Sugar Cookies

1. Place room temperature butter in a mixing bowl with a paddle attachment and whip until pale.

2. Add caster sugar on low speed combine the sugar then increase speed to medium / high speed for 2 minutes.

Scrape down the side of the bowl and paddle to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.

3. On a medium / low speed add one room temperature egg at a time and vanilla essence until incorporated.

4. Begin to add ½ a cup of flour at a time until incorporated on low speed.

NOTE: Scraping down the bowl and paddle every so often to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.

5. Once you have added ½ the flour add the salt and baking powder to the remaining flour, mix into the flour and continue to add the flour to the bowl on low speed.

6. Once the flour has been fully incorporated scrape the bowl and paddle one last time and mix for 30 seconds to a 1 minute.

NOTE: Don’t overmix the dough as this will result in dense / tough cookies.

7. Scoop out the mixture and quickly form into two dough balls. Wrap the dough balls in two separate pieces of cling film and squash down to increase the surface area so it cools quicker.

8. Refrigerate dough for 30 to 50 minutes or until you are able to roll out you dough with ease.

NOTE: too soft and the dough will be too malleable, too firm and the dough will crack. This is what you'd call a Goldilocks situation.

9. Retrieve one of the dough balls from the fridge, if the dough its cool and firm around the edges but still soft in the centre simply cut the edges off and use. Return the warm / soft dough to the fridge to further cool.

10. Using the warmth of your hands quickly form a ball of dough and place on a piece of baking paper. If you can push down on the dough ball without the edges cracking too much you are ready to place another piece of baking paper over the top and roll out the dough to your preferred thickness.

NOTE: for the best result 5mm is optimal for cooking, this will cook to a 6mm cookie.

11. Cut out your cookies with your preferred shape cookie cutter and carefully place on a lined baking tray.

NOTE: If you are working in a warm environment you may want to return the cut cookies to the fridge. If you place warm cookies in the oven they may lose their shape.

12. Place the cookies in the oven at 177c for 11 to 13 minutes.

13. Remove from the oven when you see them turn golden brown around the edge. Leave to cool for at least 10 minutes as they will remain soft for a while,

14. These sugar cookies are great by themselves but even better with a marshmallow fondant covering. For the recipe click HERE.