Tea Room Tales & Tidbits
Table of Contents
Sugar Cookie Cutouts
Everyone makes sugar cookies. For that reason, I wasn't going to use them in the tearoom but when the need arose for a cute, wee bit of colour for the Valentine Special Tea Luncheon, I realized I needed them. Faye from Faye's Fancies would add coloured sprinkles to the dough. This made the heart shapes seem magical especially when sandwiched together with pink, buttercream icing. It was a Faye's Fancies favourite. I don't know what Faye's recipe was, but these are the same idea.
- 1 cup non-hydrogenated margarine
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 4 cups flour
- 1/3 cup sprinkles (optional)
- Cream margarine and sugar together in a free-standing mixer or use a wooden spoon.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.
- Add vanilla, mix in.
- Mix in salt and baking powder.
- Add flour gradually, one cup at a time until dough can be formed into a ball.
- Sprinkle clean, flat surface with flour.
- Roll out dough evenly to 1/4 inch thickness.
- Cut out chosen shapes.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 350 F for 8 minutes. Edges should look toasty.
- Cool on a wire rack completely before decorating.
Variations
Substitute vanilla extract for one extract of your choice: lemon, maple, peppermint, etc.
Add currants, raisins, candied peel, or dried cranberries to the dough before rolling out.
Make sandwiches using the Mint recipe. Simply cut the same shape from the mint as the cookies and place the two halves together while still warm. This will help fuse them together.
If using an irregular cookie cutter (animal cutouts) remember to flip cookie cutter so that when pressed together you have the bottoms of the cookies facing inward. Iced currant cookies: Add 2 cups of currants to the dough before rolling into balls with the palms of your hands. Flatten, bake as above. After cooled, ice with almond or lemon glaze.
