Sacred Geometry Aztec Cookie

Hi everybody! Welcome back to another Instructable's post of mine and today we are making this super cool, sacred geometry Aztec cookies! Even though they don't have any direct relation to The Aztec's culture and history itself, I am super inspired by their love of sacred geometry in their design. The Aztec's call themselves "People of the Sun", worshipping Huitzilopochtli to ensure that the sun rises each day and the next.

I wanted to do something fun and different for this cookie post. Something I personally have not seen nor tried making before. So it was a challenge at first, but after you are able to visualize the pattern clearly, constructing this cookie was doable. Not easy, but doable if you are determined and patient to do so, which most of you creative folks are!!

These are your basic icebox sugar cookies! So feel absolutely free to do your own flavor combination. Whether it is your classic vanilla cookie, lemon, almond extract, or orange zest, have fun! Just ensure that whichever flavoring you choose, it doesn't affect the coloring nor texture of the dough itself.

But other than than, it's an icebox cookie..just with a little more pizzazz.

So let's get to it!!!

Ingredients:

2 sticks of soften unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup of white granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of extract (flavoring of your choice. I used Almond and Orange combo)

2 whole eggs, room temperature

1/3 cup of cornstarch

4 cups of all purpose flour

Directions:

In a large stand mixer or mixing bowl with a paddle attachment, loosen up your soften butter by mixing it for just a few seconds. Increase your speed to medium and pour your sugar gradually until finished.

Add in your vanilla extract (or the flavor of your choice) into the butter and crack open one whole egg. Mix until homogenous. Then crack the other egg open and mix it in again until batter looks smooth.

Reduce your speed to low and gradually add in your cornstarch and flour.

You could add it all in one time if your bowl is big enough, but be careful as the flour might turn into a cloud when you turn your mixer on.

Mix until batter turns into cookie dough.

Divide your dough into individual balls weighing about 200 grams each.

I reserved a small batch of dough for emergency purposes. But this is optional for you.

Choose five gel food coloring of your choice. I chose Red, Pink, Yellow, Green and Turquoise.

Put a few drops of food coloring into your dough. Depending on how bright you'd like your dough to be, add more for a stronger more contrasting dough. Remember the color lightens a little after baking.

Gently mix in the color into your dough by kneading it for approximately 5 minutes, or until it looks even and not marbled.

Wrap with a saran wrap and let the dough rest for at least 10-15 minutes.

Color in all of your dough except for the reserve ball.

Tools you'll need:

Rolling pin

Wax paper

Ruler

Sharp knife

Directions:

Place your dough on top of your wax paper. Using your rolling pin, press your dough into a thinner rectangle slab.

Once thin enough to roll, roll it until it is about 0.5 mm thin.

Your dough will look like a rough looking oval at first. Measure 21cm by 13 cm to mark out your rectangle slab. Pinch the excess and press it into the corners to make neat edges and corners. Roll again so the dough adhere itself.

Wrap your rectangular slab by wrapping the wax paper into a package. Then let it sit in the refrigerator on a flat surface while you complete the rest of the dough.

You will need:

1 Egg White

A pastry brush

Rolling pin

Ruler

Sharp knife

Directions:

Remove all of your slab out of the refrigerator. If it's solid cold and hard, thaw it out until it is soft enough to work with.

Starting with red, open up the package and brush the top with egg white.

Then take the pink dough out of it's packaged and place it directly on top, aligning itself neatly.

One you complete adhering each rectangular slab over each other, place it over wax paper.

Currently your slab would probably be about 3cm tall.

We are going to roll it out again to ensure the dough sticks well and also to reduce the height.

Roll your slab until it reaches 2cm in height.

Trim the sides of your slab to make it neat.

Discard trimmings.

Measure and mark your dough into 2.7cm OR 3 cm cuts (depending on your current width of your slab)

You will need FOUR 4 individual rectangular slabs.

Once measured, using a SHARP knife, slice into longer individual rectangular slabs.

You will have four slabs total.

If your dough feels too warm, place over a board with a flat surface and straighten it out first with a ruler.

Let it sit in the refrigerator for 5 minutes until slightly harden.

You want your dough to be on the cooler side so it will give you clean cuts.

Once your slabs are slightly stiff, remove them from the freezer. (if they are too hard and too brittle, thaw it out for a few minutes until it is workable)

Measure and mark the center point of each rectangular slab and lightly score it.

Now carefully with a sharp knife, you want to slice your dough in a 45 degree angle.

Aim the tip of your knife towards the corner end, and aim the back of your knife over the score line.

With one clean cut, slice in one smooth motion. Do not drag your knife too much or might accidently pull the fragile layers apart.

Slice both the left and right side, so your have an even equilateral angle.

Do not discard trimmings as we are going to use that for the next cookie set (the pink ones).

Place trimming on a flat surface, straighten out and refrigerate till ready to use.

To form your triangle pattern...

You need 3 triangles at the bottom (the center will be upside down)

And 1 at the top.

Using the same egg white wash, brush over the inner sides so the dough will stick to middle inverted one.

Brush over the top and place the top triangle..

Once neatly stacked, gently but firmly pressed them together to ensure they stick well.

Refrigerate for 5 minutes to firm up.

Since the trimmings are half the size yet but are made up of small 90 degree triangles, we can stick them together with egg wash to form a big equilateral triangle.

Ensure that that their color coordination matches.

Once formed into a bigger equilateral triangles, repeat the same step as the previous cookie.

Once it's firmed up, trim and discard the raggedy edge.

Cut each slice 0.5 cm thick. Trim the edges slightly to remove any uneven bumps.

Cut 7 equal slices for each cookie.

Arrange your triangle with the narrower apex facing inwards.

Since there is no such thing as perfection, you can trim your triangles individually to fit in neatly. Some triangle may just be slightly smaller or bigger than the other.

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Next, lined your baking sheet with parchment paper.

Using the same egg wash, lightly dipped the sides into the wash. Do not soak or excessively coat them, just enough to stick one dough to the other.

Arrange them according to your design and lay them flat.

The cookie does not expand and pretty much retain their shape while baking, so you can place them close together.

Bake them at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 12-14 minutes. You want them to be cook all the way through, with just a slight browning at the bottom. Do not overbake.

Once baked, cool them completely before storing them inside a jar or container.

Treat them the same as a sugar cookie! They are best eaten the next day when their flavoring is more pronounced and they soften up just a little.

I hope you guys learn something new and absolutely cool today! Wishing you and your love ones a happy thanksgiving and a merry Christmas <3