Santa Cookies

Preparation time 1 hour plus 11⁄2 hours resting time
Cooking time 15–20 minutes per baking tray
Makes 14

Ingredients for santa cookies

1⁄3 cup (80 ml) vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups (500 g) plain (all-purpose) flour
3⁄4 cup (200 ml) milk
10 g dry (powdered) yeast
1⁄3 cup (60 g) white (granulated) sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence (extract) for decoration
a selection of cashew nuts, pumpkin seeds, hazelnuts (filberts), poppyseeds and almonds for the glaze
12⁄3 cups (200 g) icing (confectioners’) sugar
1 tablespoon clear berry jam (jelly)
2–3 drops red food colouring
1 egg white

Preparation method for santa cookies

1. Use 2 baking trays. Line with baking paper. To make the dough, mix oil with salt and flour in a bowl. Heat milk until lukewarm. Stir the yeast, sugar and eggs into 2⁄3 cup (170 ml) milk and pour into flour mixture.

2. Knead to form a smooth dough, if necessary adding just enough of the remaining milk to make the dough soft and very slightly sticky. Shape dough into a ball, cover with a cloth and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

3. Knead the dough on a lightly floured work surface for about 5 minutes. Roll out dough to make 2 rectangles, each 15 x 30 cm. Cut out 14 triangles of equal size and place on baking trays.

4. Brush the dough triangles with milk. Decorate the faces using nuts and seeds. Cover and let rise for 30–40 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 200°C. Bake cookies, one tray at a time, for 15–20 minutes or until golden brown. Place on a wire rack.

6. Combine 1⁄3 cup (50 g) icing sugar, the jam and the food colouring. Use to paint hats on the Santas. Beat egg white until stiff; beat in the remaining icing sugar until the mixture is very shiny and forms peaks.

7. Pour icing into a piping bag and pipe wavy lines for the beards and hat trim. Leave to dry at room temperature or in an oven heated to 70°C.

Try this, too…
To make Dough Boys, make dough as for main recipe; roll out 2.5 cm thick. Cut out 4 dough boys. Decorate with raisins for the eyes, mouth and buttons. Brush with a mixture of 2 tbsp milk and 1 tbsp sugar. Bake as described in main recipe for 15–20 minutes.