* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Robin cookies
These spiced cookies by Kim-Joy look like adorable festive birds
Prep Time25 minutesmins
Cook Time35 minutesmins
Course: Tea-time
Cuisine: Dutch
Servings: 12cookies
Calories: 540kcal
Author: Kim-Joy
Equipment
Stand mixer or hand-held electric whisk
Baking sheets
Baking tray
Bird cookie cutters
Sugar thermometer
Piping bags
Ingredients
Biscuit
250gsalted butter
250gbrown cassonade sugar, or light brown muscovado
3/4tspground cinnamon
1/4tspground nutmeg
1/8tspwhite pepper
1/8tspground cloves
1/8tspground cardamom
1pinchground anise
1/4tspbicarbonate of soda
1/2beaten egg
350gplain flourplus extra for dusting
2lemons or oranges, finely zestedadd to taste
Sugar center
225gcaster or granulated sugar
150gliquid glucose
50mlwater
orange gel food dye
Royal icing
40gegg white
225gicing sugar
orange gel food dye
black gel food dye
Method
For the cookies
Line a baking sheet that you can fit in the fridge with baking paper and set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar with a mixer until the mixture is soft, fluffy and paler in colour. Scrape the sides and base of the bowl occasionally.
Add all the spices, bicarbonate of soda and egg. Mix until completely combined.
Add all the flour. Use your hands to rub the butter and sugar mixture into the flour, then press into a ball of dough.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface, then use cutters to stamp out circles, about 7.5cm in diameter. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet. On half the cookies, stamp out a smaller circle, about 4cm from the lower third area (see photo for guidance).
Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the edges are just starting to colour. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool.
For the sugar centre
When the cookies are cool, make the sugar glass for the centre. Add the caster sugar, liquid glucose and water to a small saucepan and stir to combine. Add a drop of orange gel food dye to colour. Heat over a high heat, but don’t stir until the mixture reaches 150°C.
Remove the pan from the heat and use a large spoon to spoon the sugar syrup into the centre of the cookies. Immediately scatter over sprinkles.
Leave the sugar syrup for 20 minutes, or until completely hardened, then peel the filled cookies off the baking paper.
For the royal icing
Combine the egg white and icing sugar with a mixture until you get a smooth consistency. Add tiny amounts of extra egg white and/or icing sugar to get the right consistency if needed.
Spoon one-third of the mixture into a piping bag, then divide the remaining icing between two bowls. Stir black food dye into one bowl and orange food dye into the other to colour.
Transfer each coloured icing to a piping bag, snipping a small section off the end. Use to pipe a robin design (refer to the photo for guidance).
Additional steps
The wings are an optional extra decoration - you can make them by letting the leftover sugar syrup cool, then pulling it into a long wide ribbon using your hands and cutting it into pieces with scissors. Be careful not to do this when the sugar is too hot! It needs to be cooled to the point where it can be stretched.