My friend's/neighbor's five year old son has been asking to help bake cookies since before Christmas - and both he and my husband ganged up on me Friday night and asked if we could bake/decorate cookies on Sunday. How can I say no to a five year old??!!!
So, Saturday night I made the cookie dough, and pre-made a batch of cookies for him to decorate. He had requested pirate cookies, snowflake cookies, and easter cookies - so I had my work cut out for me finding those various cookie cutters! I opted to go with a simple Butter Cookie recipe (from the book "Creative Cookies"):
Butter Cookies
1 cup unsalted organic butter
1 cup organic granulated sugar
1 large organic egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups organic all purpose flour, plus extra for rolling out dough
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, cream teh butter and sugar with a mixer paddle attachment for 2 minutes. Stop and scrape the bowl. Cream the mixture for an additional 60 seconds. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Beat until well combined.
Sift together baking powder and flour. Add the flour mixture 1 cup at a time to the creamed butter and sugar mixture. Mix thoroughly after each addition. Blend in the last cup of flour by hand. The dough will be stiff.
Divide the dough into two balls. Wrap one ball into plastic wrap until ready to use. On a floured surface, roll out the other ball 1/8 inch thick. use a large offset metal spatula to run under the dough to prevent it from sticking. Cut out cookies with cookie cutters, dipping the cutters into flour before each use.
Carefully place the cut-out cookies onto an ungreased nonstick cookie sheet or a parchment-lined half-sheet pan. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to brown lightly. Let the cookies rest on the cookie sheet until ready to use.
After making the dough, I made a simple glaze icing and divided it into several different small bowls for the various colors we were going to use. The icing recipe also came from the book "Creative Cookies":
Glace Icing
1 pound organic confectioners' sugar
3/8 cup organic whole milk
3/8 cup light corn syrup
Flavor options: 1 teaspoon concentrated extract, 1 tablespoon alcohol or liqueur, or 2 to 3 drops concentrated candy oil (This time, I used Amaretto Liqueur)
In a mixing bowl, thoroughly mix the sugar and the milk first. The icing should be very soft and have a heavy cream texture before you add the corn syrup. Add the corn syrup and mix just until combined.
Divide the icing into several bowls. flavor each bowl with extracts, alcohol or candy oils. Color each bowl of icing as desired. Cover the bowl wiht plastic wrap to prevent drying until you are ready to use it.
I used Wilton brand colors for the various hues we needed.
I know I had fun, and I am pretty sure that Ettore did too!!
So, Saturday night I made the cookie dough, and pre-made a batch of cookies for him to decorate. He had requested pirate cookies, snowflake cookies, and easter cookies - so I had my work cut out for me finding those various cookie cutters! I opted to go with a simple Butter Cookie recipe (from the book "Creative Cookies"):
Butter Cookies
1 cup unsalted organic butter
1 cup organic granulated sugar
1 large organic egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups organic all purpose flour, plus extra for rolling out dough
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, cream teh butter and sugar with a mixer paddle attachment for 2 minutes. Stop and scrape the bowl. Cream the mixture for an additional 60 seconds. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Beat until well combined.
Sift together baking powder and flour. Add the flour mixture 1 cup at a time to the creamed butter and sugar mixture. Mix thoroughly after each addition. Blend in the last cup of flour by hand. The dough will be stiff.
Divide the dough into two balls. Wrap one ball into plastic wrap until ready to use. On a floured surface, roll out the other ball 1/8 inch thick. use a large offset metal spatula to run under the dough to prevent it from sticking. Cut out cookies with cookie cutters, dipping the cutters into flour before each use.
Carefully place the cut-out cookies onto an ungreased nonstick cookie sheet or a parchment-lined half-sheet pan. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to brown lightly. Let the cookies rest on the cookie sheet until ready to use.
After making the dough, I made a simple glaze icing and divided it into several different small bowls for the various colors we were going to use. The icing recipe also came from the book "Creative Cookies":
Glace Icing
1 pound organic confectioners' sugar
3/8 cup organic whole milk
3/8 cup light corn syrup
Flavor options: 1 teaspoon concentrated extract, 1 tablespoon alcohol or liqueur, or 2 to 3 drops concentrated candy oil (This time, I used Amaretto Liqueur)
In a mixing bowl, thoroughly mix the sugar and the milk first. The icing should be very soft and have a heavy cream texture before you add the corn syrup. Add the corn syrup and mix just until combined.
Divide the icing into several bowls. flavor each bowl with extracts, alcohol or candy oils. Color each bowl of icing as desired. Cover the bowl wiht plastic wrap to prevent drying until you are ready to use it.
I used Wilton brand colors for the various hues we needed.
I know I had fun, and I am pretty sure that Ettore did too!!
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