My daughter loves baking. When she asked me whether we could bake something for Easter, I remembered that I have a beautiful set of Easter themed cookie cutters. After retrieving the cutters from some hidden corner of my kitchen, we got to work. First, we decided on a recipe that would both work for using cookie cutters and decorating. We selected shortcrust pastry. Then we got baking.
Shortcrust pastry recipe
Tools:
- 1 large baking tray
- Baking paper
- Large mixing bowl
- Rolling pin
- Cling film
- Cookie cutters
- Oven gloves
- Cooling rack
- Small bowls
- Teaspoons
- Small sieve
Ingredients:
- 200g plain flour (we used 100g wholemeal spelt flour and 100g gluten free flour)
- 100g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 50g sugar (we used raw sugar)
- 1 egg
- 1 pinch of salt
For the decoration:
- Icing sugar
- Food colour
- Hundreds and thousands, candy pearls, hearts, coloured sugar, …
- Preheat the oven to 150 degrees (fan forced). Line the baking tray with baking paper.
- Place the ingredients in the mixing bowl and knead the dough with your hands into a smooth ball. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of 5mm. I place a piece of cling film on top of the dough to keep it from sticking. Use the cutters to cut out shapes. Repeat with leftover dough.
- Place the biscuits on the lined baking tray and cook for 12-15 minutes or until slightly golden. Let the biscuits cool on the tray first before moving them onto the cooling rack.
- Have fun decorating the biscuits! The only limit is your imagination.
The entire family, even dad, got involved in decorating the biscuits. Among the creations: a rollerblading bunny, an upside-down smiling lamb, a bunny hiding in grass, chickens with heart shaped feathers.
You can use this recipe for any shaped biscuits.