daring bakers, september.
We were asked, this month, to try our hand at decorating sugar cookies - not just everyday holiday cookies, but almost professional ones, good enough to give away as party favours or gifts. The kinds of cookies are lovely to look at, but often aren't really geared towards eating.
We were asked to use the theme of September to inspire out designs. Having thought a lot about it - autumn? leaves? back to school? - something remarkable struck me. These posts are shown to the world on the 27th of every month. This month being September, I realised that I'd be posting my cookies on the birthday of my late paternal grandmother. I still miss my Nan everyday. And I especially miss the time I spent with her in the kitchen - or even just eating biscuits with tea in front of Wheel of Fortune.
When I was very young, my grandfather would pick me up each day from school and we'd drive the fifteen minute journey to have a hot lunch with Nan. She always remembered to wrap both of us up in a pinny to spare our clothes the inevitable stains, and always made us something we'd enjoy - cacciatore, spaghetti and meatballs, sausage and mash. I obviously wasn't a vegetarian back then.
And each afternoon, my grandfather would go back to work, leaving me and Nan to while away the hours - usually painting. She taught me to paint in watercolour ever so patiently. I remember each of us painting half of a canvas - in my design - featuring Cinderella, the fat cat Lucifer, and her dogs and mice. Nan's flowers, painted on the left side of the canvas, put my six-year-old dabblings to shame. She really knew how to paint. But she patiently, calmly tried to teach me. Whenever I paint, I try to reach back to what she taught me on those afternoons.
So my cookies this month are dedicated to my Nan. I saw a design for the most beautiful floral cookies - painted with frosting - while browsing for ideas and it felt just right. I can't say I'm very good at this today - and I'm sure Nan would have done a near perfect job of it. But it was nice to get out a brush and put together two of the things I love doing: baking and painting. The cookies were fantastic and buttery, and the frosting set smoothly and with a nice gloss. Thanks for this one.
The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.
*****
Basic Sugar Cookies:
Makes Approximately 36x 10cm / 4" Cookies
200g / 7oz / ½ cup + 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
400g / 14oz / 3 cups + 3 Tbsp All Purpose / Plain Flour
200g / 7oz / 1 cup Caster Sugar / Superfine Sugar
1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
5ml / 1 tsp Vanilla Extract / Or seeds from 1 vanilla bean
Directions
• Cream together the butter, sugar and any flavourings you’re using. Beat until just becoming
creamy in texture.
• Tip: Don’t over mix otherwise you’ll incorporate too much air and the cookies will spread during
baking, losing their shape.
• Beat in the egg until well combined, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms.
• Tip: I don’t have a stand mixer so I find it easier to switch to dough hooks at this stage to avoid
flour flying everywhere.
• Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces.
• Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5mm/1/5 inch (0.2 inch)
• Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins.
• Tip: Recipes commonly just wrap the whole ball of dough in clingwrap and then refrigerate it for an
hour or overnight, but by rolling the dough between parchment, this shortens the chilling time and
then it’s also been rolled out while still soft making it easier and quicker.
• Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface.
• Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife.
• Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30mins to an hour.
• Tip: It’s very important you chill them again otherwise they’ll spread while baking.
• Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.
• Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C Fan Assisted) / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.
• Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies.
• Tip: Bake same sized cookies together otherwise mixing smaller with larger cookies could result in
some cookies being baked before others are done.
• Tip: Rotate baking sheets half way through baking if your oven bakes unevenly.
• Leave to cool on cooling racks.
• Once completely cooled, decorate as desired.
• Tip: If wrapped in tinfoil/cling wrap or kept in airtight containers in a cool place, un-decorated
cookies can last up to a month.
Royal Icing:
315g – 375g / 11oz – 13oz / 2½ - 3 cups Icing / Confectioner’s / Powdered Sugar, unsifted
2 Large Egg Whites
10ml / 2 tsp Lemon Juice
5ml / 1 tsp Almond Extract, optional
Directions
• Beat egg whites with lemon juice until combined.
• Tip: It’s important that the bowls/spoons/spatulas and beaters you use are thoroughly cleaned and
grease free.
• Sift the icing sugar to remove lumps and add it to the egg whites.
• Tip: I’ve listed 2 amounts of icing sugar, the lesser amount is good for a flooding consistency, and the larger amount is for outlining, but you can add even more for a much thicker consistency good for writing. If you add too much icing sugar or would like to make a thinner consistency, add very small amounts of water, a few drops at a time, until you reach the consistency you need.
• Beat on low until combined and smooth.
• Use immediately or keep in an airtight container.
• Tip: Royal Icing starts to harden as soon as it’s in contact with air so make sure to cover containers with plastic wrap while not in use.
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