Tasty Planner - Recipe - Plätzchen - Easy Christmas Biscuits / Cookies by Forestfox

Instructions

Sift the flour into a bowl.
Cut the butter into small bits and add.
Add the sugar and a pinch of salt.
Add a dash of vanilla essence.
Crack an egg into the mixture.

If desired, add a good amount of mixed spice and mixed peel to make wintery fruity biscuits; otherwise leave plain and add just a little bit of mixed spice to underline the fine flavour of the biscuits.
Or divide the dough in two and make both!

Stir everything until it forms little clumps.
Then carefully tip the lumpy mixture onto a clean working surface.
Knead the dough until it forms a smooth ball.
Put the dough into the refrigerator for 30 mins.
(You can shorten this to 10 minutes if pressed for time.)

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
Roll out the dough into a thin layer (3-5 mm).
Cut out shapes using a cookie cutter or the edge of a drinking glass.
Grease a baking tray or line with baking paper.
Place onto baking tray and bake for 10-15 minutes.

Do a few sample cookies to test the baking time and watch carefully – take them out once they are just browning lightly; they go from ready to overdone very quickly!

Turn them out onto a plate to cool.
The plain ones are especially good dipped in molten chocolate (melt the chocolate in a bowl over hot water in a saucepan, then dip the cookies in and rest on a rack or on greaseproof paper).
Alternatively, mix some icing sugar and a little bit of water to decorate them with icing.