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SCMP Reporter

Baking isn't just something sweet old ladies do for their grandchildren. It's a fun activity that trains your patience, dexterity, organisation skills and creativity. 
Sugar cookies look very simple to make as it doesn't take long to prepare or bake them, but they can be even harder to make than cakes. 
You have to be organised in collecting and weighing the ingredients, careful and patient while the cookies bake, and imaginative when you decorate them. 
Chef Raymond Fong from Sweet Secrets bakery (www.sweetsecrets.com.hk) shares his recipe and decorating instructions with Young Post readers. He says the baking process is simple, with just a few easy steps, but you need to spend a lot of time if you want to make really good cookies.
Ingredients:
(makes about 10 cookies)
200g butter 
150g sugar 
1 egg
1 .5 tsp vanilla essence
400g flour 
Icing 
for writing:
1 egg white
220g icing sugar 
for spreading:
1 egg white
180g icing sugar 
*Chef Fong's icing tips: 
Writing on cookies requires thicker icing, while filling large areas requires softer, thinner icing for a smoother look.
Add a few drops of food colouring to create your desired colour
Tools:
Oven
Whisk
Rolling pin
Cookie cutter
Tips: 
Leave the butter to rest at room temperature for a while before use; this makes it easier to beat with the other ingredients.
Don't be tempted to put the mixed cookie dough into the freezer to cool more quickly, as the extreme temperature may ruin its quality and texture.
Don't cool decorated cookies in the fridge, because the humidity will soften the icing and the cookie.
Steps:
1 Whisk butter and sugar together until it appears creamy in colour - about five minutes with an electric mixer, slightly longer by hand. Break the egg into a bowl, add the vanilla extract and stir into the butter and sugar mixture.
2 Get a friend to pour the flour slowly into the mixture as you are stirring. This will ensure the flour is mixed thoroughly with the other ingredients. Mix until it the ingredients form a dough.
3 Roll out the dough with a rolling pin, then cover it with food wrap and put it in the fridge for three hours. This will allow the dough to become firm so it will be easier to cut.
4 After three hours, take the dough out of the fridge. Knead it, then roll it out again until it's about 1cm thick. Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter. If you want cookies on sticks, roll the dough a little thinner, and place the stick between two identical cut-outs.
Preheat the oven to between 150 degrees and 180 degrees Celsius.
5 After you've used up all the dough, brush the baking tray with oil to ensure the cookies don't stick. Place the cut-out shapes carefully on the tray. Bake for about 15 minutes, carefully turning the tray around halfway through to ensure all cookies are evenly heated. When they're honey-coloured, they should be done.
6 Take the cookies out and leave them to cool while you prepare the icing. Mix the ingredients, then put the icing in a piping bag. To fill an area with thinner icing, outline the cookie, then squeeze out icing as you move from left to right, almost like colouring on paper. Leave the cookies to dry at room temperature for a few hours.



The way the cookie crumbles