If you are like me and have school age children driving you potty at home you could always spend an afternoon making Easter cookies with them like these…
They are really easy to make and certainly keep my two amused for a couple of hours. The cutters are readily available online though I have noticed Poundland doing a few Easter-themed bits and bobs which just so happens to include cookie cutters. Bargain!
Vanilla Cookies
200g softened unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
1 medium egg
1tsp vanilla essence
400g plain flour
1. Cream together the butter and sugar until combined. Don’t beat as you don’t want to get air into the mixture.
2. Add in the egg and vanilla essence, again don’t beat, just mix until combined.
3. Add in flour and bring the mixture together to form a dough. Wrap in cling film and chill in fridge for 20 minutes.
4. Dust a work surface with flour and roll out the dough to a thickness of approx 5mm. Cut out cookies and place on no stick baking trays. Strictly speaking you don’t need to do this but you can put them back in the fridge on the trays for 30 minutes just to firm up – this helps them to not spread.
5. Cook in the oven at 180c for around 10-12 minutes until the edges are just turning golden. Take them out and leave to cool. Don’t be surprised if they still feel soft when the immediately come out as they will harden as they turn cool.
Decorating
250g icing sugar (approx)
1 egg white
Plastic disposable piping bags, available from Lakeland and on eBay
1. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Add the egg white and beat gently until combined. The icing should form soft peaks so that when you touch the back of a spoon with it the peak that lifts up will flop over on itself but still hold its shape. If it stays upright it is too stiff and add a few drops of water. If it disappears it is too runny and you need to add a little more icing sugar.
2. Fill a piping bag halfway with icing and tie the end so it doesn’t all come out. Snip off a hole about 4mm in diameter at the end and pipe onto the cookie.
3. Either stick sweets to the easter cookies or pour out decorations and dunk the cookies in them. All sorts of cake decorations are available from Lakeland like these or from supermarkets such as Waitrose
Easter Cookies with the Children
Well Easter certainly snuck up on us!
If you are like me and have school age children driving you potty at home you could always spend an afternoon making Easter cookies with them like these…
Vanilla Cookies
200g softened unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
1 medium egg
1tsp vanilla essence
400g plain flour
1. Cream together the butter and sugar until combined. Don’t beat as you don’t want to get air into the mixture.
2. Add in the egg and vanilla essence, again don’t beat, just mix until combined.
3. Add in flour and bring the mixture together to form a dough. Wrap in cling film and chill in fridge for 20 minutes.
4. Dust a work surface with flour and roll out the dough to a thickness of approx 5mm. Cut out cookies and place on no stick baking trays. Strictly speaking you don’t need to do this but you can put them back in the fridge on the trays for 30 minutes just to firm up – this helps them to not spread.
5. Cook in the oven at 180c for around 10-12 minutes until the edges are just turning golden. Take them out and leave to cool. Don’t be surprised if they still feel soft when the immediately come out as they will harden as they turn cool.
Decorating
250g icing sugar (approx)
1 egg white
Plastic disposable piping bags, available from Lakeland and on eBay
1. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Add the egg white and beat gently until combined. The icing should form soft peaks so that when you touch the back of a spoon with it the peak that lifts up will flop over on itself but still hold its shape. If it stays upright it is too stiff and add a few drops of water. If it disappears it is too runny and you need to add a little more icing sugar.
2. Fill a piping bag halfway with icing and tie the end so it doesn’t all come out. Snip off a hole about 4mm in diameter at the end and pipe onto the cookie.
3. Either stick sweets to the easter cookies or pour out decorations and dunk the cookies in them. All sorts of cake decorations are available from Lakeland like these or from supermarkets such as Waitrose