The Crystallised cookies, from A. and V. with love

The other day V. mentioned that she was considering baking some love inspired cookies for St. Valentine’s Day and decorating them accordingly (hearts, reds, and all that). Though not being a passionate cook myself, I thought that assisting her while preparing them could actually turn into a great adventure - we could catch up, while

I could simultaneously lay my hands on her recipe (sorry V.) for the yummiest cookies I’ve ever tasted (yes, she has surprised us with her extremely delightful desserts on quite a few occasions before, not to mention the heavenly cake she prepared for my last year’s birthday).

* Sorry for the poor quality of the picture, sweeties; it was quite late and the only device I had  brought  with myself to the dinner party was my phone...

Quite excited about the upcoming baking tutorial, I put on my biggest smiles and I headed over to V’s. When she opened the door she actually took a step back clearly stunned by my obvious keenness (but, hey, I was just about to get a hold of her secret recipe, remember?). And just like that I was finally led into the mysterious world of cookie baking.

Quite a few hours later, with flour spilled all over the floor, fingers covered with blue food colouring (this thing should be forbidden by law!), a few cookies stolen by her dog, and a few disastrous attempts to decorate the shapes - I can finally proudly present to you our “Crystallised cookies”. And of course, I cannot skip the occasion to apologise to V. for my obvious lack of knowledge within the field of baking. Well, I did help a bit (with the colouring mainly - hence my dyed in blue hands), though unfortunately I should admit that my support was more of a moral support than anything else.

Stage one: The dough!

Ah, it looks cute, doesn't it?

Stage two: Baking the cookies!

Check them for doneness occasionally. You are aiming for golden brown cookies and not for coal-looking ones.

Stage three: Decorating the cookies!

Be bold! And let your imagination run wild. But meanwhile - please wear a glove!

Stage four: Our cookies!

Barney, quite shocked by the look of our blue cookies. Yes, we did try creating some blue ones (and a combination of a blue and red as well), but as you can probably guess and also see - the final result was quite disastrous. So for now we are keeping them only to Barney and ourselves (and you, but you can keep a secret, right?). 

For those of you who have liked the final results move on to the next stage and get a glimpse of V's recipe! 


Stage five: Crystallised cookie recipe

 *Please, use it wisely. It’s highly addictive.

• Ingredients needed for the cookie dough:

2/3 tea cup butter

1 cup white sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup milk

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

Instructions: 

1. In a large box cream together with a mixer the butter and sugar until perfectly smooth;
2. Add in the vanilla extract and the eggs;
3. Sift the flour in another bowl before stirring it with the baking powder and the salt;
4. Add the egg-butter mixture and the milk to the flour;
5. Take the dough out and knead it; if you find it too sticky to knead sprinkled it with extra flour;
6. Cover and chill the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes;
7. Roll out the ready-to-go dough on a floured surface until its around ½ inch thick;
8. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. (350 degrees F.);
9. While waiting for the oven, start cutting the dough with the lovely cutting shapes you’ve prepared;(
10. Don't forget to cut some smaller shapes within the already cut cookies- see Stage 1 for reference; They will be essential during the decoration process; 
11. Place the batch of cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet;
12. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for around 8 minutes depending on the cookie’s thickness;
13. Cool completely before you initiated any art-related activities ;) 

• Ingredients for the Royal icing:

1 large egg white;

2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice;

2 cups (200 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

Instructions:

1. Mix the ingredients together with a mixer until the frosting is stiff (like a meringue) and of piping consistency. Add more sugar if you feel the mixture it not thick enough and conversely if it’s way to thick add some extra lemon juice;
2. When the mixture is ready, take your pastry pen and start outlining and flooding the cookies with the icing; for reference see Stage 3. J

• Ingredients for the crystallised sugar mixture to fill in the little holes you’ve previously cut within the cookies:

3 tablespoons of sugar

Different sugar flair food colourings (the colours of your choice)

¾ cup water

Instructions:

1. Mix the sugar and the water together in a saucepan; when the sugar crystals disappear boil the mixture until it reaches 110 degrees C (230 degrees F) and cool it down to 90 degrees C (194 degrees F);
2. Add some food colouring of your choice;
3. Fill in the little shapes that you’ve previously cut within the cookies with the melted sugar;
4. Wait until the sugar has completely hardened before picking up the cookies.

Now you’re ready to go and have some fun while creating your crystallised cookies!

Turn on your imagination and start decorating the yummy hearts. Use food-decorating pens, don't be afraid to drip some of the melted sugar mixture to create some petite drops all over the cookies. You can also use smaller cookie cutters to create 3D shapes on the surface of the cookie.

Important: 

1. Custom-design your crystallised love cookies so as to suit your taste.
2. Make sure to serve with lots of love and tea.

From V. and A. with love