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Cooking
Sugar Christmas Cookies - Delicate and Crisp
· 10 servings
Whip the butter
Beat the softened butter together with the sugar using a hand mixer until fluffy, about five minutes. Then add the egg and keep beating. You should have a beautifully airy, fluffy butter cream. Finally, stir in the vanilla extract.
Mix the dry ingredients
In another bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda. Fold this mixture into the butter cream.
Fluffy dough
The resulting dough should be light and fluffy. It may stick to your hands a little, so you can add a touch more flour - but not too much! Shape it into a ball, place it in a bowl and chill in the fridge for about an hour.
Roll out and cut the dough
On a work surface dusted with flour, roll the dough out into a sheet about 1 cm thick. Cut out stars or flower shapes, which you can later decorate with snowflake designs.
Chill again
Arrange the cut-out shapes on a baking tray lined with baking paper and pop them back in the fridge for 15 minutes. Don't skip this step! It stops the cut shapes from spreading and losing their shape while baking.
Bake
Bake in an oven preheated to 180°C for about 8 to 10 minutes. If you already know you won't be decorating with royal icing, you can sprinkle the shapes with granulated sugar at this point.
Icing
Whip the egg whites with sugar and lemon juice. If the icing seems too thick, just add a little more lemon juice or a splash of water to loosen it. Use this icing to decorate the cooled, baked cookies.
Tip: colours
For colourful cookies, you can divide the icing into several portions and tint each lightly with food colouring. Soft pastel shades suit these cookies best, so a tiny amount of colouring really is enough.