Glazed Hibiscus Shortbread Cookies

HIBISCUS SHORTBREAD COOKIES

1. Measure flour, salt and ground cinnamon into a mixing bowl and whisk together.
2. With the paddle attachment on a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on a medium high speed for about 5 minutes, until fluffy, airy and lighter in color. Be sure to stop your mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times so you are sure to incorporate all of the sugar into the butter.
3. Add the vanilla extract and cream until blended.
4. With the mixer on a low stir, slowly add the dry ingredients until just incorporated. You don’t want to over-mix here, only mix until things have just come together.
5. Gently stir in the chopped dried hibiscus flowers until just incorporated. 
6. Turn out the dough onto a clean, lightly floured surface. Gently gather the dough together into a disk by gently patting, not kneading the dough, and pat to flatten the top. Once you have a round disk shape, use a knife or a bench knife to cut directly in half and set aside.
7. Clean your work surface with a bench knife, then lay down a sheet of parchment paper. If you have a couple of empty paper towel rolls handy, have them available. Drop one of your dough halves on the parchment paper and use your hands to shape a rough log shape, roll into a smooth log until it is about 1 -1 1⁄2” in diameter (eyeball it to about the size of your empty paper towel roll).
8. Wrap the parchment paper around your dough log, lengthwise. Then twist each end of the paper into pigtails in opposite directions (one towards you and one away from you) to form a locking mechanism. With each twist, the dough will compress and becomes smoothed out (think of it like a sausage in a casing). Roll from the center outward until you feel that you have a smooth, cylindrical log.
9. Now you can get tricky (optionally) and stuff that dough log into an empty paper towel roll, it should be a snug fit but should slide in and out easily. *The idea behind the paper towel roll is that your dough is going to hold it’s cylindrical shape while it chills instead of having a flat bottom.
10. Repeat with second log. Then refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour, if not 2. This allows the dough to set up and hold it’s round shape nicely when baking. *You can also freeze the dough at this point. Just remember to defrost it overnight in the fridge or at room temperature for about an hour before slicing and baking.
11. Preheat oven to 325° F.
12. Remove dough logs from the fridge and unroll on a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, slice the log into 1⁄4” – 1⁄2” thick cookies. You should get about 16-20 cookies per log. Arrange them on a Silpat mat or parchment paper lined baking sheet in a 3 x 4 pattern, evenly spaced.
13. Bake for 16-18 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the bake. They should come out with a golden ring around the edge and be firm to the touch with just a bit of give in the center.
14. Allow to cool either right on the trays or on a cooling rack.

HIBISCUS TEA GLAZE

1. Boil water, then pour over the hibiscus tea to brew. You want the color and flavor very concentrated so it doesn’t take much water. Once it’s cooled, pour through a fine mesh sieve an set aside.
2. Sift the powdered sugar into a mixing bowl. Slowly whisk in the brewed and cooled hibiscus tea, 1 tablespoon at a time. Whisk until smooth. The glaze should run off of the whisk in a thick flowing ribbon. If the glaze is too thin, slowly whisk in more powdered sugar. If the glaze is too thick, slowly add more tea.
3. To Decorate:
   For the drizzle method – Place the cookies on a cooking rack and use the whisk to wave the icing back and fourth over the cookies creating a vibrant, messy drizzle. 

   For the dip method, gently dip the cookies halfway into the glaze, at an angle. Transfer to a cooling rack to set. 

   The glaze needs at least 30 minutes to set. It will harden and form a soft, eggshell like glaze.