Ingredients
400g plain flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
225g caster sugar
250g unsalted butter
1 large egg, 60g
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
¾ teaspoon salt
Cream butter, salt and sugar on med/high speed on the electric mixer with paddle attachment until light and fluffy, about 8-10mins. Add egg and cream further for a minute or two. add vanilla and mix until combine. With mixer on low speed, add flour in 2 batches, mixing until just incorporated.
Divide dough into 2 portions, wrap with plastic and refrigerate until firm, at least 3 hours. Roll out doughs between 2 parchment paper. (This way, when there is no flour added, you can rolled up the scraps again without toughening the cookie.) Freeze the flat cookie dough in the freezer, this gives a clean cut with cookie cutter. Place entire baking sheet (with cookies on it) in the freezer or refrigerator for about 3-5 minutes. Chilling the cookies this way retains the define shape while baking.
Preheat oven to 170˙c, remove the parchment paper on both sides. Cut dough with cookie cutter. Make sure to put cookies of similar size on each baking sheet to ensure even baking. Place on baking tray 2cm apart and bake on middle shelve for for 9-10 mins or until the sides turn slightly brown. Let cool on baking sheet.
Once cooled, the cookies can be decorated with frosting, royal icing or rolled fondant. You can store the cookies in a air tight container for up to 2 weeks.
Royal Icing
3 tablespoon meringue powder (Wilton)
500g /4cups icing sugar sifted
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
6 tablespoon warm water
Method
Beat all ingredients until icing forms a peak (10-12 minutes at high speed with a hand-held mixer).
-till next post, ss.
