Favourite Cookies

Candied sugar: white sugar crystals or even brown sugar crystals, with a hint of caramel flavour, they are particularly good for use in baking, readily soluble and very versatile. Whether added to the cookie dough or sprinkled on top, they add a subtle caramel flavour and aromatic sweetness to the confectionery.

Gingerbread spice: a spice mixture used for gingerbread and cookies.

Bitter almonds: used purely as a non-toxic aromatic substance from which all traces of prussic acid have been removed.

Bitter almonds themselves are highly toxic and can be lethal to humans. Used as a flavouring in marzipan, almond liqueur and baking.

Traditional flavourings and spices used in cookie baking

The basic ingredients required for baking cookies are eggs, flour, butter, salt and sugar. Very often, however, the recipe will also include flavourings such as vanilla, saffron, star anise or candied sugar. Below is included a brief description of the most important flavourings:

Hand-mixer, food processor: whisking egg whites and cream is best done with a hand-mixer, which can also be used to mix and knead cookie dough. A food processor will chop and grind nuts, almonds and fruit, and is also suitable for kneading, mixing and whisking.

Crunchy and chewy varieties of cookie should be stored separately from each other. Soft cookies will stay fresh longer in an airtight, sealed container whilst crunchy cookies keep best in a ceramic cookie jar, in which the small amount of air keeps the cookie dry. If crunchy cookies do become soft, they can be crisped up again by placing them in the oven (pre-heated to approx. 150 °C, Gas Mark 2).

The basic equipment

The only exceptions are cookies with buttercream filling. After baking and cooling, cookies can quite simply be placed in a tightly sealed plastic container and stored in the freezer.

Unlike many other types of pastries and confectionery, cookies keep wonderfully well and will remain fresh and delicious for a long time if stored correctly.