Pretty Sugar Cookies....x

I thought I had temporarily lost my cooking 'mojo', then I realised that actually I was just in holding....waiting to be allowed to cook all things Christmassy! And be allowed to tell you all about it, without seeming unbearably cheerful and mistletoey! Well it is practically December now, so I warn you now, hold on to your sleigh bells!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS........ESPECIALLY the COOKING!(me last Christmas day, up to my elbows in trifle....a happy MrsB!)

This is the recipe I used to make freezer cookies. Brilliant for impromptu (and therefore spontaneous, fun and your chance to look uber sorted!) visits over Christmas! You just take out the roll of dough, allow to soften a little and slice in 2cm thick rounds, sling in the oven......cue wafting, warm, inviting baking homey aromas!

I am in love with these! They are ridiculously easy to make, they bake a treat and can be adapted in a ma-zillion ways and most importantly they are PRETTY!(these are Martha Stewarts......Simply Gorgeous!)
So I began a little Christmas decorating in the kitchen....Put on my boys, the Christmas Crooners (Dean, Frank, Louis, Bing....first name terms!)Got out my Christmas recipes notebook and began a-googling! Now most Sugar Cookie recipes come in American measurements....
which makes me do this....chew pencils, frown and take off my shoes (to count my toes.....the maths is beyond me!) SO my dear friends, I located this lovely UK, maths-dyslexic friendly recipe! Simples!

INGREDIENTS

125g Caster Sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla flavouring
150g Salted Butter, diced
225g Plain Flour, sifted


Get out the Christmas mixing bowl! Rub the butter into the flour, till it resembles bread crumbs. Add in the sugar and vanilla extract and then using your hands bring together into a ball. Done!Now if you fancy being creative, you can add different flavourings, instead of the vanilla, and add colour! So I split my mix in half, added vanilla to one half and peppermint to another. The minty half had a few drops of red colouring added too. Hee hee!
On a well floured surface roll out your dough into a rectangle. I was not as precise about this as Ole Martha was (who advises the use of a bench scraper to make sides even....oh Lordy!) My thinking being it matters not what the ends look like, they are going to bake and be munched and it will only be two cookies that are less than perfect.

Roll out your coloured dough and place on top. Martha uses egg white as glue at this point. Again being a bit slap dash, I did not! It worked fine! I used rolled over the top of both and that did the job!
Roll up.
Wrap up. Pop in freezer. Wait. Pretend some friends have arrived, take out of freezer let soften up a little slice into 2cm thick rounds, bake in moderate oven till golden, let cool.......munch! Plan next colour/ flavour combos!
Merry Christmas BAKING!x

Herby Pretzels for Packed Lunches...

I love baking a food item that is an equal favourite with Children and Adults. As you can imagine, i am not the sort of lady to suffer nonsense! We all eat the same foods in our house and we don't cater to the 'whims' of children (or menfolk). It has had the desired effect, as i now have a daughter who eats blue cheese, olives, smoked salmon... and will try anything at least once.

These are a great food to bake. Herby Pretzels are a healthy snack at midmorning - or an accompaniment to soups / salads - and simple to chuck in a lunch box or snack pack when you're out and about.

*200g plain flour

*1/2 teaspoon baking powder

*6 tablespoons of unsalted butter (this is the recipie i used - but i used room soft butter not liquid / melted butter)

*salt + other herbs of choice: I used crushed corriander seeds / mustard seeds / paprika and celery salt.

*Splash of milk

*egg to glaze

Basically, bung the flour in a large bowl and add all the herby choices. Mix round a bit. I used a generous teaspoon of each dried herb listed and smashed them all up with the pestle and mortar so my daughter didn't have any surprise chunky herbs that put her off. The paprika gave a nice redish tint.

Rub in the butter to make breadcrumbs. Gentle add tiny splashes of milk until you can knead it all together in a non sticky ball of dough. You can refridgerate the dough for half an hour to make the dough easier to shape... not me, you understand, i am too impatient - so i used lots of flour on my hands when rolling to avoid a sticky mess.

I pulled off a clump a bit bigger than a golf ball. On a floury surface with floury hands i rolled it into a long sausage and then folded it into the pretzel shape. THEN, at this moment, i wished i had greased and prepared my baking tray at the BEGINNING as i now have sticky hands and nowhere to put the pretzel shape (quick wash hands - grease my biscuits tray x2 - start again)

Then i have that dilemna i have every time.... it seems like such a waste of an egg to just crack one open for a glazed effect, but i think it's worth it - so i glazed the top of each pretzel with egg before popping them in the oven. I could have used milk, but then i made my daughter 'Eggy Bread' for lunch with the remaining egg, so i get extra points for thrifty cooking :)

Onto a tray and in the middle of the oven 180 / 350 / gas4 for about 18mins....

We looked at them and decided they looked a little bit like doggy poos sat there. But don't let that put you off, they taste great! But next time i might change the shape slightly, ya know?

Leave to cool on a wire rack to stop the pretzels overcooking on the hot tray.

They keep for about a week in an airtight tub but i have a few greedy bugs in my house and they lasted 2 days.... All good though, they aren't a bad thing to binge on.

Obviously the key things to this recipe are:

1. They are soooo quick to make.

2. You don't need any ingredients that a cookery loving adult wouldn't have in their cupboard.

3. They last for a week which is good.

4. You can change the flavours: Rosemary and Garlic? Cheese and Red Pesto?...

5. A great finger food for toddlers ... age appropriate thru teens to adults.

I do have a pretzel recipe that i much prefer BUT it involves yeast and rising and i tend to save that when i feel like crying, so i can bash the dough around and get rid of angst.... i'll save it for another time x

happy fooding :)