I might love to cook, but I’m generally pretty rubbish when it comes to baking – and yes, they are very different things!
With cooking, you can just play around with flavours and be a little free, throwing in an extra pinch of this or another handful of that if you fancy. But when you bake, things like measurements and timings have to be dead on, otherwise things just fall apart. Well, they do in my experience anyway!
Every now and again, though, I feel spontaneously inspired to get my bake on, especially this time of year. It just feels festive, doesn’t it?
I knocked up these crunchy Christmas tree sugar cookies and, as you can see, they didn’t exactly turn out beautifully – but they tasted pretty great! Anyway, homemade food isn’t meant to look perfect…
What helped me out with this recipe is the use of this fantastic book, ‘1 Dough, 50 Cookies’ by Linda Doeser. The basic cookie recipe from this book is something I’ve used every time I’ve made any kind of cookie or biscuit. So really, the credit goes to this book! Check it out if you’re looking from some baking inspiration.
INGREDIENTS (makes 10 cookies)
75g Unsalted Butter, Softened
50g Caster Sugar
1 Egg Yolk, Lightly Beaten
1tsp Vanilla Extract
95g Plain Flour
Pinch of Salt
Multicoloured Chocolate Chip Cookies
So, this is how I did it…
1. Mix together butter and sugar in a bowl, and slowly beat in the egg yolk and vanilla extract.
2. Sift the flour and salt into the bowl and stir until thoroughly combined.
3. Wrap the mixture in cling film and chill in the fridge for an hour.
4. Remove from fridge, shape the dough into balls and flatten them out into discs. Then use a Christmas tree shaped cookie cutter to cut each disc into tree shapes.
5. Dot the multicoloured chocolate chips into the tree cookies to create baubles for your tree.
6. Line a tray with baking parchment or greaseproof paper and bake for 15 minutes until lightly browned. Leave to cool fully on a rack.
Tips & Tricks!
- These cookies are really easy and fun to make, so get the kids involved too!
- Use colourful icing to make the trees pop even more – outline them with green icing, add a yellow star on top, etc..
- If the mixture is wet or gooey before it goes into the fridge, add more flour until the mixture becomes more firm.
#ThisGirlEats 