Like my fast scones, I make a quick dozen cookies for teatime often. Baked naked or with only a dusting of sugar I call them plain old ‘sugar cookies’… or ‘biscuits’ if your local terminology prefers. When the cinnamon rolling mood strikes, they pass for what North Americans would call ‘snickerdoodles’. If I’m really feeling exotic I make them with a chai spice variant by including a few cardamom seeds, swipes of nutmeg, and ginger in the coating mix. It doesn’t take much to add an interesting twist of flavour.
Flat and almost ‘under baked’ by design, they’ll puff in the oven but by the time the kettle goes ding they’ll fall back down thanks to the baking soda/tartar combination leaving behind a satisfying chew as long as you don’t over bake them – the Achilles heel of most home made cookies. The combination of butter and shortening keeps them from spreading too far in the heat of the oven but still gives good flavour. My recipe is for a dozen but leftover dough will keep happily in the fridge up to a week for baking the second tray on later days if you prefer them still warm from the oven. Just don’t coat them with final sugar until right before baking.
Quicker than a trip to the bakery, this batch of a dozen costs a whopping $1.31 on my calculator compared to the megamarket packet of the same weight at $4.50. You have no excuses not to bake your own.
Quick Teatime Sugar Cookies
60 grams (~ 4 tablespoons) unsalted butter
50 grams (~ 5 tablespoons) vegetable shortening
150 grams (~ 3/4 cup) sugar
1 extra large egg from a happy chicken
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
185 grams (~1 1/4 cups) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
zest of any citrus on hand (optional)
1/8 teaspoon flavoured extract (e.g. lemon, almond, etc. – optional)
For the coating:
50 grams (~1/4 cup) sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (optional)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom seeds (optional)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (optional)
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
Yield: A dozen cookies, biscuits, or whatever you call them in your neighbourhood
Preheat the oven to 190C (375F). Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.
Using an upright mixer with whisk attachment or a hand blender, cream together the butter, shortening, and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and blend until well mixed. Sift the remaining ingredients together and add to the mix slowly while continuing to blend. Divide the dough into twelve equal portions. Form each into a ball and then roll in the coating mix as desired.
Bake six cookies at a time on the prepared sheet for five minutes. Rotate the pan front to back and bake a further five minutes. Remove and cool on a wire rack until the puffy cookies flatten, about five minutes. Just enough time to make a pot of tea. I dare you not to eat the whole batch at once.
