Gold Medal Olympics Cookies Food

GOLD MEDAL OLYMPICS COOKIES

Steps:

• Add the butter, cream cheese, sugar, and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until smooth. Add the egg and beat until fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in the vanilla. Gradually add the flour, and mix until just incorporated.
• Gather the dough into a ball and divide in half. Flatten each ball into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and let chill for at least 1 hour, or overnight.
• Heat oven to 375°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove one disk from the refrigerator and place it between two sheets of parchment paper. Using a rolling pin, roll the disk ¼ inch thick (if the dough has been chilling overnight, it may need to thaw at room temperature for 10 minutes before being rolled out).
• Using a 3-inch round cookie cutter (or the lid of a mason jar, which is 2 ¾ inches), cut rounds from the dough. If the dough scraps become too soft to re-roll out, chill them while you roll out the second disk. Place the unbaked cookies on the prepared baking sheet and freeze them for 10 minutes. Repeat process with the second disk of dough.
• Remove the baking sheets from the freezer. Using a large straw, poke a hole into the top of each cookie. Bake until the bottoms of the cookies are lightly golden brown, rotating baking sheets halfway, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer cookies to a cooling rack.
• Make the icing: In a medium bowl, stir together the confectioners' sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth. Using the back of a spoon, glaze each cooled cookie with icing, then sprinkle with gold sanding sugar.
• When the icing and sugar have set, thread ribbons through the holes in the cookies so that they resemble gold medals.

GOLD-MEDAL WINNER COOKIES

Steps:

• Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium for 3 minutes. Beat in the 2 beaten eggs and vanilla.
• Beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture 1 cup at a time. Divide the dough into 2 pieces and flatten them into neat rectangles about 3/4-inch thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least 3 hours.
• Set an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment. Working with 1 piece of dough at a time, remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it soften for about 10 minutes. Roll it out on a lightly-floured piece of parchment to 3/16-inch thick. Cut out rounds with a 3- to 3 1/4-inch cookie cutter and arrange them on the prepared cookie sheets at least 1 1/2 inches apart. Repeat with the second piece of dough, rerolling and cutting the scraps as necessary.
• To make ring imprints on the cookies, press the rim of a small glass or bowl (about 2 1/2-inches wide) halfway into each dough round. Freeze the cookies on the cookie sheets for 20 minutes. (This will help the cookies hold their imprints.)
• Combine the remaining egg with 6 drops of yellow food coloring and 1 teaspoon water. Whisk together with a fork to make an egg wash.
• At the top of each cookie, use a wide straw or the tip of a sharp paring knife to cut a circle or rectangle wide enough to thread a ribbon through. Working with 2 to 3 cookies at a time, lightly brush the rounds with egg wash (avoid the imprint) and sprinkle with the sanding sugar. Lightly tap each cookie on the counter to shake off excess (the frozen dough will be sturdy enough to withstand this).
• Bake the cookies until set and the edges are beginning to brown, 14 to 18 minutes, rotating the cookie sheets once. Transfer the sheets to a baking rack and cool the cookies completely on the sheets. (If the holes for the ribbon have closed up a bit, just cut away some of the dough with a paring knife while the cookies are still warm).
• Thread a yard of ribbon through each cookie and tie the ends.

MEDAL COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Line 2 baking trays with baking parchment. Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a small saucepan. Mix in the vanilla, remove from the heat and leave to cool for 10 mins.
• Sieve the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Pour in the melted butter mixture and the egg, and stir together to form a stiff-ish dough. Pop the dough in the fridge for 10 mins to chill and firm up.
• Roll the dough out on a floured surface to 5mm thick, then stamp out 15 circles using a 7.5cm round cookie cutter; you may need to re-roll the trimmings to get 15 cookies. Make a hole at the top of each circle with the end of a pencil.
• Place on the baking trays and bake for 12 mins until golden, swapping the trays around halfway through. Cool on a wire rack. Decorate the cookies (see below), making sure the hole is at the top of each one. Will keep for 3 days in an airtight container.