Cookies are delicious and quite easy to make. Cookies often come in different sizes, shapes, and flavours. Since Christmas is just around the corner, you can learn to make tasty cookies for your family and friends. They are delicious goodies that make excellent Christmas gift hampers. Here is a simple recipe that you can use to bake cookies at home.

What you Need

• 2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
• 1 2/3 cake flour
• 1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 2/3 bread flour
• 1 ½ teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 ¼ cups unsalted butter
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 ¼ cup light brown sugar
• 1 2/3 cups (208 grams) cake flour
• 1 2/3 cups (208 grams) bread flour
• 1 1/4 cups (284g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 cup (10 ounces or 225g) packed light brown sugar
• 16 ounces or 3 cups of chunks

Instructions

Mix flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda into a bowl. Set aside.

Using a large bowl, mix the butter with 1/3 cup of brown sugar at a fast pace until completely creamy and smooth for about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and egg to the paste and mix evenly at high speed to ensure they combine perfectly, for about 1 minute. Ensure you scrape down all sides of the bowl and mix as required to combine.

On a separate bowl, mix the flour mixture with the wet ingredients until they combine to form a paste. The paste will be flaky at first, and when you continue mixing it for several minutes, it will hold together nicely.

Cut the dough down into two equal portions and gently flatten them into discs. Wrap each portion in plastic foil. You should place the discs to chill in the refrigerator for about 3 hours, or you can leave it for up to 3 days. When you chill the dough for more than three hours, remove it from the refrigerator and allow it to soften up a bit before rolling.

Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F). Line your baking sheets evenly with silicon baking papers or parchment paper. Set aside.

Remove the chilled dough from your refrigerator. Flour the work surface evenly, and apply it on your hands as well. Also, use flour on your rolling pin as you continue working. Since the dough might become sticky during the process, you should keep the flour nearby.

If the dough cracks when you roll it out, set it aside for a couple of minutes to soften up. As you continue working with it, it will become softer and will make the process a lot easier.

Roll the disc to achieve the desired thickness. Using a cookie cutter, slowly cut down the dough into circles. Repeat this process until the 1st disc of dough is complete. Use the same procedure on the remaining disc of dough. If you use all the dough, you will have around 60 circles.

Use a cookie cutter to cut holes into the centre of the circles. You can make holes on 30 cookies that we shall refer to as the ”doughnut cookies”.

Arrange the doughnut cookies and whole cookies on separate parchment baking sheets since doughnut cookies take less time to bake. Bake them for around 10 minutes max until they turn light brown at the edges.

Finally, allow them to cool down for a few minutes. You can dust the cookies with sugar and then transfer them to a tray so that they cool completely. Remember that cookies can stay fresh when stored in sealed containers.

Conclusion

While cookies make great Christmas treats, you can also buy your loved one Christmas gift hampers as they usually come with an assortment of goodies. Whatever gift hamper you choose to buy for your loved one, remember that it’s the thought behind the gift that matters.