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Welcome to Food for Thought, a monthly article series where we will explore new ways to approach cooking while looking ahead to life after high school. Whether it's a dorm, an apartment, or a gourmet kitchen, these recipes, tips, and tricks will help you be a master of your kitchen! Be sure to come back each month for new recipes and tips!
Have you ever cooked for yourself before? If not, that's okay, I have your back, and if you are a senior going into college and you are worried about what you are going to eat, I got you. These recipes will be cheap, short, as well as healthy so you don't have to eat ramen or any other unhealthy foods, instead of eating those, make this recipe, and thank me later. I will also show you how to make this recipe and you can follow me.
Christmas is coming soon and the best way to have fun during Christmas break is making a delicious dessert with your friends and family. You can even have fun with your siblings and help them make a dessert for Santa!
Recipe:
Ingredients:
Sugar Cookies:
1 cup unsalted butter softened (226g)
1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract (see note)
1 large egg
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (Plain flour) (315g)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon table salt
Sugar Cookie Frosting:
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted (375g) (weigh before sifting)
3-4 Tablespoons milk (I use whole milk, but any kind will work)
2 Tablespoons light corn syrup (see note)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Gel food coloring optional
Additional candies and sprinkles for decorating optional
Equipment:
Baking Sheet
Mixing Bowl
Food Coloring
Oven
Cookie Cutters
All ingredients:
Instructions:
Sugar Cookies:
Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl and use an electric hand mixer) and beat until creamy and well-combined.
Add egg and vanilla extract and beat until completely combined.
In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
Gradually stir dry ingredients into wet until dough is smooth and completely combined.
Lay out a large piece of plastic wrap and transfer approximately half of the dough onto the wrap (dough will be quite sticky at this point, that’s OK!).
Cover the dough with clear wrap or wax paper and mold it into a flat disk. Wrap tightly. Repeat with remaining cookie dough in another piece of clear wrap. Transfer dough to refrigerator and chill for at least 2-3 hours and up to 5 days.
Once the dough has finished chilling, preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper (alternatively bake cookies directly on an ungreased baking sheet). Set aside.
Generously dust a clean surface with flour and place one chilled cookie dough disk onto the surface. Lightly flour the dough and roll it out to 1/8" (for thinner, crispier cookies) or 1/4" (for thicker, softer cookies). Add additional flour as needed both on top of and beneath the dough so that it doesn't stick. Note: if the dough is cracking as you roll it, let it sit at room temperature for 10-15 minutes to soften before attempting again.
Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes and use a spatula to transfer shapes to a prepared baking sheet, spacing at least 1" apart. If you are not intending to decorate your cookies with icing, you can decorate them with sanding sugar at this point before you bake them.
Bake at 350F (175C) for 8-10 minutes (this is for cookies that are approximately 3" [7.6cm]; note that smaller cookies will need less time and larger cookies will need more), or until edges just begin to turn lightly golden brown.
Allow cookies to cool completely on the cookie sheet before decorating.
Easy Sugar Cookie Icing:
Combine powdered sugar, 2 Tablespoons of milk, corn syrup, and vanilla extract in a medium-sized bowl and stir until combined. If the frosting is too thick, add more milk, about a teaspoon at a time, until the frosting is thick but pipeable. If you accidentally add too much milk, add powdered sugar until the desired texture is reached.
If coloring the frosting, divide it into bowls and color as desired at this point.
Transfer frosting to a piping bag with a piping tip (I used Wilton 5), or place it in a Ziploc bag and snip a small piece of the corner off (not as neat, but this will still work, just take care that the frosting isn’t so thick that it breaks open the seam of the bag when you are squeezing).
Pipe frosting on cookies and decorate with decorative candies, if desired.
Allow frosting to harden before enjoying, stacking, or storing (this took several hours for me and may vary for you depending on the consistency of your frosting).
Finished Product:
Tips and Information:
Lactose intolerant Substitutions:
Milk Substututs:
Soy Milk
Almond Milk
Canned coconut milk
Water
Oat Milk
HEMP Milk
Butter Substututs:
Coconut Oil
Fruit Purée
Lard
Vegan Butter
Olive Oil
Vegetable Oil
Vegetable Shortening.
Gluten-Free Substitutions:
Corn Flour/Starch
Maize Flour
Polenta
Potato Flour
Ground Nuts
Buckwheat Flour
Oats
Tapioca Flour
Equipment Substitutions:
No Oven? Us a Griddle
You can whip up cookies in a jiff using a non-stick griddle. Heat your griddle to between medium-low and medium heat; if it's too hot, the outside of the cookie will burn before the inside has a chance to cook. Portion out a tablespoon of cookie dough for each cookie you're making.
No Mixing bowl? Use a bowl that you would use to eat cereal out of.
No Cookie Cutters? You can take a knife and cut your design out with that.
No Baking Sheet? Use any flat oven-safe equipment.
If you don't have a baking sheet, you can use a flat baking dish, a pizza stone, or an oven-safe skillet. Just make sure that the dish is oven-safe and can withstand the high temperatures required for baking cookies.
No Food Coloring? Either don't use color or you can make the colors yourself.
Pink: Concentrated beet juice, concentrated strawberry juice, strawberry powder, raspberry powder.
Red: Beet powder.
Orange: Concentrated carrot juice, carrot powder, sweet potato powder.
Yellow: Saffron, turmeric
Green: Matcha, spinach powder, spirulina ($26, Amazon).
Sites:
Sugar Spun Run:
Blog:
Visit my blog to get tips and tricks about how to Service High School or School in general.
Kallee's School Survival Guide: