Christmas cookies are a family tradition, but you can make these for birthdays too, using Play-Doh cutters or stencils to cut out theme shaped cookies your children will enjoy.
Makes 60
Ingredients
1½ cups (190g) maida(refined flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup (100g) sugar, powdered
½ cup (100g) butter
2 tablespoons milk or water
Method
- Sift the flour with baking powder. Add the powdered sugar and mix well.
- Add softened butter and mix with your fingers until you have a crumbly mix.
- Add milk or water, 1 tablespoon at a time, to make a soft dough that just holds together.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour or more. Take it out just before you are ready to roll and bake the cookies.
- Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease a couple of baking trays or line them with butter paper. Use a clean area of your kitchen counter as a workspace and sprinkle with flour. Take a portion of the dough, form into a ball, and roll into a large circle around 1/8” thick. Cut into shapes of your choice with cookie cutters. Use a large flat knife to gently lift the cut cookies onto the baking sheet. Decorate with silver balls or sprinkles, if you wish.
- Repeat the process with the rest of the dough. The number of cookies you get will depend on their shape and thickness. I usually make them 1½ -2” in size.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until the cookies turn very light brown at the edges. These bake and burn really fast, so watch over them.
- Store in an airtight container or in the fridge, for up to a week.
Spinach and Tomato Bruschetta
This is a super healthy snack that’s also a great appetizer for a Xmas party, since it looks so pretty.
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 packed cupwashed, dried, and finely chopped spinach leaves
1 tablespoon + 1 tablespoonextra virgin olive oil, + more for brushing the toasts
Salt to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cup deseeded and finely chopped tomatoes
Red chilli flakes (optional)
1baguette (French bread) or 8 slices of bread
½ cup hung curd, lightly salted
Method
- Marinate the spinach in 1 tablespoon of olive oil for at least one hour. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, after marinating.
- Marinate the tomatoes with pepper (not salt) and a tablespoon of olive oil, for atleast one hour. Add some red chilli flakes, if you wish.
- Cut the baguette at a sharp angle into 16 thin slices or cut the slices of bread into rectangular halves.
- Lightly toast the bread in an oven, toaster or pan.
- To assemble the bruschetta first brush the toast with olive oil, then putting a layer of spinach, then the tomatoes and finally a dollop of the hung curd.Serve fresh.
