Shortbread Cookies-Making Session
with Skills Club
By Aarthie Surais (BAC Editorial Club)
Tis the season to be jolly!
When we think of shortbread cookies, we usually think Christmas. The truth is that shortbread cookies are perfect for any occasion including Deepavali which is coming up in a week!
Skills Club is just in time because I know for sure that I will be making these cookies this Deepavali!
On 12th October 2022, BAC Skills Club organised a Shortbread Cookies-Making Session with Ms. Jeanie Leoncia at The Reliance Training Kitchen.
Ms. Jeanie guided us through the simple steps of making shortbread cookies. We divided ourselves into teams and each team had our own station with all the ingredients.
One of the most important ingredients that will impact the taste of the cookies is the flavouring. Some groups chose orange flavouring which involved sprinkling orange zest into the dough. Our group went classy and chose vanilla because vanilla could never go wrong!
Firstly, Ms. Jeanie went around the tables adding some salt into our bowls of flour. Then, we were told to mix together the 150g of softened butter with the 60g of castor sugar. We tried using the spatula but the traditional way always works better. So, we ended up using our gloved hands to mix the sugar and butter together. Once they were fairly combined, Ms. Jeanie instructed us to add the bowl of flour and salt into the mixture as well.
Eventually, we also added in half a cap of vanilla. I noticed that there was no wet ingredient involved such as milk, oil, or eggs. That is the reason that the dough was crumbly. I thought that we had failed but we were told that it was supposed to be crumbly.
The secret is to keep kneading the dough with the help of a rolling pin and the dough will come together. Even while using the rolling pin, we were reminded to move the dough in circles.
Finally, everyone got the chance to use the cookie cutter to cut out circles out of our vanilla cookies. Other teams used a knife to cut the cookies into squares like the usual shortbread cookies.
After coating the baking sheet with oil, the unbaked cookies were placed onto the pan and plopped into the oven. As soon as the cookies were baked, I realised that I was wrong to think that we put in too much vanilla. Instead, the half a cap of vanilla was enough to fill up the whole room, making our stomachs grumble
We went around trying all the different cookies and we did not realise that we had a spy among us tasting our cookies to judge them for the prize. Though our group got last place, I still liked ours the best.
I always love attending these skills club sessions because it not only gives me knowledge about cooking but it also lets me meet new people who have the same interests as me!
If you're interested in what Skills Club is doing, stay tuned for their next session, or join the Skills Club here!
Item 1 of 10
Built with Shorthand