I can't believe that I can make these cute little cookies too! Fong loves to cook and bake, but never good with making kawaii things. Somehow, I lacked the patience. About 6 months back, I bought a cookies book by 小本。 She is the writer and popular blogger creating these cute little cookies.
These cookies are not just cute-looking, they are tasty too. Store them in air-tight container and they remain crispy for at least one week (could be kept longer, but we finished them all!).
For all the cookie designs in her book, you will start with a basic dough recipe. The recipe will yield around 20 to 25 cookies, depending on how thinly you slice the cookie dough.
Basic dough (makes about 270g dough)
(a) 70g butter (soften at room temperature) + 50g icing sugar
(b) 1/2 beaten egg (25g) + 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
(c) 130g plain flour + 10g milk powder + 1/2 tsp baking powder (sift together)
Method:
1) Cream (a) together till pale white.
2) Slowly add in beaten egg, beat well and add in vanilla extract.
3) Add in (c) and just mix well to incorporate into a dough. Do not over mix.
4) Cover the dough with cling wrap and keep in fridge for an hour.
Once you have the basic dough ready and chilled, the rest will be Play-dough time!
Lady Bug Cookies
Divide the basic dough into:
60g plain dough + black food colouring (or use food charcoal powder) = black dough
90g plain dough + red food colouring = red dough
Remaining plain dough (about 100g to 120g)
Method of rolling:
1) Divide black dough into 2 blocks: 10g and 50g. Roll the 15g dough into a thin sheet, measuring 2cm x 15cm. Roll the 50g dough into a log, 15cm long. Keep chill in fridge.
2) Divide red dough equally into 2 blocks, i.e. 45g each. Roll each dough into a log, 15cm long. Keep in fridge.
3) Roll the plain dough into a sheet, measuring 14cm x 15cm. Keep in fridge.
At this stage, you have:
(a) black dough sheet, 2cm x 15cm
(b) black dough log, 15cm long
(c) red dough log, 15 cm long (2 pieces)
(d) plain dough sheet, 14cm x 15cm
4) Remove the red and black dough pieces from the fridge.
- Sandwich the black dough sheet between the red dough logs.
- Stack the other black dough log on top to form the shape of a lady bug (see picture above). Cover with cling wrap, gently roll the dough together to form a round tube. Keep in fridge to firm up slightly (I place in freezer for 5 minutes).
5) Wrap step (4) with plain dough sheet from step (3). Cover with cling wrap and chill again in fridge to firm up. Slice the dough into 0.5cm thickness disc and place on baking tray.
6) Dot the cookies with egg yolk solution* for the spots on the lady bug and add the antenna on the head. Bake the cookies in preheated oven of 180C for 15 to 20 minutes.
7) Cool the cookies on baking rack completely before storing in air-tight containers.
* beaten egg yolk + food charcoal powder (or 1 to 2 drops of black food colouring)
Brown Bear Cookies
Divide the basic dough into:
* 130g plain dough + 1 tsp cocoa powder (or coffee paste) = brown dough
* Remaining plain dough of 120g to 140g
Divide the brown dough into 100g (face), 2 x 15g pieces (ears)
Divide the plain dough into 20g (mouth) and remaining dough for wrap around.
Method:
1) Start with rolling the 20g plain dough into 15cm long. Keep chill in fridge.
2) Roll the brown dough 100g into a sheet, 10cm x 15cm.
3) Wrap (1) in brown dough sheet. Cover and keep in fridge.
4) Roll the 2 x 15 pieces brown dough into two thin logs, 15 cm long. Stick them on step (3) as the ears. Keep in fridge to firm up before next step.
5) Roll the remaining plain dough into a sheet, 14cm x 15cm.
6) Wrap (4) in plain dough sheet. Keep in fridge to firm up before slicing into 0.5cm thick disc.
7) Add the eyes, nose and mouth using eye yolk solution. Bake in preheated oven of 180C for about 15 to 20 minutes.
