Ninja Sugar Cookies

By far these are the coolest things I have made for my son! I was waiting to inaugurate these little bunch Shinobi warriors. They were gifted to me by Byju last year and put them to use in full justice this year for my son and his friends. I didn't have time to give the little ninja's their attire, but in my next attempt with them, I definitely will!

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour - 3 cups

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Baking Soda - 1 tsp

Unsalted Butter - 1 cup which is at room temperature

Granulated White Sugar - 1 cup

Eggs – 2

Vanilla Essence - 2 tsp

Royal Using Egg Whites:

Egg Whites - 2 large

Lemon Juice - 2 teaspoons

Icing Sugar – 3 cups, sifted, sifted

To make these you would need to first whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Then into the bowl of the food processor, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture, pulse until you have a smooth dough. Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about one hour or until firm enough to roll.

Preheat the oven to 150C. Line the baking sheets with parchment or wax paper. Remove one half of the chilled dough from the refrigerator and, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch (1 cm). Keep turning the dough as you roll, making sure the dough does not stick to the counter. Cut out the shapes using the lightly floured cookie cutter and transfer cookies to baking sheet. Place the baking sheets with the unbaked cookies in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to chill. The dough prevents the cookies from spreading and losing their shape while baking. 
Bake cookies for about 11 minutes or until the edges are just starting to brown. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. Frost with royal icing. Let the royal icing dry completely before storing.

Note: If you are not going to frost the baked cookies, you can sprinkle the unbaked cookies with sparkling sugar.

For Royal Icing with Egg Whites: In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the egg whites with the lemon juice. Add the sifted sugar and beat on low speed until smooth. If necessary, to get the right consistency, add more sugar or water. Add food coloring, of choice. The icing needs to be used immediately or put in an airtight container as it hardens when exposed to air. Decorate as per the design.

Banana Butterscotch Muffins

When you have some leftover morsels of butterscotch you got to use them right! After much searching I finalized on Nigella's recipe.And once again the muffins make their disappearance act into everyone's momentous gluttony...a warming muffin with a nice bite of the butterscotch morsels! Simply delightful!

Ingredients:
Bananas – 3 very ripe
Vegetable Oil - 125ml

Eggs - 2

Flour - 250gms

Caster Sugar – 100gms

Bicarbonate of Soda – ½ teaspoon

Baking Powder – 1 tsp

150gms butterscotch (or chocolate) morsels

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Line a 12-bun muffin tin with muffin papers.Mash the bananas and set aside.Pour the oil into a bowl and beat in the eggs.Put the flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder into a large bowl and mix in the beaten-egg-and-oil mixture, followed by the mashed bananas.Fold in the butterscotch morsels, then place equal quantities in the prepared muffin tin - I used an ice cream scoop and a spatula - and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.