Michelle Darmody: How to make quick and easy cookies for Mother's Day

The crisp gingernut biscuits can be iced and decorated in whatever manner you wish.

Younger members of the family can help with the cookie cutting and icing.

They can be iced elaborately or quite simply, with some hundreds and thousands sprinkled onto plain white icing.

You can use whatever size cutter you wish, but it is good to make all your cookies the same size so that they bake evenly.

These cookies are the perfect tokens of affection, particularly on Mother’s Day.

In Ireland, Mother’s Day has religious as well as secular roots, it is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent, but a similar tradition has been in place since ancient Celtic times, when mothers were celebrated as the centre of the household.

Mother’s Day Cookies

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

These cookies are the perfect tokens of affection, particularly on Mother’s Day.

Servings

18

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 9 mins

Total Time

 29 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• 225g plain flour

• 1 tsp bread soda

• 1 tsp powdered ginger

• 1 tsp cake spice

• 25g treacle

• 75g golden syrup

• 40g butter

• 40g brown sugar

• 1 egg yolk

• For the icing:

• 1 fresh egg white, lightly beaten

• 150g icing sugar

• a few drops of lemon juice

• a few drops of beetroot food colouring

• sturdy plastic sandwich bags

• elastic bands

•  

Method

1. Line two large flat baking trays with parchment.

2. Preheat your oven to 190ºC/gas mark 5.

3. Sieve the flour, bread soda, ginger and cake spice into a large bowl.

4. Gently melt the treacle, golden syrup, butter and brown sugar together. Allow to cool slightly.

5. Add the treacle mixture and egg yolk to the flour.

6. Beat or stir until it forms a ball.

7. Roll out the dough straight away to a square about five mm in thickness.

8. Cut out your heart cookies. Bring together any leftover dough, re-roll and then cut out more hearts.

9. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes until turning golden.

10. Once cool enough to handle, place your cookies onto a wire rack to cool completely.

11. To make the icing, add the icing sugar to the egg whites and beat at a low setting.

12. Turn up the setting when it is all combined and whisk until stiff.

13. Dilute the icing with lemon juice as needed, it should be the consistency of thick paint and should hold its shape when piped or brushed onto a cookie.

14. You can add colour to some of your icing if you wish.

15. Place your plastic bag into a cup with one corner of the bag pointing down. Spoon the icing into the bag.

16. Remove the bag from the cup and push the icing into the corner then tie the top with an elastic band so you have a conical shape filled with icing.

17. Snip a tiny hole in the tip of the corner to allow you to pipe the icing onto your cookies.

18. The icing will harden in an hour or so on a wire rack at room temperature.

Baker's Tips

The cookie dough needs to be used quite quickly or else it becomes very crumbly and difficult to roll.

If the cookies turn out tough, it may be due to overbaking. It is good to keep an eye on them and take them out just as they turn golden. Over-mixing the dough will also result in tough cookies. Once a firm ball is formed you can roll out the dough straight away.

Measuring golden syrup and treacle can be tricky as they are both very gooey and sticky substances. I find the easiest way is to dip a metal spoon in hot to boiling water and use this to spoon the syrup into your measuring bowl.

The lemon juice is used to thin the icing to piping consistency and it also takes some of the sweetness out of the icing. After the lemon juice has been added the icing should come through a small hole in the piping bag with ease yet hold its shape when piped out.

I make piping bags with the small plastic sandwich bags that you get in most supermarkets. Use one of the bottom corners of the plastic bag to form a cone-like piping bag.

When using colouring for icing, a little goes a long way. I use a natural colour that is made from beetroot powder. It gives pink hues.

There is raw egg used in the icing recipe. If you would prefer to use a pasteurised egg white powdered, such as Meri-White, add 10g of powder and whisk it with 50ml of warm water until foamy. Fresh eggs are generally safe to use but if someone is infirm, pregnant or very young and will be eating the biscuits the powder is a good alternative.

There are quite a lot of videos online that will give you simple tutorials on how to ice a cookie well. I start by drawing a line, with my chosen colour, around the edge of the cookie then filling in the centre with the icing. You can also pipe on decorations and draw line with an opposing colour either when the icing is still wet or wait until one layer has hardened before adding the other. This will give better definition. The cookies need to be completely cold before you can start icing. These keep well in an airtight container for over a week.

Two delicious variations:

Ginger and vanilla sandwiches

To make a vanilla buttercream filling, whip 100g of soft butter with 1 tsp of vanilla and 200g of icing sugar until light and fluffy. If it is difficult to spread, you can add a tablespoon of milk a little at a time to the buttercream. Spread or pipe the butter filling onto half of your cookies and then place the rest of the cookies on top to make tasty ginger and vanilla sandwiches.

Chewy ginger and dark chocolate cookies

Stem ginger adds additional flavour but also adds a lovely chew. Dice about 100g of stem ginger and knead it in just before you roll the cookie dough. Melt 200g of dark chocolate and dip the cooled cookies into it. Allow to harden on a wire rack with a tray underneath to catch the drips or place them directly onto a cold greased tray.