Tag: sugar cookies

Spiced Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Published on by Elise BLeave a comment

These spiced chocolate sugar cookies are super quick and easy to whip up, leaving plenty of time for more important things, like decorating and eating!

Ingredients (makes approximately 40 cookies)
170g butter, chopped (straight from the fridge)
3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
2 cups plain flour
½ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon mixed spice
½ teaspoon ginger powder
½ teaspoon baking powder
Packet of royal icing (I use Queen brand)
Red food dye

Method

Preheat oven to 150ºC fan-forced. Line 2 large trays with baking paper.

Add butter, sugar and vanilla to the large bowl of a stand mixer. Beat butter and sugar on low speed, then turn up to medium until butter and sugar is completely combined. Add egg and beat briefly until egg has been dispersed. Add flour, cocoa, spices and baking powder and mix on low speed until it comes together.

Shape into a large disc and roll out with a rolling pin on a clean surface until it’s at your desired thickness (I like mine around 5-6mm). Use cookie cutters to cut out cookies and carefully transfer them to your prepared trays.

Bake for 12-15 minutes. Allow to cool briefly on the tray before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Repeat with the rest of the dough.

For the icing, follow the packet instructions and colour half of the mix red, leaving the remainder white. Transfer into snaplock bags, cut the corner (keep the cut nice and small) and pipe the cookies as desired. Top with mini m&ms, sprinkles or leave plain.

Recipe adapted from The Sweetest Menu’s ‘Chocolate Sugar Cookies’.

Pastel Iced Sugar Cookies

Published on by Elise BLeave a comment

Inspired by Peggy Porschen and her stunning parlour that I visited while in London in 2017, these beautiful cookies are as much fun to make as they are to eat.

Ingredients (makes approx. 50 small cookies)
250g butter
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 egg
3 cups plain flour
3 teaspoons mixed spice
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
Star, Christmas tree and/or snowflake cookie cutters

1 330g packet royal icing mixture (I use Queen’s brand)
Pastel food colouring (I used blue, green, pink and purple)
Silver cachous

Method
Cream butter, sugar & vanilla using electric beaters until well combined.

Add the egg and beat until light and fluffy.

Using a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, mix sifted dry ingredients into wet ingredients until a dough forms. Divide into 2 roughly equal pieces, cover with glad wrap (or plastic wrap) and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat oven to 180°C (160 fan-forced). Roll out dough onto a lightly floured surface using a rolling pin until you reach your desired thickness (I like mine around 6-7mm) and cut out shapes using cookie cutters.

Place onto a baking tray (they don’t have to be spread out much as they don’t really expand) and bake for 5-8 minutes, or until golden.

Once the cookies have cooled, make the royal icing according to the packet instructions. Divide the icing evenly into 5 bowls (or however many colours you want) and add a small amount of food colouring to all but one.

Spread a thin layer of the coloured icing onto your cookies with a butter knife and leave to harden. Spoon the white royal icing into a piping bag (I didn’t use a nozzle and just cut a tiny hole in the bag) and pipe on decorations. Decorate with silver cachous or however you wish. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from ‘The Best Valentine Sugar Cookies’ on Alice & Lois.com

Marbled Fondant Cookies

Published on by Elise B1 Comment

Fondant sugar cookies have become a popular choice for celebrating special occasions; used widely for engagement parties, birthdays, weddings, gifts and party favours. It’s easy to see why as they travel and keep well and are completely customisable.

I made a batch yesterday as Mother’s Day gifts for my Mum and Grandmas and experimented with the popular marble fondant trend which is surprisingly easy to achieve. The most challenging part for me was getting my message evenly spaced and straight, so I would encourage you to give yourself plenty of time to get this right (don’t make them in a rush like I did!)

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Ingredients (makes approx. 55 medium-large round cookies)
250g butter
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 egg
3 cups plain flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

Vanilla Glaze
½ cup icing sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Boiling water

Fondant Icing
Approx 300g fondant icing (I used Coles ‘Ready to Roll Icing’ in white)
Food colouring (I used Queen Pink food colour gel)
Letter press set (I used a Wiltshire 72 piece set) or stamp

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Method
Cream butter, sugar & vanilla using electric beaters until well combined. Add the egg and beat until light and fluffy.

Using a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, mix sifted dry ingredients into wet ingredients until a dough forms. Knead gently for 1-2 minutes on a lightly floured bench and then divide into 2 roughly equal pieces, cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180°C (160 fan-forced). Roll out dough onto a lightly floured surface using a rolling pin until you reach your desired thickness (I like mine around 5-6mm) and cut out circles using a large round cookie cutter. Repeat until you have used all the dough.

Place onto a baking tray (they don’t have to be spread out much as they don’t really expand) and bake for approximately 12-15 minutes, or until lightly golden.

While the cookies cool, make your vanilla glaze by combining the glaze ingredients in a small bowl and adding boiling water until you have a thick syrup consistency.

Divide your fondant icing into 3 roughly equal parts. Colour one deep pink (or whatever colour you’re using), one a medium shade and leave the other white. Roll the fondant pieces into sausage shapes and twist together. Bend in half and repeat 3 times with the twisting and bending process until you see a nice blending, marbled effect.

Roll out your fondant using a rolling pin on a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar until 3-4mm thick. Use the same round cutter as for the cookie to cut out circles of fondant.

Brush each cookie with a small amount of the vanilla glaze and the top with fondant. Press down gently to ensure the fondant has adhered completely to the cookie. Repeat until all cookies have been decorated.

If desired, use a letter press to stamp a message onto the cookies. Admire your handiwork and enjoy!

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Recipe adapted from ‘The Best Valentine Sugar Cookies’ on Alice & Lois.com
Decorations inspired by various versions on Pinterest

Simple Sugar Cookies

Published on by Elise BLeave a comment

Happy 1st birthday Bakerholics Anonymous! To celebrate this milestone I thought I would share a recipe that I have only recently discovered but used frequently. These sugar cookies are so versatile – you can cut them into any shape you like, flavour the dough with cocoa or cinnamon, and decorate however you desire.

Image

Ingredients (makes approx. 50 small heart cookies)
250g butter
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 egg
3 cups plain flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

Icing
2 cups icing sugar
1 tablespoon or so of melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Food colouring of your choice (I used Wilton Red food gel)

Method
Cream butter, sugar & vanilla using electric beaters until well combined.

Add the egg and beat until light and fluffy.

Using a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, mix sifted dry ingredients into wet ingredients until a dough forms. Divide into 2 roughly equal pieces, cover with glad wrap (or plastic wrap) and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat oven to 180°C (160 fan-forced). Roll out dough onto a lightly floured surface using a rolling pin until you reach your desired thickness (I like mine around 6-7mm) and cut out shapes using cookie cutters.

Place onto a baking tray (they don’t have to be spread out much as they don’t really expand) and bake for 5-8 minutes, or until lightly golden.

While the cookies cool, make the icing by combining all ingredients into a bowl. Add more butter if the icing is too thick or more icing sugar if it is too thin.

Once cool, spread the icing on the cookies with a spatula and decorate as desired.

ImageAdapted from ‘Alice & Lois.com’ – ‘The Best Valentine Sugar Cookies’