Gold Medal Winner Cookies Recipes

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 450°F. In a medium bowl, stir the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until mixed. Cut in the shortening using a pastry blender or fork, until mixture looks like fine crumbs. Stir in the milk until mixture forms a soft dough and leaves the side of the bowl (dough will be soft and sticky).
• Lightly sprinkle flour over a cutting board or countertop. Place dough on floured surface; gently roll in the flour to coat. To knead dough, fold dough toward you. With the heels of your hands, lightly push dough away from you with a short rocking motion. Move dough a quarter turn and repeat 10 times. Dough will feel springy and smooth.
• On the floured surface, flatten dough evenly, using hands or a rolling pin, until dough is 1/2 inch thick.
• Before cutting each biscuit, dip a 2 1/2-inch round cutter into flour to lightly coat it so it will cut cleanly through the dough without sticking. To cut, push the cutter straight down through the dough without twisting or turning. Cut the biscuits as close together as possible. On an ungreased cookie sheet, place biscuits about 1 inch apart for biscuits with crusty sides, or place with sides touching for biscuits with soft sides.
• Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Serve warm.
• This recipe is made available as a courtesy by BettyCrocker.com, a property of General Mills Inc.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and beat on medium speed until mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add flour mixture all at once; beat on low speed until mixture comes together to form a dough.
• Turn dough out onto a piece of lightly floured parchment paper; using a rolling pin, roll out to 1/8 inch thick. Using a 3 1/4- inch round cookie cutter and a 2-inch star cutter, cut out an equal number of rounds and stars. Remove scraps from around cutters as you work. Transfer parchment paper with the dough shapes to a baking sheet. On a lightly floured work surface, reroll scraps, and cut out shapes; transfer to baking sheet with other cookies. Place in refrigerator at least 15 minutes.
• Remove baking sheet from refrigerator, and arrange cookies so that they are at least 1/2 inch apart. Place in oven, and bake until edges are just starting to brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer baking sheet to a wire rack; using the blunt end of a skewer, immediately poke a hole in top center of each round cookie for the ribbon, if desired. Let cool completely.
• Place 1/3 cup royal icing in a small bowl, and tint with the color you wish to use for piping dots; add water as needed, but keep it fairly thick. Divide remaining royal icing into two small bowls, and tint them the remaining two colors; add water, making these slightly thinner for covering cookies. Place each tinted icing in a piping bag fitted with an Ateco #3 round tip.
• Using the thinner icings, outline and fill in round cookies with one color; use the other color to outline and fill in the stars. Let iced cookies set, at least 1 hour. Pipe dots around edges of round cookies with thicker icing. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, and shake off excess. Pipe a small dab of icing on the back of each star; attach stars to centers of round cookies. Let icing set, at least 1 hour. Thread thin ribbons through the poked holes and tie, if desired. Serve, or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Line 2 baking trays with baking parchment. Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a small saucepan. Mix in the vanilla, remove from the heat and leave to cool for 10 mins.
• Sieve the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Pour in the melted butter mixture and the egg, and stir together to form a stiff-ish dough. Pop the dough in the fridge for 10 mins to chill and firm up.
• Roll the dough out on a floured surface to 5mm thick, then stamp out 15 circles using a 7.5cm round cookie cutter; you may need to re-roll the trimmings to get 15 cookies. Make a hole at the top of each circle with the end of a pencil.
• Place on the baking trays and bake for 12 mins until golden, swapping the trays around halfway through. Cool on a wire rack. Decorate the cookies (see below), making sure the hole is at the top of each one. Will keep for 3 days in an airtight container.

Steps:

• Set the oven to 200C (400F).
• Grease two baking trays or line with baking (silicone) paper.
• Sift all the dry ingredients into a small mixing bowl.
• Using clean fingers, rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• *Ifyou have a food processor, you can simply process the flour mixture and butter together.
• Melt the honey in the microwave or in a small saucepan.
• While the honey is still warm, pour it into the flour mixture and mix thoroughly to form a dough.
• Pour the demerara sugar onto a saucer.
• Now,take spoonfuls of the dough and roll into balls about 4cm (1 1/2") in diameter.
• Roll each ball in the demerara sugar before placing about 2" (5cm) apart on baking trays.
• (Biscuits will spread and flatten during baking.)
• Bake on the centre shelves of the oven at 200C (400F) for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.
• When cooked, remove trays from oven and wait until biscuits are firm before transferring to wire racks to cool thoroughly.
• Store in an airtight container.