Shaped Butter Cookies

Recipe from my ex-colleague, Jessica.

Ingredients
200g plain flour
100g cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
80g icing sugar
1 egg yolk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 150 deg celcius.
2. Mix flour and icing sugar well.
3. Rub butter, flour, icing sugar until mixture resembles bread crumbs.
4. Add egg yolk and knead until it forms a dough.
5. Roll out dough until 3mm thickness.
6. Cut out shape and place on baking paper.
7. Bake at 150 degrees for 12mins. The cookies will appear pale and not golden brown,
8. Cool on rack immediately after taken out of oven.
9. Store in airtight container.

Note:
There is no need to knead the dough excessively, if not cookies will turn out hard.
You can use 2 tbsp of plain flour for dusting to prevent sticking. Or, you can roll the dough between two pieces of baking paper before cutting with a mould.
Add more flour if dough is too sticky.

Milo Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe adapted from Bake for Happy Kids.

Ingredients
125 g unsalted butter, softened
80g light brown sugar
40g caster sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
150g all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
25g Milo
180g chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 170°C (fan forced).
2. Using an electric mixer or a wooden spoon, cream butter, then add both sugars and cream until fluffy. Add eggs and beat slightly, then add vanilla and beat until combined.
3. Sift flour, baking powder, milo and salt together. Do not discard the larger bits of Milo that are trapped in the sieve and add the bits back to the flour mixture. Add to butter mixture, beating gently until just combined.
4. Add chocolate chips (keep some to put on the cookie later) and stir in gently.
5. For a bigger cookie, drop a tablespoonful of cookie dough on the prepared tray with about 3 inches apart from each scoop. For a smaller cookie, drop a teaspoonful of cookie dough on a prepared tray with about 1.5 inches apart from each scoop.
6. Place more chocolate chips on top of the cookie dough.
7. If you prefer chewy cookies, bake for about 8 mins. For firmer cookies, bake for around 10 mins.