Madhouse recipe : Butter Cookies

Idly flicking through one of my many cookbooks - Mum Knows Best by The Hairy Bikers - I was intrigued by this recipe simply named "Yummy Biscuits".

I glanced through the ingredients list and thought it seemed very plain - butter, sugar, flour and a hint of golden syrup - but sometimes, the simplest things come out the tastiest so I wanted to give them a go. I ended up having to tweak the recipe a fair bit for it to work but the end result was lovely - rich, crumbly, melt-in-the-mouth butter cookies.

Butter Cookies

ingredients :

100g softened butter

100g caster sugar

200g self-raising flour

1 tsp golden syrup

to which I added :

1tsp vanilla essence

1tsp cinnamon

a good drizzle of golden syrup

2tbsp butter spread

Cream together the butter and sugar.

Add the vanilla extract, cinnamon and golden syrup.

Mix in the flour until you get a soft dough. Now, I have no idea why - maybe my scales need new batteries ?! - but my mix was way too dry and was never going to form a dough.

I added a couple of spoonfuls of butter spread (margarine or softened butter would also work) and an extra dollop (probably about 4tbsp) of golden syrup. That gave it a much better texture.

Pull off golfball sized pieces of dough and space them out on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Flatten with the palm of your hand and bake at 180° in a preheated oven for 6 minutes. They will still be soft when you take them out of the oven.

Leave to cool on the baking sheet before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. The kids looked unconvinced when they first laid eyes on them and Juliette asked if he could spread some Nutella on hers, but then she tasted one and erupted into spontaneous "mmmmmm .... really nice .... buttery .... can I have another one?" type mumbles. They'd polished off several before they were even cold !