Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookies are a tea time necessity. The recipe I used to create these little simpletons came from the Primrose Bakery. They're seriously good at what they do and if you're in London you are automatically obliged to visit! GO! 

The Recipe

90g unsalted butter 

100g golden caster sugar

1 large egg

Half teaspoon vanilla extract 

200g sifted plain flour 

Half teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt 

The icing 

200g icing sugar 

A couple drops of boiling water 

Food colouring

Flavouring ( I used peppermint) 

The Method 

• Preheat the oven to 180 and flour baking trays.
• In a large bowl cream butter and sugar together using an electric whisk. 
• In a small bowl whisk the egg. Gradually add the egg to the bitter mixture whilst whisking to make sure it doesn't curdle. Also the egg must be at room temperature to avoid the mixture curdling. 
• Slowly mix in all of the dry ingredients to form a firm dough, using a wooden spoon adds ease to this process. 
• Roll the dough out on a floured surfaced, and keep to a 2cm thickness. 
• Cut the cookies to your desired shape and place (well spaced out) on the floured baking trays.
• Cook for 12 minutes or until golden then leave to cool. 
• For the icing, mix the icing sugar and a tablespoon of boiling water together along with the flavourings and colourings. Add more water if the mixture is too thick. 
• Ice. 

Hummingbird Bakery Grasshopper Pie

The Grasshopper Pie is an American favourite, I know it well through watching Nigella Lawson and her food porn on Food Network. One of her food porn specials was this pie! Her recipe used Liquor though, and I'm not a fan of mixing alcohol with dessert/dinner (I've yet to experience a great combination of the two). This recipe (adapted from the amazing Hummingbird Bakery collection) serves all palettes and is surprisingly easy to make, whether you're a drunk or a bore - both will enjoy!

The Recipe 
You will need an average sized (preferably 23cm) tart dish that ejaculates from the bottom for this one.

The base
300g Oreos
180g unsalted melted butter
The Filling
180g mini marshmallows
180ml milk (anything but skimmed)
Half teaspoon peppermint essence
Green food colouring (pour in to your desire, but don't exceed a tablespoon!)
700ml double cream

The method

• Bash the biscuits to a saw dust consistency and coat in the melted butter. Once you have a shiny dark sand, grab the tart dish and with a metal spoon, start to press the mixture into the base. 
• Pop in the fridge to set whilst you make the filling. 
• In a saucepan, melt the marshmallows together with the milk. Milk can be brought up to the boil very quickly and burns even quicker - leaving you with a foul smell of maltose, so keep the mixture at a fairly low heat!
• Once melted, remove from the heat and add the peppermint essence and green colouring until it looks however green you want it. Then leave to cool.
• Bring 300ml of the cream to soft peaks and fold into the cooled marshmallow mixture.
• Pour the new mixture into the hardened base and then leave this in the fridge to set for 1/2 hours.
• Whip the rest of the cream and delicately add to the top of the pie to create a beautiful finish.