SWISS VANILLA COOKIES RECIPES

Steps:

• Beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy.
• Beat in the almond meal and vanilla flavouring and the white of 1 egg.
• Add the flour and knead until smooth.
• Chill dough in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
• Preheat over to 325 degrees.
• Roll out the dough on a lightly floured cutting board to the thickness of 1/8"-1/4" (the thinner the dough, the better the cookie).
• Cut with small round, star, or diamond-shaped cookie cutters.
• Use a smaller cookie cutter to cut a "window" in half the cookies (these will be the top of the cookie sandwiches).
• Place all the cookies on lightly buttered and floured cookie sheets.
• Bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden.
• Remove cookies from the baking sheet and let cool.
• Spread the cookies without a "window" with fruit jam.
• Coat the cookies with "windows" in confectioners' sugar, and then place on top of the cookies with fruit jam.

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla extract.

  Add the flour and salt. Stir until it forms a dough, then knead until smooth. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.

  Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas mark 4. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to the thickness of a £1 coin.

  Stamp out shapes with cutters and bake on a non-stick baking tray for about 10 minutes, until lightly browned. (An adult should help remove the hot baking tray from the oven.)

  Cool on a wire rack. Place the icing sugar in a bowl and add cold water, a little at a time, until it's a thick pouring consistency. Spread a little on each cookie and decorate with sprinkles while the icing is wet and leave to dry out.

  Cook's tip: Try swapping 25g of the flour for cocoa powder to make chocolate biscuits. For the icing, swap 3 tablespoons of the icing sugar for cocoa powder and mix with warm water.

  You can buy different shaped cookie cutters from our Sainsbury's baking range.