Shopping list
75g butter (room temperature)
75g fine sugar
½ free-range organic egg (room temp.)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
125g plain flour
½ teaspoon of baking powder
icing sugar
red, pink and fuchsia fondant icing
edible gold paint + brush
edible black felt tip pen
With the Chinese New Year coming up, we traditionally bake vanilla shortbread for the mini monsters, their favorite cookie. In the year of the ox these are of course oxen, but really tiny! We give them a fondant icing coat in three lucky colours and a tiny bit of gold paint. After some searching, we found the mini cookie cutter here.
How to make the oxen
Mix butter and sugar creamy.
Mix in egg and vanilla.
Mix in flour and baking powder in parts.
Mix until the dough looks crumbly.
Knead it smooth by hand.
Wrap the dough in cling film.
Put in the fridge for a few hours.
Take the dough from the refrigerator and sprinkle a baking mat thinly with flour
Roll the dough to 1cm thickness.
Use your cute ox cutter.
Cut out the cookies.
Put the cookies in the fridge.
Let the cookies cool for at least 1 hour so that they don't run out during baking (which failed epicly here today :D and no idea why!)
Meanwhile start on the fondant decoration
Sprinkle icing sugar on the baking mat.
Roll out the fondant thinly.
Cut out the oxen.
Set the oxen aside for now and preheat the oven to 180°C
Slide the baking tray into the middle of the oven.
Bake the small cookies in 8 to 10 minutes light golden brown.
Let the cookies cool completely, on a wire rack.
Stick the icing oxes on the biscuits using water.
Paint horns, tails and hoofs golden, draw the eyes on.
The oxen biscuits are ready to go with the tea ;))
Xin Nian Kuai Le! Gong Xi Fa Cai! Gelukkig Nieuwjaar! Happy New Year!