Winnie’s Sugar Hearts
Orange-scented sugar cookies flooded with dream cloud sparkle icing - the swirly rainbow biscuits made for little hands and big occasions.
Makes: About 20 hearts
Prep time: 30 minutes, plus 1 hour chilling and icing time
Cook time: 12 minutes
INGREDIENTS
100g softened butter (I use salted)
100g caster sugar
zest of 1 orange
1 teaspoon vanilla extract, or seeds from 1 bean
1 egg, lightly beaten
200g flour
For the dream cloud sparkle icing
Edging
1/2 cup icing sugar
2 teaspoons water
Flooding
2 cups icing sugar
4 tablespoons water
4 different food colourings
assorted sprinkles
METHOD
In a stand mixer, cream the butter, sugar, zest and vanilla together until light in colour.
Add the egg and combine.
Finally add the flour, stirring slowly to completely mix.
Wrap and put in the fridge for an hour.
Preheat the oven to 180C and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
Knead the dough for a minute to make it smooth and a bit elastic. Roll out on a floured surface, about 5mm thick, and cut into your desired shapes.
Bake for 12 minutes or until golden. Cool on the trays.
For the edging icing, combine the icing sugar and water in a small bowl so it resembles toothpaste. Using a piping bag with a small nozzle, pipe an outline around the edge of each heart. Allow this to dry before the next step.
For the flooding icing, combine the icing sugar and water in a bowl so it's opaque and settles smoothly and quickly when drizzled on itself. Separate into 4 bowls and tint slowly with drops of colouring until you like the tones.
Using 4 different teaspoons, dollop small amounts of each icing into each heart. Tip the icing about, or use a small flat palette knife to push it to the hardened edge. Swirling is encouraged for a dream rainbow sparkle effect.
Add assorted sprinkles while the icing is still tacky.
HINTS
Chilling the dough for an hour is what stops the hearts spreading and losing their shape in the oven.
Pipe the edging line first and let it set hard - it's the dam wall that holds the flooding icing in a neat heart.
If you've had too many coffees and have shaky hands, shake the edge line inwards - those bumps get covered later by the flood.
NUTRITION (per recipe total, about 20 hearts - guide only):
Energy: approximately 11200kJ (2675 calories)
Protein: 30g
Fat: 90g
Saturated fat: 55g
Carbohydrates: 445g
Sugars: 290g
Fibre: 6g
Sodium: 750mg
This nutrition information is a guide only and may vary depending on brands, exact quantities, and ingredient substitutions used.