Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla
250g butter at room temperature
140g castor sugar

Method:

1. Cream the butter and sugar in a stand mixer until combined well.

2. Add the egg yolk and the vanilla and continue whisking. Don't over whisk.

3. Sift the dry ingredients and add them to the batter in one lot. Mix well until they combined and the batter turned into a soft dough.

4. Roll the dough between two parchment paper. Cut the dough into desire shapes. If the dough is too soft add a table spoon of flour or refrigerate it for 30 minutes.

5. Bake the biscuits into a preheated oven on 180 Celsius for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

6. Transfer the cookies after cooling them for 5 minutes to a wire rack. Cool them completely.

7. Prepare your icing and start the fun part of the show.

The Icing:

3 Tbls. egg whites powder
1 tsp. vanilla

4 cups confectionary sugar

3-4 Tbls. water

food colouring

Method

1. In a bowl of a stand mixer combine the egg whites, the vanilla and beat until it becomes frothy.

2. Add the confectioners' sugar gradually and mix on low speed until the sugar is incorporated and the mixture is shiny and silky.

3. Turn speed up to high and beat until mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks. This should take approximately 5 to 7 minutes.

4. Add food colouring, if desired.

For immediate use, transfer icing to pastry bag or heavy duty storage bag and pipe as desired. If using storage bag, clip corner. Store in airtight container in refrigerator for up to 7 days.