Glitter Ball Cookies with Creamy Ginger Filling

Welcome to 2011! How did you ring in the New Year? I was blessed to ring in another year with close friends at a lovely celebration, Champagne & Candles, a New Years and Birthday Bash Extravaganza. The Joly sisters hosted a ball complete with a murder mystery and a scrumptious spread of treats.

My contribution was the following recipe. These Glitter Ball Cookies add a fun sparkle to any celebration, so you don't have to wait until 2012 for the next glitter ball to drop - just whip up this recipe.

The beautiful colors of the sanding sugars make them stand out. I used India Tree sparkling sugars, which are great because they are made of natural dies (fruit/vegetable juices) and glimmer wonderfully in the light.

The cookie is a basic butter cookie and the ginger cream adds an unexpected flavor, preventing the cookies from being overly sweet with all that sugar.

The cookies were a big hit, as Erica can attest to (big thumb up!).

Cheers to friends and sparkles!

Glitter Ball Cookies
from Martha Stewart

yields about 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoones salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Sanding sugar, in assorted colors

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter, confectioners' sugar, and salt with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down side of bowl as necessary. beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low; add flour, and mix just until combined. Shape into 3/4-inch balls (chill dough if too sticky). Place sanding sugar in shallow bowls. Roll each ball in sanding sugar, and place on parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart.

Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are lightly golden, 15 to 18 minutes. let cookies cool completely on a wire rack. While cooling, make filling!

Creamy Ginger Filling

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger

Beat all ingredients by hand or with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until smooth. Filling can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 3 days.

Spread 2 cookies with just enough filling to allow them to stick together.

Enjoy and Happy New Year!!!