Fluffy's Brown Sugar Cookies

G'day! We have a guest in our house today and he is Fluffy!

Fluffy is a (toy) wombat. He has been visiting all the kids that are attending my son's kindergarten. To welcome Fluffy, I have baked Fluffy-looking cookies for him...

Fluffy and Fluffy-looking brown sugar cookies

Hi! I'm Fluffy!

Making this cookies batter is easy!

The raw sugar topping give these cookies nice fluffy-furry look.

These freshly baked cookies smell extremely good...

Fluffy enjoys watching us baking for him and love to join in the fun.

Check out what my 4 year-old boy baked for Fluffy!!! Poo cookies - LOL!

This is what I did to make these cookies look more like Fluffy.

We are happy munching these Fluffy cookies!

... and my son is happy icing his cookies with Fluffy!

After all these baking, Fluffy is feeling tired... Nite nite, Fluffy!

These Fluffy-looking brown sugar cookies smell delicious when they were freshly baked. When these these lightly sugar crusted cookies are completely cooled, they are sweet, buttery and crispy with nice tender crumbs inside. Very nice!!!

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I'm feeling relieved...

Feeling relieved that we finally managed to invite Fluffy home and had a good time baking with Fluffy. The past months had been crazy for me as I had to go work on a few weekends.

Feeling relieved that I've completed my second marathon (Melbourne marathon) on 13th Oct 2013 and I have done it within 3 hrs 47 mins 41 seconds. Now, I'm slowly recovering from my post-marathon pains...

Feeling happy and relieved :)

Here is the recipe mostly adapted from the book, Milk and Cookies by Tina Casaceli
(with my notes in blue)
 
Makes about 24 Fluffy's cookies plus some poo and worms cookies

Cookie dough:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking soda*
1/8 tsp cream of tartar*
180g unsalted butter, at room temperature
110g light brown sugar
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature

* I like to replace these with a combination of 1/4 tsp baking powder

Fluffy's sugary fur:
2 tbsp raw caster granulated sugar

1/2 tbsp demerara sugar
1 1/2 tbsp vanilla sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar in a mixing bowl. Set aside.

Put the butter in the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the paddle. Begin beating on low speed. Increase the speed to medium and beat for about 3 mins, or until very light and smooth.

Add brown sugar, 1/4 cup at a time. When all of the sugar has been added, beat for 2 mins.

Add egg yolk slowly while beating, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula after each addition. With the motor running at low speed, add the flour mixture in small batches. Note: If you think that your cookie dough is too dry, you can add 1 tbsp of milk at this stage. I didn't and the dough without any milk still work well for me. While the dough is still streaky, remove the bowl from the mixer and scrape the paddle clean.

Lightly flour a clean, flat work surface. Scrape dough onto the floured surface. Lightly flour your hands and finish mixing the dough by using a gentle kneading motion, working until the dough is just blended. Do not overwork the dough, you want to be certain that all of the ingredients are just blended together.

Form the dough into a disk and cover tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hr (or up to 3 days), or until firm.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F (or 160°C fan forced) .

Line two baking sheets with nonstick silicone baking mats or baking paper. Set aside.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and unwrap. Combine the Fluffy's sugary fur in a separated bowl.

Lightly flour a clean, flat work surface. Place the dough in the center of the floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a piece about 1/4 inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter (our wombat cutter), cut out the cookies. Lightly sift Fluffy's sugary fur combination on one side of the cookies. Place the cookies, about 2 inches apart with their sugary surface facing up, on the prepared baking sheets.

When all of the cookies are formed, place in the oven and bake for about 10 mins, or until crisp and golden brown around the edges.

Remove from the oven and, using a metal spatula, transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool.

Make royal icing with enough cocoa powder to form deep brown colour. For these cookies, I used about 1/3 pack of this ready-to-use royal icing and added 1 tsp of Dutch-processed cocoa powder. Add just enough water to get a thick consistency. Decorate the cookies with icing according to the way you like. 

Note: Instead of using my usual royal icing recipe with raw egg white, I prefer to use this ready-to-use royal icing which contains egg white powder, specifically for this bake. I reckon it is safer to consume these cookies without any raw egg ingredient if I want to keep them slightly longer.

Store, airtight, at room temperature for up to a week.

Happy Baking

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