Mini Cookies | Heart Shaped Mini Cookies | Pink Cookies | Christmas Edible Gifts | New Year Recipes | Valentine's Day Recipes

Christmas is almost here, baking, cooking and gifting each other will be on the peak, and here are cute little cookies for you to include among the edible gifts. These look cute and people will mistake these mini cookies for candies. These are super tasty , cute and addictive, I have used the basic cookie recipe, I've only customized the color and shapes. I have made heart shapes, you can make star shapes or even just roll it and flatten into small cookie shapes with your hands. Instead of making mini cookies, you can even make normal cookies with the same dough and pack it for your loved ones!! I have made these heart shapes to symbolize the main theme behind Christmas. Christmas is all about love, it's all about God's love for Mankind!!  His love is eternal, unconditional, unfailing!! He expects us to share the same love with our fellow people!! 

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" - John 3:16 (NIV)

"This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God. My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other." - 1 John 4:9-11 (MSG)


This Christmas as we share our gifts, let us share our love for our fellow people, forgive the troublesome, lets stop criticizing and judging people, "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him" If God Himself did not send His Son to judge us who are we to judge people? So lets just be like Him who gave Himself for the us, who loved us "the unworthy people"

Even if you can't love the people who hurt you, just Forgive and move on!! This sure does brings peace to you. This is indeed a difficult task for me too personally but its far better in many ways! Hatred and enmity can cause scars and trouble to you to the core. Be unconditional in passing your love, don't expect them to return the favor. 

Let Peace and Love Rule your Christmas dear friends!

INGREDIENTS

Makes nearly 200 grams of mini cookies (depends on size of cookies) 
Preparation Time - 1 hour 
Baking Time - 6 to 8 minutes

1. All purpose flour / Maida - 250 grams 
2. Granulated sugar - 100 grams 
3. Unsalted butter - 100 grams (slightly cold)
4. Egg - 1 
5. Vanilla extract / Vanilla essence - 1/2 teaspoon 
6. Pink food color - As required (or any food color) 
7. Milk - 2 tablespoons (or as required) 
8. Salt - 2 pinches 
9. Baking powder - 1/2 teaspoon 

OVEN / OTG SETTINGS

• Heater / Rod select - Both
• Shelf / Tray placement - Center 
• Temperature -  175°C (350 F)
• Baking time - 5 to 8 minutes 
• Preheat Oven For - 10 minutes

PREPARATION METHOD

• Take a mixing bowl add flour, salt, baking powder and sugar, whisk well using a hand whisk. 

• Add butter and mix well to this flour mix and mix well using your fingers. 
• Lightly beat egg using a spoon and add it to the mixture, mix well. If your dough is crumbly add milk and knead well to make a soft dough.

• Now divide the dough into two portions and add color to one portion knead the dough really well using your hands so that the color spreads uniformly. If you are doing this for the first time don't fret, be patient add enough color, knead really well and you will get a perfect colored cookie dough. (you can color the other portion with any other color, or use as it is) 
• Now wrap the dough portions separately in a plastic wrap or just place in a bowl and cover with a lid, then let it rest in a refrigerator for half an hour or until the dough chills and is not soft. 
• Then line a baking tray with parchment or butter paper and set aside. (using 2 baking trays would be better as there will be many batches of cookies to be baked, if you don't have an extra tray just reload the same baking tray. Just make sure to cool down the tray before reloading)  
• Now place the chilled dough on a rolling board (pastry board / chapati board) and roll it flat until it is half centimeter in thickness, using a rolling pin. 

• After rolling, cut into shapes using a plunger cutter or any mini cookie cutter. Then transfer the cut out cookies carefully onto the lined baking trays. I used a heart shaped plunger cutter that is about a centimeter. You definitely need patience here as it takes time to cut out so many cookies. (If you have a plunger cutter just press and eject the shapes onto the prepared baking sheet, using a plunger cutter will be better here as you can easily shift the cookie onto the sheet) 

• After transferring the cookies onto the lined baking trays, place the trays in refrigerator for 10 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 175°C (350 F) for 10 minutes. 
• Now remove the tray from refrigerator and slide the tray into the center rack of the preheated oven (let the other batch rest in refrigerator until the first one gets baked) 
• Bake the cookies until they are crisp to touch and the sides turn slightly brown (color should not change much). This may take 6 to 8 minutes, the time purely depends on the thickness and size of the cookies. So stay near the oven to keep an eye on the mini cookies as they tend to brown really soon. 

• Once done remove from the oven and bake the next batch similarly. 
• Then set the cookies aside for it to cool completely. 
• Store in airtight containers or gift wrap them, keeps well for weeks! 

TIP 1: You can make normal cookies with the same dough, only the baking time will differ. 

TIP 2: See that your cookie shapes are chilled enough before baking, else they will rise up while baking and will lose the shape. 

TIP 3: Always stay near the oven and watch over the cookies, to make sure that your cookies do not brown fast. the baking time is just few minutes, so waiting patiently yields you better results. 

TIP 4: I love pink so I made these pink colored cookies, you can make red colored ones too. Customize it as you wish!

TIP 5: You will get many batches, so if you wish just make use of half of the dough and use the rest for making normal cookies.

 

Super crispy, tasty, cute and addictive mini cookies are now ready!! These are perfect cookies to be packed as edible gifts for your loved ones!!