One Clever Cookie

I adore baking with the kids, but sometimes it can turn into a bit of a debacle.  Enter my new best friend. The Annabel Langbein Cookie.

This recipe is such a gem, its a big recipe so makes a big batch. The plan is then, we split it into four lots, wrap in glad wrap and store in the fridge. The dough just needs to be pulled out whenever you are ready and in need of cookies, left to warm up to room temperature and then you have cookies all ready to roll and decorate- the fun part! 15-20 minutes in the oven and you are done, a quick, relatively painless and fun "baking" with the kids...My six year old, can pretty much do  this all on her own and then I help put into the oven .

I have searched online and as the dough is egg free its pretty safe to keep in the fridge for a few days, week maybe.

We have had so much fun with these, topping with MNM's, chocolate buttons, mixing in cocoa and peanuts, raisins, craisens, cornflakes, milo, dipping in 100 and 1000's,jam drops,  the possibilities are endless! We have also mixed up the whole lot at once, making four different types of biscuits to fill the tins from one recipe.

Other ideas include rolling the mixture out flat, sprinking with 100's &1000's and then rolling up longwise (sushi style). Chill for 15 mins and then slice with the swirl showing on the inside.You can also mix in cocoa to darken one half, roll and place a plain roll on the top and press the two together creating a multi coloured roll which can be chilled and cut later.


Annabel's recipe below has some more "refined" ideas that would be great to make as adult biscuits :)



Here is the recipe we use.  I am sure there are other bulk recipes around online to try but I do recommend this one.

Original Recipe here

Butter Cookies

Prep time 20 mins + chilling
Cook time 20 mins
Makes about 7 dozen

500g butter
1 cup sugar
6 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
a few drops of vanilla extract
4½ cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
flavourings of your choice (see below)

Preheat oven to 160°C. Line 3 or 4 oven trays with baking paper. 
Cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla, then stir in the flour and baking powder. The raw dough can be made ahead to this stage and frozen until needed. Defrost before baking.
To make Cookie Sampler, divide dough into 7 portions. Mix flavourings (see below) into each portion. If not making all 7 variations, divide dough according to the number of variations you are making and increase the flavourings to match. Taste a little raw dough as you go and adjust the flavourings to suit. 
Chill mixture for 15 minutes. Roll into walnut-sized balls, place on baking trays and flatten slightly. Decorate according to instructions for different flavourings. Bake until lightly golden and set (about 20 minutes). 
Allow to cool for 10 minutes on the tray then transfer to a rack to cool completely before storing in an airtight container or jar. They will keep for several weeks – if they become a little stale simply refresh for 5 minutes in an oven preheated to 180ºC.

Cookie Sampler

Once you’ve made a batch of Butter Cookie dough, divide it into seven and mix a different flavouring into each portion (you’ll get about 12 cookies in each flavour). If you don’t want to make all seven, adjust the flavourings by the appropriate ratio. Cook according to instructions for Butter Cookies.

Lavender Cookies
Mix 3 tsp lavender petals into 1 portion of the dough. Decorate by pressing the tines of a fork into the cookies in a spoke pattern. Brush with water and sprinkle with Lavender Sugar made by whizzing 1 cup sugar and 2 tbsp lavender petals in a food processor.
Hazelnut and Chocolate Cookies
Add 3 tsp dark cocoa, 3 tbsp chopped dark chocolate and 2 tbsp chopped hazelnuts to 1 portion of dough. Decorate with melted chocolate and ½ tsp toasted chopped hazelnuts.
Raisin and Cornflake Crisps
Add 3 tbsp raisins and 6 tbsp lightly crushed cornflakes to 1 portion of the cookie dough.
Carnival Cookies
Roll 1 portion of dough into balls, dip each ball into hundreds and thousands then flatten onto tray.
Almond Biscuits
Add ½ tsp almond extract to 1 portion of the cookie dough. Decorate by pressing a blanched almond into the top of each cookie.
Ginger Crisps
Add 1 tsp ground ginger and 2 tbsp chopped crystallised ginger to 1 portion of the dough.
Cranberry Cookies
Add ¼ cup coarsely chopped dried cranberries and ¼ cup coarsely chopped white chocolate to 1 portion of the cookie dough.