I want

to think again of dangerous and noble things.
I want to be light and frolicsome.
I want to be
improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing,
as though I had wings.

Starlings in Winter, Mary Oliver

All that I can really fit in my brain right now are cute cookies.
Reading the news / contemplating reality / work / extreme weather events / propaganda … It’s all too much.
I no longer wonder at the overwhelm that I feel. I know others feel it, too. I have accepted that our brains have not evolved while the demands on our attention have increased exponentially.

So, cookies. +1 if they are cookies that take a decent amount of time and concentration.
I made these during an afternoon off of work, and I was transported into cookie-puzzle land.

These little puzzle cookies are made of 3 different doughs.
1 double batch of vanilla dough, which gets divided up and tinted into orange, yellow, pink, hot pink, and purple.
1 batch of chocolate dough, divided halfway through the process in order to make 1/2 regular chocolate dough and 1/2 black cocoa dough. The special cocoa powder allows me to get an incredibly dark dough without using black food coloring at all.
Shapes are cut out and then carefully fit into negative space in another dough. Delightfully time-consuming!

I put faces on my cats with some simple and quick royal icing. I recommend 0 and 1 size tips for shapes this small.

They are delightfully crisp, maintain their shape in the oven, and stay flat.
Simple and sweet. Like little else lately.

Special equipment:
Round ravioli stamp, similar
Cat cookie cutters
Mini plunger shape cutters (flower, star)
Mini shape regular cutters (heart)
Black cocoa powder

Puzzle Butter Cookies
makes 32 2″ cookies

ingredients:
for the vanilla dough:
227 grams (1 cup) butter, between fridge and room temp
300 grams (1 1/2 cups) sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
480 grams (4 cups) flour

for the chocolate doughs:
135 grams (3/4 cup) butter, between fridge and room temp
150 grams (3/4 cup) sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

2x 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
2x 20 grams (2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons) cocoa powder (Dutch processed and black cocoa)
2x 120 grams (1 cup) flour

directions:
Make the vanilla dough: beat butter, sugar, and salt together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
Add the eggs one at a time and beat until each is combined; stir in the vanilla.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix on low until homogeneous.
Sift the baking powder and flour into the mix and mix on low until the dough comes together.
Divide into 6 and tint each as desired, leaving one dough uncolored.
Wrap each color in plastic well and store in the fridge until ready to make the cookies.
Next, make the chocolate dough: beat butter, sugar, and salt together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
Add the egg and beat until each is combined; stir in the vanilla.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix on low until homogeneous.
Divide butter mix into two and set 1/2 aside.
To the first dough, sift 1/8 teaspoon baking powder, 20 grams Dutch processed cocoa powder, and 1 cup flour.
Mix on low until dough comes together.
Wrap in plastic and refrigerate.
Make the black cocoa dough: take remaining butter mix and sift 1/8 teaspoon baking powder, 20 grams black cocoa powder, and 1 cup flour into the mix.
Mix on low until dough comes together.
Wrap in plastic and refrigerate.
To make the cookies, roll doughs out to 1/4 inch thick.
Using the same cookie cutters for all, cut out little shapes and place them into a corresponding space in another dough.
To make the cats, take small pieces of orange, brown, black, and white dough and mix/smush them together, then cut out the cat shape and place it into a corresponding spot in a colored dough.
Once you have a pattern made, start cutting out the rounds to form the cookies
Take scraps and mush them back together, then re-roll.
Refrigerate the final cut out cookies for at least 1 hour.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Bake for 15 minutes, or until the edges are set but not browned at all.
Decorate with royal icing as desired.