COOKIE CUTTER STAR RECIPES

Steps:

• In the bowl of a mixer (or with a handheld mixer), cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla, then mix again until thoroughly combined.
• In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.
• Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredient and mix together until you have a thick mixture, but it will be spreadable (similar to peanut butter).
• Baking depends a lot on a lot of different factors – add the last cup of flour slowly until you get the right consistency. If you add it all, yours might be too dry.
• Wrap the mixture with clear plastic wrap, and put in the refrigerator for an hour or so until completely chilled. Half the mixture, then roll it out between two sheets of parchment paper until it is the desired thickness (no additional flour needed = no mess - yay!). Cut with cutters, then bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until bottom JUST begins to brown. Keep an eye on them, they'll bake rather quickly.

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 350°F.
• Put the sugar and butter into a large bowl. Stir them together with a wooden spoon, until the mixture is smooth.
• Break the egg into to a separate bowl. Use a fork to stir the egg hard, until the yolk and the white are mixed together well. Mix the beaten egg into the mixture in the bowl, a little at a time.
• Sift the flour and allspice through a sieve into the bowl. Mix everything together really well, using the wooden spoon.
• Use your hands to squeeze the mixture together to make a dough. Then, squeeze the dough into a large ball.
• Dust a clean work surface and rolling pin with a little flour. Don't use too much flour or the dough will get tough. Roll out the ball of dough until it is about 1/4 inch thick.
• Draw around a cookie sheet on parchment paper. Cut out the shape and put it on the baking sheet. Cut the stars from the dough using the large star cookie cutter. Place the stars on the parchment sheet.
• Make a hole in each star by pressing the drinking straw through the dough, near to the top of one of the points.
• use the small cookie cutter to cut a hole in the middle of each star. The hole should be only slightly bigger than the candy.
• Squeeze the scraps of dough into a ball. Roll out the dough again and cut out the rest of the stars. Place them on the parchment sheet and make holes and circles in them too.
• Put a candy into the middle of each star. It looks better if you use different colored hard candies. Put the cookie sheet on the middle shelf of the oven and bake the stars at 350°F for 12 minutes.
• Take the cookies out of the oven. Leave them on the baking sheets until they have cooled completely. Remove carefully. This is where you can eat them, or make them into ornaments by stringing a ribbon through each hole at the tip of the stars.