Something fun for Chinese New Year for guests to snack on. The base is a very very simple recipe – minimal ingredients of egg butter sugar and flour, and perhaps as original a sugar cookie recipe it can get. It’s not anything special, such as the type that melts in your mouth like wang wang cookie, but its simple, classic and that’s the part we most enjoyed. It holds its shape well though, and the bottom caramelizes nicely! In fact, wonder if using non-granulated sugar would give it an even more old-school cookie feel to it.
Pick a few colors to play around with for the frosting, which is a simple meringue based swirl. Which color do you go for? And when you eat ice gems as a kid (or even now), it’s always really interesting to ask whether you go for the cookie first, frosting first, or pop the whole thing in one go? I personally do cookie first and leave the yummy frosting part for the last 😛
| Homemade Iced Gems adapted from My Virgin Kitchen
Iced Gem Cookies 80g (0.3 cups) butter room temp Royal Icing Frosting Swirls 300g (3 cups) royal icing sugar |
To make Homemade Iced Gem Cookies
Cream butter and sugar until the sugar is fully incorporated into the butter. Add in the plain flour and mix into a dough. Using clean hands grab the mixture and shape into a ball. Roll between two sheets of clingfilm to about a half inch thick. Cut out base of the iced gems with a small cookie cutter (or the back of piping tips around 1.2 cm diameter). Sit them on a lined baking tray, repeat until you have lots of small discs. Stick the tray in the fridge for 20 minutes to firm up the dough. Once chilled bake in the oven from the fridge for 7-8 minutes at 325 deg F (or 163 deg C). They will not look like they are done at this time, but you do not want the edges to brown, they will still be a bit soft when you take them out of the oven, but let them cool and they will firm up! To make Icing Mix the royal icing sugar with water and whisk for a 5 minutes until peaks form. Divide the icing up and colour using food colouring gels if you wish, stick in a piping bag with a large star shape nozzle. Pipe icing in the centre of each cookie and pull up quickly, to leave a peak – repeat with all your colour until you are done. They take about 30 mins to harden up, then Enjoy! Keep in an air tight container to keep the biscuits fresh. |
My Dose of Sugar 