Sunday Bake Club: Melting Snowmen Biscuits

Sugar Cookie Recipe

Makes about 25 medium-sized or 12 large cookies

·         200g unsalted soft butter

·         200g caster sugar

·         1 egg, lightly beaten

·         400g plain flour, plus more for dusting

·         For vanilla cookies, add seeds from 1 vanilla pod or Vanilla Extract (Optional)

For Decorations:

·         White icing (can be made by mixing together icing sugar and water)

·         White marshmallows

·         Colourful icing pens

1.       Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla until well mixed and just becoming creamy in texture. Don’t overwork, or the cookies will spread during baking.

2.      Beat in the egg using an electric whisk until well combined. Add the flour and mix on low speed until a dough forms. Gather it into a ball, wrap it in cling film and chill it for at least 1 hour.

3.      Place the dough on a floured surface and knead it briefly. Grab a golf ball sized chunk and squish it down until it’s about 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Do not worry about the shape or how lumpy it is, the more misshapen the better!

4.      Lay these on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Chill again for about 30 minutes and preheat the oven to 180C/160Cfan/350F/gas 4.

5.      Bake for 6–10 minutes, depending on size, until golden brown at the edges. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

6.      Once the cookies are cool, load them up with the cookie icing and spread it around with the back of a spoon, let some dribble over the edge for a “puddle” look.

7.      Spray a microwavable plate with cooking spray, and place marshmallows on the plate. Set the microwave for 30 seconds, but watch the marshmallows as they cook. Stop the microwave as soon as the marshmallows start to get puffy, do not let them double in size.

8.     Spray your fingers with cooking spray or grease them up with shortening, and carefully pull the marshmallows off, by the base, and set them on top of the frosted cookies.

9.      Decorate as you’d like with coloured icing.

Tips

·         Wrapped in foil or cling film, the undecorated biscuits will keep well in a cool dry place for up to a month.

·         Always bake equally sized cookies together to make sure they cook in the same time. If you mix different sizes, the smaller ones are already cooked when the larger ones are still raw in the middle.

Adapted from recipes by Peggy Porschen and http://www.somewhatsimple.com