Sufra Dayma:

Christmas Cookies Made by Kids

By Moushira Abdel-Malek

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Makes 20 -25 cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups plain flour,

plus extra for dusting

1/2 tsp baking powder

+ pinch of salt

3 tbsp castor sugar

1 large egg + vanilla extract (beaten)

1 tbsp milk

100 gms butter (chilled and cut into small cubes)

Cake decorations (see below)

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Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar. Add the egg with vanilla, and milk. Mix to form a soft dough. If the dough is too dry, add a little extra milk. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface, for a couple of minutes until smooth. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface, to about 3 mm. thick. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Carefully place shapes on the baking tray and bake for about 10 - 15 minutes, until goldened and crispy. Transfer to a wire rack to cool before decorating. Re-roll any leftover dough and repeat the process. Decorate cookies, using tips below.

Decorations:

- Buy a selection of shapes, like stars, Christmas trees, crescents and let the kids' imaginations run wild.

- Cake decorating shops and supermarkets sell a wide variety of fun things, including silver and coloured tiny balls and sprinkles.

- Melted chocolate goes down well. Melt small bowls of chocolate in the microwave and apply using a small paintbrush, and show the kids how to stick on decorations with melted chocolate as the glue. Have fun and Merry Christmas.