Champagne Star Cookies

Champagne Reduction

1. Begin by preparing your champagne. Pour it into a small saucepan over medium/high heat until simmering and cook until it is reduced to ¼-⅓ cup (60-80ml). This will take some time, possibly 10-15 minutes or so.
2. Once reduced, pour into a heatproof container and allow to cool completely while you prepare your cookies.

Cookies

1. In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until well-creamed.
2. Add egg yolk, vanilla extract, and salt and stir well. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed to ensure all ingredients are well-combined.
3. With the mixer on low-speed, gradually add flour until it is completely incorporated. Do this slowly and make sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl periodically, this is a dry dough so it will take a bit of stirring to get it to all come together. Don’t over-mix it either, however, or the dough will be sticky and need to be chilled for longer.
4. Transfer dough to a clean surface and form it into a 1” (2.5cm) thick disk. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes and up to 5 days¹. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350F (175C).
5. Transfer dough to a clean, lightly floured surface and use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll it out to about ¼” thick (if dough seems sticky, return it to the fridge for longer or dust more flour on it).
6. Use a star-shaped cookie cutter to cut out shapes (make as many cuts as you can, then re-group the scraps, re-roll and cut out even more cookies!) and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet² and bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges are just beginning to turn a light golden brown.
7. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5-10 minutes then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely before covering with icing.

Champagne Icing & Assembly

1. Whisk together powdered sugar, melted butter, and 2-3 Tablespoons champagne. Add more champagne as needed until the icing reaches a consistency where it falls in a ribbon from the whisk and holds its shape for several seconds before dissolving back into the bowl. You may not need all of the champagne you have (see note 3 if you don’t have enough champagne).
2. Grip a cookie firmly by the base and dip into the champagne icing. Return cookie to cooling rack and decorate immediately with sprinkles. Allow frosting to harden completely before enjoying (this usually takes 1-3 hours).