My family, on both sides, is largely non egg consuming and to send across any baked goodies their way I am constantly in search of eggless recipes and good substitutes. I have experimented successfully with flax seeds, yogurt, bananas and found them to taste as good.
Next up, was a search for an eggless substitute for the royal icing that is usually used to glaze the icing.. had been dying to get my hands dirty (literally speaking) with the glaze. Found a good one here.
Sugar cookies have been on my mind for a long time, more for the glaze and how the amazingly talented people on YouTube are able to create pieces of art from them.
Found a recipe here on my search and found them to turn out beautifully with no loss in shape or them expanding, with no refrigeration required. The texture was more shortbread like, very good. I made half the recipe using All purpose flour entirely as I needed a pale background for the glaze. You can mix whole wheat flour and All purpose in the ratio of 2:1.
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| Lined up pretty! |
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| The hand painted one |
The Cookies
Beat the sugar and butter in a bowl, with a hand mixer, till smooth and fluffy. Add the milk and vanilla and beat until combined.
In another bowl bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add this to the wet ingredients in batches, and mix well by hand till combined. If the dough isn’t quite coming together, add a tsp or so of milk and knead. Do not be tempted to add too much milk or aim for a smoother consistency by kneading too much, the cookies may become tough.
On a flour dusted surface, roll the dough out uniformly till just about 1/4" thick. Cut out cookies with your cookie cutters and place them on parchment paper lined baking tray.
Bake them at 180C for 10 to 20 minutes, mine took 18-19 minutes. Look out for the cookies to turn golden at the edges staying pale inside. Cool on the tray for about 5 minutes and then cool completely on a rack.
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
200gm butter, softened at room temperature
3 to 5 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
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| The Marbled effect |
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| Doting on.. |
The Glaze
In a bowl, mix the corn syrup, sugar and milk thoroughly. You can add a drop of vanilla or almond extract or a few drops of lemon juice if you like. Put in an icing bag and use it to glaze the cookie. Create an outline first, it will harden almost immediately. Flood the enclosed design with more icing. You can make it smoother flowing by adding some milk, add a drop at a time. There are many helpful videos on YouTube.
Ingredients:
1 cup finely ground sugar
1 tbsp Corn Syrup
1 tbsp milk
A few drops of lemon juice
A few drops of vanilla/ almond essence
