Treat Thursday: Valentine Butter Cut-Out Cookies

We  love creating and baking at BVF!!! I recently made these delicious Butter Cut-Out Cookies using a recipe from one of my favourite chef's Nigella Lawson! My recently engaged brother and future sister-in-law loved these!! 

Amazing- everyone I make these for devour the lot in one sitting!! A thoughtful treat for your loved ones this Valentine's Day. Cut out hearts and initials to personalize the cookies! Yum! Yum! 

Ingredients

175 grams softened butter

200 grams caster sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon ends amount google tag begin ingredient name google tag vanilla extract

400 grams plain flour- preferably Italian (plus more if needed)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

300 grams icing sugar (sieved)

food colouring

Method

You will need biscuit cutters and two baking sheets, greased or lined.

1 Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4/350ºF.

2 Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and moving towards moussiness, then beat in the eggs and vanilla. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and eggs, and mix gently but surely. If you think the finished mixture is too sticky to be rolled out, add more flour, but do so sparingly as too much will make the dough tough. Halve the dough, form into fat discs, wrap each half in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour. Sprinkle a suitable surface with flour, place a disc of dough on it (not taking out the other half until you’ve finished with the first) and sprinkle a little more flour on top of that. Then roll it out to a thickness of about ½ cm / ¼ inch. Cut into shapes, dipping the cutter into flour as you go, and place the biscuits a little apart on the baking sheets.

3 Bake for 8–12 minutes, by which time they will be lightly golden around the edges. Cool on a rack and continue with the rest of the dough. When they’re all fully cooled, you can get on with the icing. Put a couple of tablespoons of just-not-boiling water into a large bowl, add the sieved icing sugar and mix together, adding more water as you need to form a thick paste. Colour as desired: let the artistic spirit within you speak, remembering with gratitude that children have very bad taste.

Place cookies in a decorated jar and include a festive ribbon for a nice touch! 

Recipe Source: http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/butter-cut-out-cookies