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[Image]I was having a sort out of my kitchen stuff and came across two brand new cookie cutters still in their little cellophane bags. Ah, yes… I had great plans for those cutters originally. Seeing them again I instantly wanted to bake something with them and realised its been months since I have baked a batch of crisp sugar cookies and enjoyed a bit of creative decorating, so I decided to do just that.

The two cutters consisted of a rugby ball and a large heart. Perfect, one for the guys and one for the girls. I used my go-to cut out cookie recipe which produces an easy to work with dough that bakes into crisp cookies which are ideal for decorating.

I coloured some fondant various shades of pink for the hearts and an assortment of colours for the rugby balls. I also cut out some mini hearts with the scrapes of leftover dough – no point wasting it. I actually think the mini hearts are the cutest.
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Once the cookies were cool, I simply made some royal icing to stick the fondant to the cookies and then used some more to pipe on some detail. It’s amazing what a difference a few dots can make to the appearance of the cookies. I was quite chuffed with how they turned out and it was a really enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. Just me in the kitchen, singing along to the radio and decorating cookies.
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I’m sure I can’t be the only one with cookie cutters stashed away, just waiting to be used. Why not dig them out and get baking and decorating. You don’t have to use fondant and royal icing, they could be dipped in chocolate or sandwiched together with jam or ice cream instead. They would make great gifts when presented in little cellophane bags or even as name tags for all those birthday presents you have to buy or personalised place names for your table. If nothing else it will justify the purchase of those currently unused cookie cutters you bought 6 months back!

Cut Out Cookies
[Image]Ingredients
185g butter
225g caster sugar
1½ tsp vanilla extract
350g plain flour
1 egg
1 egg yolk

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
Make sure the butter is soft and cream it together with the sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add the vanilla and eggs and beat again.
Sift over the flour and then work the mixture into a dough using a wooden spoon and finally your hands to form a slightly sticky ball of dough.
Wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or until required.
Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the dough until around 3-4mm thick.
Cut out a variety of shapes and place on the baking tray, leaving a 1-2cm gap between each one.
Bake for 8-10 minutes until just turning lightly golden brown.
Allow to cool on the tray for a few minutes before transferring to a wire wrack to cool before decorating as you wish – chocolate dipped, topped with fondant, sprinkles, sandwiched together etc.
Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
I got 40 cookies of various shapes and sizes.