Cookies for the Holidays

Baking a batch of cookies is synonymous with the end of year festivities and summer holidays. Just imagine the aroma of sweet spices filling your kitchen and the smiles on the faces of your family and friends when you treat them with these delicious cookies.

One recipe – many ways

Heleen Meyer shares her spiced cookie recipe with us and it’s really easy to make. She says you can get as creative as you want with this dough. The combination of cinnamon, mixed spice and ginger is so delicious and smells like Christmas and holidays. The lemon rind may feel like a less typical ingredient, but it adds so much flavour, so don’t omit it.

This is slightly chewier than a typical crunchier ginger biscuit and the dough is quite ‘forgiving’. It can be rolled out and cut into different shapes with cookie cutters or just roll small balls and flatten with the palm of your hand or a fork. These cookies can even be used as decorations for a festive table or the Christmas tree, they make the perfect gift for neighbours, friends and family or just enjoy them as a homemade treat.

The dough can be made in advance and kept in the fridge for a day or two and it’s perfect to freeze for up to a month. A great way to have freshly baked cookies ready in a flash. If you prefer to freeze the dough for later, just roll it into a thick sausage, wrap in cling wrap and freeze in a freezer bag for up to a month. To use, allow the dough to thaw for a few minutes, then cut slices of the frozen dough and bake as above. Alternatively, allow dough to thaw and roll out as described in the recipe.

Spiced cookies

Recipe from Heleen Meyer for LiG Tydskrif

Makes about 50 small or 30 larger cookies

150 ml (150 g) soft butter

150 ml castor sugar

1 extra-large egg

5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla essence

finely grated rind of 1 lemon

500 ml (2 cups) cake flour

10 ml (2 tsp) each ground cinnamon and mixed spice

2,5 ml (½ tsp) ground ginger or cloves

Icing

125 ml (½ cup) icing sugar, sifted

10 ml (2 tsp) water or lemon juice

food colouring of your choice (optional)

silver balls and edible glitter to decorate (optional)

OR 40 g dark chocolate, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Line a large baking tray or two smaller trays with baking paper. It’s not necessary to grease the paper, as the dough contains enough butter.
2. Place butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric beater or mixer until creamy. Add egg, vanilla and lemon rind and beat until well blended.
3. Add the flour and spices; stir until it almost resembles a crumbly mixture. Gently mix with your hands or a wooden spoon to form a dough. For larger batches, the flour can be gently mixed into the butter mixture with an electric mixer.
4. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface. Gently roll out (about 3-4 mm thick) and cut with a cookie cutter in the shapes and sizes you prefer, like circles, hearts, stars or wreaths. Alternatively, roll small balls of dough, place on the baking tray and flatten with a fork. If you want to make a small hole in the cookie to hang is as a decoration, make a small opening in the raw dough, with a straw. Just remember to make the hole far enough away from the edge, so that the cookie doesn’t break when it hangs.
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until light golden brown. Allow to cool on a cooling rack.
6. Icing: Mix icing sugar and water or lemon juice to form a smooth icing. If preferred, add a small amount of food colouring of your choice (use only a few drops of liquid colouring or a pinch or two of the powdered colouring). Pour icing sugar or melted chocolate into a piping bag with a small nozzle. A great tip is to use a small sandwich bag – tie it closed and carefully cut a small piece off one of the tips of the bag, to create a ‘nozzle’.
7. Pipe icing or chocolate into any shapes, dots or squiggles on the cookies. Sprinkle with silver balls and edible glitter or any decorations you like, before the icing sets. Allow the icing to set and store in an airtight container.

For more cookie recipes visit Heleen’s website.

Image by Berna Coetzee