Perfect Recipe

Cornstarch Guava Cookies

Ingredients:

250g sugar
500g cornstarch
100g all-purpose flour
200g unsalted butter
2 eggs
Vanilla extract
Guava paste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F and place rack in center of oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Sift cornstarch, sugar and flour together. Add the lightly beaten eggs, vanilla extract and blend in the butter. Knead well. Let stand ten to fifteen minutes. Roll the dough into balls about 1 inch in diameter. Place the balls on parchment lined cookie sheets. Press down with your thumb to make a small well in the center of the cookie and fill with guava paste. Do not press too hard or the cookie will fall apart. Or you can use cookies cutters and spread guava paste in one cookie and top with another cookie.
Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until slightly firm. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet to firm up before moving them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Subway Chocolate Chip Cookies
36 cookies.

Ingredients:

125g butter, softened (if using unsalted butter, add 1/4 teaspoon salt with the butter)
110g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
90g (1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons, very firmly packed) brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (1 teaspoon natural vanilla essence)
1 large egg (we use eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)
100g (2/3 cup) self-raising flour
150g (1 cup) plain flour
200g (about 1 rounded cup) chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

Directions:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (160 degrees fan-forced).
Line one to three large baking trays with non-stick baking paper. If you have a fan-forced oven, you can use three trays and bake all of the cookies at once. Otherwise, bake the cookies one or two trays at a time so they bake evenly.
Using an electric mixer or electric hand-held beaters, beat butter, caster sugar, brown sugar and vanilla together until pale and creamy.
Stop the machine occasionally and use a spatula to scrape down the side and base of the bowl. Add the egg and beat until well combined.
Stir the plain flour and self-raising flour together in a small bowl. Add the flour and chocolate chips to the butter mixture and stir until well combined.
Form heaped teaspoons of dough into balls and place balls about 6cm apart on a baking tray. If baking the cookies in batches, you can refrigerate the dough between batches to prevent it from becoming too soft.
Bake for about 13-15 minutes, or until cookies are lightly golden but still very soft (they will firm up on cooling). The longer the baking time the crunchier the cookies will be. If you are using two trays, and you don’t have a fan-forced oven, swap the trays around halfway through the baking time so that the cookies brown evenly.
Leave cookies to cool on the tray for about three minutes, and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once the cookies have cooled to room temperature, store them in an airtight container.

Gingerbread Men
24 5inch tall cookies

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup molasses
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional)

Directions:

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves until well blended.
In a large bowl (KitchenAid’s great for this) beat butter, brown sugar, and egg on medium speed until well blended. Add molasses, vanilla, and lemon zest and continue to mix until well blended. Gradually stir in dry ingredients until blended and smooth.
Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic and let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours. (Dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, but in this case it should be refrigerated. Return to room temp before using.)
Preheat oven to 375°.Grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place 1 portion of the dough on a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle flour over dough and rolling pin. Roll dough to a scant 1/4-inch thick. Use additional flour to avoid sticking. Cut out cookies with desired cutter– the ginger bread man is our favorite of course. Space cookies 1 1/2-inches apart.
Bake 1 sheet at a time for 7-10 minutes (the lower time will give you softer cookies– very good!).
Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow the cookies to stand until the cookies are firm enough to move to a wire rack.
After cookies are cool you may decorate them any way you like.