Pretzel Cookies

I saw this recipe in a Chinese cookbook and it reminded me of the Danish pretzel cookies which I used to love eating from those big round cookie tin when I was a child.

However, even after refrigerating the cookie dough for an hour in the fridge, I still found it too soft to be rolled into a thin strip to be plaited into a pretzel - it kept breaking midway. In the end, I gave up and decided to whip out my pineapple cookie cutter to finish the job fast before rushing off to Alicia's party.

Pretzel Cookies

Ingredients:

160g butter

70g icing sugar

1 egg yolk

1/4 tsp vanilla essence

zest of 1 lemon, finely grated

260g flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp milk powder

some coarse sugar

Method:

(1) Blend the butter and icing sugar well.

(2) Mix in the egg yolk, vanilla essence and lemon zest.

(3) Sift in the flour, baking powder and milk powder.

(4) Refrigerate the cookie dough for an hour.

(5) To shape into a pretzel, roll some of the dough into a 9am strip, 8mm in diameter.

(6) Plait it into the shape of a pretzel, brush with water and sprinkle some coarse sugar on the pretzels.

(7) Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170°C for 15-20 mins.

Verdict:

(-) As mentioned above, it is difficult to roll the refrigerated dough into the thin strip for plaiting.

(=) This recipe yields very crumbly cookies - the type where it crumbles easily after a bite

(=) A bit dry. Need to have a mouth of water to wash the cookie crumbs down the throat

(=) Not too sweet

(=) I don't think I'll be repeating this recipe again