The Baking Tutorial Video is at the end of this blog. Please do watch it as i feel it is the best way to learn how to make these cookies.
As soon as Halloween celebrations are on the horizon, I feel that we are really comng to the end of another year. How this year has flown. The run up to Christmas is one of my favourites, theres Bonfire Night, Diwali and Thanksgiving to get us in the mood for "the most wonderful time of the year". Can you tell I am excited!
In our home we celebrate as many holidays as we can. We decorate our home be it with a colourful Rangoli at Deepavali or a red cloth hung above our front door at Chinese New Year, buntings on National Day and for Valentine’s Day we make cards for each other (yes, really!). Aside from decorating our home, we enjoy the food associated with so many celebrations and cultures. So yes, I make an Indian meal at Deepavali, we toss Yu Sheng at Chinese New Year for good luck and eat way too many pineapple tarts (I love how these are eaten at both Hari Raya and Chinese New Year), because that’s what makes these days special
And so we celebrate Halloween this weekend. Originally a celtic celebration at the end of harvest, it has been adopted and modified to the overly sugared secular holiday that we know today. There are so many interesting facts about this holiday, perhaps share one with your family this year. Have a discussion about the fact and ideas around it. Perhaps when you are baking these cookies. If you would like to find our more, this an easy child friendly resource to start with.
https://www.parents.com/holiday/halloween/traditions/fun-facts-about-the-history-of-halloween
There is so much we can teach children about the origins of so many holidays and celebrations, it’s a fantastic way for them to learn about other cultures and religions. To respect and love different cultures I believe is one of the keys to peace. It was a conscious decision to introduce these celebrations to Jordan and to embrace all cultures in our home. We are after all bringing into the world a person who I hope will make a positive difference.
When Jordan was little, we started to create our own family traditions. I wanted her to have memories of celebrations that were rich and full. Memories of happy times spent together as a family, filled with love. Little things like decorating our home, making a birthday card for someone special or spending an afternoon decorating cookies. The conversations, laughter, singing and often dancing (yes, the kitchen disco is real people!) will always be there in our memory box for us all.
Enough waffling for now. About our Halloween Vanilla Snaps. These decorated cookies take a little more time and effort to make when compared to our usual homestyle bakes. I prefer to make the dough and chilling it the night before. The next day, we just roll, bake and decorate.
So a couple of tips and tricks to baking pretty cookies that look as good as they taste.
Chill, Roll, Cut …….. Chill, Bake
Chill the dough before rolling and cutting the dough
Chill the cut biscuits before baking
Cool
Cool the biscuits on the baking tray for 10 minutes (they continue to cook)
Cool the biscuits completely before decorating
Bit by Bit (Royal Icing)
To ake the Royal Icing, add water in bit by bit, teaspoon by teaspoon till you get the right consistency (glue like)
Gift Box
If you are making these cookies as a gift, reuse the box as a gift box. Perhaps even get the children to draw on it while waiting for dough to chill or cookies to cool.
I do hope that these baking kits take the stress out of baking and allow for an afternoon (or morning) of fun, giggles and baking bliss.
Happy Baking and Happy Halloween!