A Little Holiday Gift to My Readers!

Ok, this is a perfect example of how over-enthusiastic I am around the holidays...

I woke up this morning with a dilemma: hit the crosstrainer or tie on my apron and bake sugar cookies. I did the latter and decided to come up with a really buttery sugar cookie recipe, just minutes after I waved Hans and Kirstie goodbye. Perhaps I was inspired by watching old episodes of Julia Child yesterday. Everything is better with butter. Period. No one can argue with that. So the butterier the cookie, the better!
I'm feeling a little guilty though because I had actually decided that Sunday would be cookie baking day. Which means that I am alone in my kitchen now when I should actually be baking these cookies with the family. I just couldn't resist. And besides, who said I couldn't bake more cookies on Sunday? Thank goodness for friends and kids at school who love me for me, and for what I bake.

Here's my early morning creation. I know you'll fall in love with them the way I have! Happy Holidays and may you eat lots of cookies!

Sugar Cookies
Makes about 45 cookies


300g flour
1 tsp baking powder
fat pinch salt
125g caster sugar
170g butter, not hard but not too soft either (cut in small squares)
1 beaten egg
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp milk


Tip: Using good butter will make all the difference in these gorgeous little cookies!


Put the flour, baking powder and salt in a food processor. Pulse briefly to mix. Add the sugar, butter, egg and vanilla extract. Pulse again until the mix starts to come together. Add the milk, pulse and check the consistency. The dough should be soft, not too dry. Add a drop of milk if necessary. Remove the dough from the processor and form two fat disks. Chill in the fridge for at least half an hour.
Preheat oven to 180C. Flour a work surface and roll out the dough to a circle of about 5mm. Cut out the cookies. Arrange on a baking sheet at least 10 mm apart. Bake for about 15-18 minutes and allow to cool on a rack.
The cookies can be iced, dipped in chocolate, decorated with red, green and white- let your fantasy run loose!