A Rainy Day in Wales...Again!
So low and behold it is another rainy Saturday morning in South Wales, what to do with 4 kids with so much energy…? So I thought we could do some baking, the kids absolutely love it! I thought it would be nice to use some cutters and make sugar cookies, so the kids could decorate them themselves as I’d recently picked up some lovely glittery icing pens from Morrisons.
Whilst I was going through my cutters getting out the usual shapes I came across the new set of alphabet cookie cutter I recently bought…baking and reading…two activities in one.
The kids had a wonderful time, making the dough and cutting out their names, I think Jackson ate more dough than he made biscuits but he definitely had lots of fun and his love of cooking is coming along nicely… starting them young! Once the biscuits were baked and cooled the real fun began when the icing pens and sprinkles came out. It was lovely watching my children using their creativity. Of course once the decorating was finished the kids were very excited to share what they had made with the number one tester in our house, “DADDY”!
The sugar cookie recipe below is one that I have made for many years and I love it because when baked it does not spread, it keeps its shape but also very good for using stamps on as they stay clear on the surface of the cookie.
Shortly I will add a step by step to decorating stamped biscuits with royal icing using this sugar cookie recipe.
Sugar Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
85g Margarine
100g golden caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g plain flour
100g self-raising flour
Pinch of salt
Method
1. Pre heat the oven to 180 C.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl, add the egg and mix well, if it starts to look a little curdled add a little of the flour.
3. Gradually add the flour and salt and mix to form a dough.
4. Sprinkle some flour on the surface and roll the dough to thickness of a £1 coin, use desired cutters then place on lined baking sheets.
5. Bake for 8 – 10 mins, the biscuits should be light golden brown, remove from the oven when the biscuits are still a little soft as they will continue to cook after being removed.
6. Leave on the tray for a few minutes to cool, then transfer to a cooling rack.
7. Once cool the biscuits are ready to ice.
Top Tip
These cookies are not just for kids, the recipe is not overly sweet, so with a sophisticated decoration they would make a nice alternative to cupcakes
The biscuits will keep for 3-4 days in an airtight container