Christmas Cookies (Vanilla Biscuits / Sugar Cookies)
Recipe video above. These cookies are made for cutting out into shapes because they hold their shape when baking! They are plain, sweet vanilla biscuits that are perfect for icing and decorating as you please - and wonderful served plain too. NO CHILL!
Preheat Oven to 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until creamy (1 minute on speed 5)
Add egg and vanilla, beat until completely combined.
Add flour, baking powder, and salt.
Start mixing slowly, then beat until the flour is incorporated - it will be clumpy.
Dust work surface with flour, scrape dough out of bowl. Pat together then cut in half, then shape into 2 discs.
Roll out to 0.3cm / 1/8" (for thinner, crispier cookies) or 0.6cm / 1/4" (for thicker, softer cookies), sprinkling with flour under and over the dough so it doesn't stick.
Use cookie cutters to press out shapes and use a knife or spatula to transfer shapes to prepared baking sheets. (Keep dough that doesn't fit in the oven in the fridge).
Bake for 10 minutes, swapping trays halfway (Note 2), until the surface is pale golden and the edges are just beginning to turn light golden.
Allow cookies to cool completely on trays (they will finish cooking on the trays).
Melt chocolate then dip the surface into chocolate.
Dot with icing sugar and decorated with silver balls
Dust with icing sugar
Serve plain! They are sweet vanilla biscuits so they are wonderful eaten just as they are!
Notes
1. Number of cookies will depend on cut out size and how thick you roll your dough. It fills 3 baking trays.2. Swapping trays halfway - this means that you put both trays in the oven with one in the middle of the oven and the other underneath. Halfway through the bake time, switch them around so the one underneath moves to the top shelf, and the tray on top moves to the shelf underneath. This ensures they both bake evenly because the top shelf bakes faster than the shelf underneath.3. Source - adapted from this Sugar Cookies recipe by Sugar, Spun, Run. 4. Storage - Keeps in an airtight container for a week. After this, they are still edible and totally delicious but they do start to dry out a touch (I think….I may be a bit too picky when I'm estimating shelf life of food for recipes I share!!). I would never describe them as stale, but they are better in Week 1.