sugar pearl.

Y'all are too sweet for stopping by my blog

Sugartown Sweets!

New members and comments are lovely icing on the cookies!