BAKIN COOKIES ON A RAINY DAY

This has got to be one of Henry's all time favourite activities. He absolutely adores cooking, and I intend on encouraging this completely. I love that he loves being creative with it "Mum, why dont we cut up some nuts and raisins and add some glitter too". Brilliant.

Here is a quick little recipe for you to try this with your little ones. I would spend 1 day baking and the next day decorating to break it all up. It can be quite messy, especially if you are doing it with toddlers.

What you will need:

• cookie cutters ( you can purchases these in the supermarket, although you will find a bigger variety online) 
• ingredients for cookie (see recipe below, most you should have in your pantry)
• food colouring - I find gel works best but thats a personal choice. 
• sprinkles/decorations
• rolling pin 
• flat baking tray
• baking paper
• piping bag

Recipe for cookies: 

Ingredients for Vanilla & Almond Biscuits

• 300g plain flour
• ¼ tsp salt
• 150g golden caster sugar
• dash of almond extract
• 150g cold unsalted butter, diced
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Ingredients for Icing 

400g royal icing sugar

juice of 1-2 lemons about (75ml) or 2-4 limes

gel food colouring, we used red and yellow. Add small amounts to begin with



1.\

1. Line a couple of trays with baking parchment and heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Mix together the flour, salt, caster sugar and almond essence. Add the butter and rub together until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

2.\

Beat the egg and vanilla bean paste together with a fork, then mix into the other ingredients. Knead until even. Chill until firm, then roll on a lightly floured surface until about 4-5mm thick.

3. \
Stamp out your shapes, transfer to baking trays lined with baking paper, then chill again for 15 mins before baking for 15-17 mins until golden. Remove from the oven, transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool before decorating.

5.\
While your biscuits are baking, start preparing your icing.
For the icing, put the royal icing sugar into a bowl, add about 65ml lemon or lime juice and use a metal spoon or electric mixer to beat until it is fairly thick and glossy. If the icing is too thick though, it will be hard to pipe. Take a quarter of the icing, put into a piping bag fitted with a No 2 (very small round) piping nozzle and set aside.

6.\
With the icing you have set aside, start piping the outline of your biscuits. This will hold the flood icing in place. You need to ensure your icing is thicker.

7.\
With the rest of the icing add a bit more lemon juice so that you get a smoother and runnier icing. Spread evenly over biscuits and use a toothpick to spread it round making sure to keep within the outlines. (This clearly did not go to plan - H got a little too excited). He wouldn't even let me take pictures as he was desperate to get his decorations on. Pictured below:

(Henry got a little upset that I joined in on the decorating. I backed off very quickly and let him do it, but looking forward to doing some more biscuits that I can decorate myself)

8.\
Then pop your biscuits into the oven for 30 mins on a lower heat to allow for them to set. 

Voila! you now should have a weeks worth of bribery in your pantry with some left over to take to Grandmas for a cup of tea.