Homemade Petits Beurres with strawberry buttercream filling

I’ve been on a pastry and cake baking bender these past few weeks and this blog has, unintentionally, turned a bit into a pastry blog. Now that summer fruits are making their appearance at the market one after the other, I can’t say I’ll be able to stop making sweet things. Let me assure you, though, savory dishes are still my number one love, but as I’ve said so many times in the past, good things need to be shared, therefore I couldn’t not share these strawberry filled petits beurres.

Petits beurres are butter biscuits originating from France. They are famous around the world and in Greece we not only dunk them in our morning or afternoon coffee but we also use them in all sorts of desserts. They are not too sweet, they are very crispy, a hard type of biscuit really, and that is why they are perfect for dipping.

Their signature rectangular shape with the scalloped edges, the small holes on the top and slightly burned corners is difficult to recreate if you don’t have a specific cookie cutter and, luckily, a few months ago, I had bought one in the hope that one day I would make these cookies myself. I finally did.

I remember when I was little, I loved petits beurres so much that I used to take the whole packet to myself. I’d start eating one after the other, always starting from the little scalloped edges all around the cookie and then, reluctantly, eating the center. I never would have thought then that I would make them myself one day.

They are so easy to make that I thought I’d fill them up with something scrumptious to make it more of a challenge so I chose to make a strawberry buttercream because strawberries are everywhere at the moment. The buttercream is not too sweet, due to the pleasant acidity of the strawberries, it’s smooth, fluffy and gets firm in the fridge, and, of course, incredibly tasty because, c’mon, strawberries!

I love filled biscuits in general and these really make my heart sing. The thing, however, in this case, is that given that petits beurres are hard biscuits, it’s a bit difficult to eat them without the filling squirting out from the sides. But you can do what I have always done with filled biscuits. Perhaps an unorthodox way of eating them but a successful one is to split the cookie and eat each filling-covered half on its own.

Of course you could make just the biscuits and eat them any way you like. Oh and the buttercream, you can use it to frost cakes and cupcakes. It’s up to you. Just make sure to have fun when you make them.

Homemade Petits Beurres with strawberry buttercream filling
Adapted from here

If you are wondering if it’s worth making these since you can buy them everywhere, let me tell you, they are so easy and quick to make and they’re so delicious, you’ll forget the store-bought ones even exist. Or maybe it’s just me. Because, you know I’m a sucker for making anything from scratch.

You can use other fruits instead of strawberry in the buttercream. Cherries, raspberries and blackberries work great as well as blueberries, but make sure you sieve the fruit purée in order to get rid of seeds and/or skins.

The recipe yields a little more buttercream than needed to fill the biscuits, but you can keep the rest in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks to use in any sort of cake or cupcake.

If you don’t have a petit beurre cookie cutter, cut the dough in small rectangular shapes and make small holes on top with a toothpick, or cut the dough in whatever shape you like.

Yield: 24 petits beurres (12 filled)

Ingredients

for the petits beurres
100 g caster sugar
100 g unsalted butter
60 ml water
¼ tsp salt
250 g all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder

for the strawberry buttercream filling
100 g fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled
100 g unsalted butter, cut in cubes, at room temperature
75 g icing sugar
¼ tsp pure vanilla extract

Special equipment: rolling pin, two baking sheets, baking paper, cookie cutter, small food processor, fine sieve, stand mixer or hand-held mixer, piping bag and 1-2 cm round nozzle (alternatively use a Ziploc bag)


Preparation

for the petits beurres
In a small saucepan, add the sugar, butter, water and salt and set over a low heat. Bring to the boil, stirring continuously until the butter has melted completely. Then pour into a medium-sized bowl and let stand for about 20 minutes or until slightly cooled, stirring every 5 minutes with a spatula.

Add the flour and the baking powder and mix with a spatula until you have a smooth and soft dough. Empty it onto a clean work surface and knead slightly with your hands to form a flattened disk. Then flatten it even more with your hands to create a thinner rectangle. This will make it easier to roll it out later. Cover it with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 3 hours.

Preheat your oven to 180°C.
Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Place it on top of another baking sheet. This will protect the bottom of the cookies and they will not burn.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator, unwrap and discard the plastic wrap and place dough between two large sheets of baking paper. Using a rolling pin, roll it out to 3mm thickness. Using the petit beurre cookie cutter, cut out cookies and place them, spaced 2 cm apart on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake on the middle rack of the preheated oven for 12-13 minutes or until they take on a golden color and the edges have browned. They shouldn’t feel soft to the touch on top.

Remove them from the oven and place them on a wire rack to cool completely.

for the strawberry buttercream filling
Place strawberries in a food processor and process until you have a smooth purée. Sieve the purée into a bowl to remove the seeds and discard them.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl), add butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract, and beat with the paddle attachment (or a hand-held mixer) on medium-high speed until the mixture is pale and fluffy, for about 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, start the mixer at a low speed and as it is beating, slowly add the strawberry purée. Mix until it is just blended. If the buttercream splits when you add the strawberry purée, do not fret, there’s a way to fix this. Fit the stand mixer with the whisk attachment and beat on high speed until it comes together. It will take about 2 minutes.

assembling the filled petits beurres
When the biscuits have completely cooled, line pairs of them on a wire rack and, preferably using a piping bag fitted with a 1-2 cm round nozzle, pipe lines of buttercream on the bottom of one of the two biscuits of each pair. If you don’t have a piping bag, just use a Ziploc bag. Cut one of the corners to make a hole from which you can pipe out the buttercream.
Sandwich the two biscuits together and you’re set.

At this point the buttercream will be soft and it will be difficult to eat the filled cookies. Place the cookies in an airtight container and place them in the fridge. The buttercream will set and it will be easire to eat the biscuits. You can keep them there for 2 weeks.

If you only make the petits beurres without the buttercream, keep them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.