Festive Cookies
Cooking is a great pastime and it’s good for your soul! It stirs your creative juices and is very therapeutic. Many people cook when they are stressed to help them to relax. In fact, cooking can be a kind of meditation if you really immerse yourself totally into the creative process that it is! Give it a go, instead of seeing it as a chore, see it as a licence to increase and attract more creativity into your life.
Here’s a recipe to get you into the festive season, novelty shaped festive cookies!! Have a go and enjoy!!
You will need:
470g plain flour
300g caster sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
225g butter or cooking margarine
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Makes approximately 48 cookies
Method
Preparation time approx. 20 minutes
Cooking time approx. 8 minutes
Ready to eat in 28 minutes!
- Preheat oven to 200 C / Gas 6 and lightly grease two baking trays or line with parchment.
- Sift flour, baking powder and salt together; put aside for later.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter or margarine and sugar until it’s a light and fluffy texture. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla extract. Slowly blend in the sifted flour until it’s evenly mixed. Cover dough, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
- On a floured surface, roll out portions of dough to 5mm thickness. Cut out a tree, star or heart shape using a knife or use a variety of Christmas cookie cutters.
- Bake for 6 to 8 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are barely brown. Transfer from baking tray to wire cooling racks. Decorate with icing when completely cool.
Sherry Taylor, author of The Anti-Diet Lifestyle
