Brown Sugar Cookies with Chia Seeds and Orange Zest

This is how bad she wants Santa to come ... she'll hold a plateful of cookies while Mummy takes a photo or three ...

 

Poor kid. Except that she's eaten about half a dozen of them already (not counting the dough ... ) and now she's watching kiddie tv programs at 2 in the afternoon while I sit out here on the computer. Hmmm ... I know. But I have earned good-mummy credits. 

We made cut-out cookies together today. 

This is one of those pre-Christmas things I remember doing with my own mom when I was little. I don't frost mine, because I like them just this sweet, but we had fun rolling out the dough and sprinkling in seeds and zest and punching out stars and flowers and love-hearts and circles and crabs and even a snail or two. 

 

So this is my own family recipe for sugar cookie-cutter cookies - and you can make them with or without the chia seeds and orange zest ... or just one or the other. I actually recommend dividing the batch into thirds or so and trying different flavours. 

This recipe makes a large batch, because of course you'll want to share them - a jar of homemade cookies makes a lovely gift, and they're great for holiday parties. But if you don't feel inclined to share, you can just stick the extras into the freezer. 

Just save some for Santa.

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Brown Sugar Cookies with Chia Seeds 

and Orange Zest

makes ~4 dozen

The time

10 min prep + 1 hr fridge + 20 min rolling/cutting + 8 min baking

The ingredients

200g brown sugar

200g butter, softened

1 large, organic egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

350g wholemeal flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp fine sea salt

1-3 Tbs chia seeds (optional)

1-3 tsp orange zest (optional)

extra flour for sprinkling

*Try to use organic ingredients when you can!

The process

1. Cream together the brown sugar and softened butter in a large bowl, till it's all mixed.

2. Add in the egg and vanilla and stir.

3. Add the dry ingredients (including the seeds and/or zest) and mix just till combined. Try not to over mix - and you may need to use your hands at the end. When it's combined, form the dough into a large ball and replace in the mixing bowl. Put a lid on the bowl and set it in the fridge for an hour.

4. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F), and line a couple of cookie sheets with baking paper. 

5. Divide the chilled dough into a few smaller portions and roll out on a lightly floured benchtop to ~0.5cm (1/5") thickness. Sprinkle extra flour on your dough if it's on the sticky side. You want it to be of a texture you can actually cut! 

NOTE: Don't get hung up on how thick or thin the dough is ... thicker dough will just remain softer when it cooks, and thinner dough gets crisper. In my house, I prefer the former and Robbie the latter, so I often make thin and thick cookies anyway. 

6. Cut into shapes, place them onto the baking tray ~2 cm (1") apart - they won't spread much - and bake ~8 minutes until they're starting to brown around the edges. When you pull them out, they'll still be softish in the middle and will be prone to falling apart, so I just slide the baking paper off the tray (with the cookies still on it) and onto the cooling rack. I find it safter not to touch the cookies till they've cooled a bit.

7. And once they have, all bets are off.

8. You can store these in a tightly sealed container for a week or two, or freeze them for a couple of months.

And no, I'm not that cruel. She got her extra reward. Oh, I am a good mum. (What's that, sweetie? Bob the Builder's on? Sounds great!)

Happy Holidays, friends!

Amanda xx