Thursday 04 / July / 2024
Irrespective of what religion each one followed, the colony where I used to stay in India was like a cultural lighthouse where all the festivals were celebrated with equal fervour. Christmas was no different. We would sing Christmas carols together, decorate the tree with mini lights, wait eagerly for Santa’s gifts, and bake mounds of Christmas goodies to snack on throughout our revelry.
Every December it was the same, and to this day, the smell of cookies being baked at home never fails to take me back to these cheerful childhood memories. My mother had a special cookie recipe and I remember the jubilation I felt when I perfected it for the first time. We cut the flattened dough into the shape of Santa’s hat, reindeer, Christmas trees, a snowman, and curved bells, then carefully decorating them with icing.
Every Christmas since I have rolled up my sleeves and mixed flour, butter, sugar, and egg to make these simple sugar cookies, though I’ve added a variety of other sweets to my cannon along the way. The cookies themselves don’t matter as much as sharing this sweet tradition with my own daughter. It is an annual reminder that there can never be too many reasons to celebrate, or to bake a cookie.
Classic Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 egg
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
Frosting (double as needed)
2 cups powdered sugar
3-5 tablespoons milk or half-and-half
2 teaspoons vanilla
Food colouring (optional)
Preparation
• Mix powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, almond extract, and egg until well blended in a bowl.
• In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients, flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar, then add to sugar bowl and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for atleast 3 hours or overnight.
• Heat oven to 190°C.
• Divide dough in half. On lightly floured or sugared surface, roll each half of dough 1/2cm thick.
• Cut into assorted shapes with cookie cutters, or cut around patterns traced from storybook illustrations. If cookies are to be hung as decorations, make a hole in each 1/4 inch from top with end of plastic straw. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake 7 to 8 minutes or until light brown. Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack to let cool completely (about 30 minutes).
• Meanwhile, beat all frosting ingredients in a medium bowl until smooth and spreadable. Tint with food colour, if desired, and use to frost cookies.
Orange & Honey Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies:
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
Frosting :
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
2 tablespoons grated orange peel
1 tablespoon orange juice
Preparation
• Combine butter, sugar and honey. Add egg and stir.
• In a separate bowl, mix remaining dry ingredients, then mix dry ingredients into butter-honey mixture. Mix thoroughly.
• Drop well rounded teaspoonfuls of dough onto ungreased cookie sheets 2-5cm apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 190°C.
• To make icing, mix all ingredients.
• Frost cookies while they are still warm.
Raisin Cookies
Ingredients
Filling:
1 cup raisins, chopped
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup boiling water
Cookies:
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
Preparation
• In a saucepan, combine raisins, sugar, flour, and boiling water to make filling. Cook until thick. Set aside and let cool completely before using.
• Whisk flour and baking powder together in a bowl, and in a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar.
• Stir egg into creamed sugar; then add milk alternately with flour mixture until dough forms.
• Roll very thinly, cut with a cookie
cutter, and spread one cookie with filling, placing another cookie on top to make a sandwich. Pinch edges together to seal.
• Bake in a 160°C for about 10 minutes, or until lightly golden.
Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract*
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons hot water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-2 cups chocolate chips
1/2-1 cup crushed candy canes
*optional
Preparation
• Pre-heat oven to 175 °C.
• Cream together butter and both sugars until smooth, then beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla and peppermint extract, if using.
• Dissolve baking soda in two teaspoons of hot water and then add to dough mixture. Mix in salt.
• Stir flour into mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing to incorporate. Then fold-in chocolate chips and candy cane pieces.
• Scoop golfball sized spoonfulls of dough onto ungreased baking pans. Garnish top with additional candy canes, if you like.
• Bake for 10 minutes or until cookies start to brown.
—swati@timesofoman.com
