With special thanks to the Siemens Beijing Direct Brand Shop. This is the second part of a three part series. The first featured how to make Mulling Spices.
The true charm of the holiday season is in the homespun and personal. Homemade food in particular has an unmatched charm and joyfulness to it. Each of these delicious and simple recipes are multi-functional; both the fragrant mulling spices and sweet sugar cookies can be given as unique gifts, while a traditional Hanukkah staple, potato latkes can also make for a filling festive brunch or serve as a hearty party canapé if made smaller.
Sugar Cookies
Sugar Cookie Recipe
Makes about 36 cookies
Ingredients
• 3 cups all purpose flour, extra for rolling
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk
• ¾ tsp baking powder
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 190°C. In a medium-sized bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. Using a large wooden spoon, or a mixer on low speed, cream together the softened butter and sugar in a large bowl until dough appears a light color. Beat in egg, vanilla, and milk.
3. Using a mixer on low speed (or hand mixing with a wooden spoon), gradually add dry ingredients, and beat together until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl.
4. Refrigerate dough for two hours.
5. Sprinkle your working surface with flour to keep the dough from sticking.
6. Roll half the dough out until about ¼ inch thick and cut it into desired shapes.
7. Place shapes at least one inch apart on greased baking sheet.
8. Bake for 8-10 minutes in the preheated oven or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.
Sugar Icing Recipe
Ingredients
• 1 cup confectioner’s or powdered sugar
• 3-6 tablespoons milk or other liquid
• ½ teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
• Food coloring
Directions
1. Put the sugar, milk, and vanilla extract into a bowl.
2. Mix until it forms a thick, creamy paste. If desired, thin the icing into a glaze with additional tablespoons of milk.
3. Repeat the colored process adding food coloring as desired to create additional icing.
4. With a tablespoon, add icing to piping bags, creating separate bags for each color.
5. Decorate cookies as desired.
Siemens Beijing Direct Brand Shop
Daily 9am-6pm. Shop 102, Gemini Grove, 63 Xinyuan Jie, Chaoyang District (WeChat: se_direct_brand_shop) 朝阳区新源街63号院星源汇东塔底商102
This article originally appeared on p56-57 in the December 2014 issue of beijingkids. To view it online for free, click here. To find out how you can obtain your own copy, email distribution@truerun.com.
Photos: Uni You
