It's not often that I fall IN LOVE with a cookie recipe. I am an adventure-cookie-bakin-kind-of-person. I love to try out new cookie recipes, and it seems so does every other food blogger, so recipes for any-kind-of-cookie are in endless supply. This recipe, however, is a recipe that I crave, that I love, that I will make again and again.
Let me tell you why:
1. These cookies taste like custard shortbread
2. Their texture is delightful (corn flour - the secret to an amazingly crunchy, yet soft cookie!)
3. They are buttery and flavourful
4. You can eat the dough, by the handful.
5. They require very little effort
So - what is not to love about that?
In fact, I used to make these for my friends at school. Sometimes we would sit and discuss baking cookies during accountancy classes (yes, cookies are far more educational and interesting!) And they were always such a hit.
Speaking of school, you know before you leave high school, everyone says to you: enjoy your last year...you are going to WISH you could go back once you start work. Well, I have never really felt that way. I have always LOVED the freedom of no homework, no routine, no EXAMS! That was my blissful life, before I started studying again. BLEH. Now I have all the normal activities to do as well as trying to fit in all my assignments and studying for exams.
Next week I get to mix up my normal life, I am starting my prac teaching - and I am both nervous and excited for it! I get to do something new. I have been working as a graphic designer for the last 5 years, and my life has pretty much been the same everyday for the last 5 years. Crazy. Now I have to break out and mix it up. The biggest downside for me is leaving my little pooch at home. She goes with me everywhere, yip, even to work. And leaving her at home is already breaking my heart. She gets all sad! Sigh.
Anyways,
This is what you will need to make these work:
250g butter
1 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence (or ½ teaspoon vanilla extract)
1 cup custard powder
2 ¼ cups flour
and then you pop all of these into your mixer
and mix! Until it looks like this..
Perfect!
Then roll some dough into little balls, and press them down with a fork.
Have I ever told you that I love my silpat baking mat? I would even go as far as saying - it may be one of the best baking 'tools' I have ever bought! I highly recommend getting one. I know so many girls debate about which is better, a silpat or baking paper...but I think a silpat wins hands down. It is like magic! Nothing sticks to it (so there are no tears of despair because your cookies are ruined because they have stuck to the paper (not that this has ever happened to me! ha!)). The cookies literally glide off. It also distributes heat more evenly then a baking sheet. Win, win.
So after you have rolled and pressed, it time to bake.
This time will vary according to the thickness of your cookies, but I baked these ones for about 18 minutes at 180°C/350°F . The longer you bake them, the crunchier they will be.
Custard Cream Cookies Printable
Yield: about 40 cookies
Prep time: 15 min
Baking time: 15-20 min
Ingredients:
250g butter
1 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence (or ½ teaspoon vanilla extract)
1 cup custard powder
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- combine all the ingredients together, starting with the wet ingredients then add the dry ingredients and mix until a firm dough is reached
- shape into balls and press flat with a fork or your hand
- space each cookie on a greased baking sheet (they don’t grow/rise much)
- bake at 180°C/350°F for about 15 - 20 minutes on the middle shelf
- keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t brown around the edges
- enjoy!