St. Luke’s Bull’s Head Sugar Cookies

History

Both the books of Ezekiel (1:1-21) and Revelation (4:6-8) both record a similar vision of four heavenly beings that looked like four different creatures: a man, a lion, an ox or bull, and an eagle.

The similarity between the two visions is quite striking, and it didn’t take long for Christian commentators to associate these four creatures with the four Evangelists, with St. Irenaeus in the second century being the earliest example. Specifically, St. Matthew was associated with the man, St. Mark with the lion, St. Luke with the ox or bull, and St. John with the eagle.

Throughout much of the history of the Church, then, the bull has been a prominent symbol for St. Luke, frequently appearing either with him or in his place in Christian artwork. As a result, we find various bull-related St. Luke’s Day customs documented at least as far back as the Middle Ages.

One famous example of these customs is the Charlton Fair, held annually in England on October 18th, where attendees would often wear horns on their heads, vendors would sell animal horns, and various cakes and pastries would be marked with a horn in honor of St. Luke.

In the spirit of all the bull-related treats of St. Luke’s Day, we offer a modern American take on the bull-horn pastry, our St. Luke’s Bull’s Head Sugar Cookies!

If you’re interested in making the exact same cookie design that we did, this is where we got our cookie cutter.

St. Luke’s Bull’s Head Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

2 tablespoon milk, separated

1 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus additional powdering the working surface

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl mix the flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until it is a light yellow color.
3. Add the egg and 1 tablespoon of the milk and continue to beat.
4. Gradually add the flour mixture, mixing until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
5. Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in waxed paper. Chill the dough for at least two hours until you are ready to roll it out.
6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
7. After chilling, roll the dough out to ¼-inch thick. Use powdered sugar on your surface to avoid sticking. Cut the cookies (we used this cookie cutter) and place them at least 1 inch apart on your cookie sheet.
8. Bake 7-9 minutes or until slightly brown at the edges. Let them sit on the sheet for at least 2 minutes before cooling them on a wire rack.
9. Meanwhile, combine the second 1 tablespoon of milk with 1 cup of confectioner’s sugar. Drizzle or spread over cookies once cooled and allow to sit for 10 minutes to solidify.