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Tri-Coloured Flag Cookies for Independence Day!

I.
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Ingredients
  

  • 200 gm butter , soft at room temperature
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 8 pods cardamom About (2tsp powdered )
  • A few drops orange food colouring
  • Royal icing coloured blue (see recipe below)

Instructions
 

  • In a large bowl, put the butter and the sugar and beat, using a hand held mixer, until it is soft and fluffy (should take about 3 to 4 minutes). Beat in the eggs, one at a time and then the vanilla extract.
  • Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and add it to the bigger bowl. Beat on slow speed until the flour has just mixed in. If the dough seems a little soft and sticky, refrigerate it for about half an hour so that it becomes easier to handle.
  • Divide the dough into three equal portions. Leave one portion plain. Add enough orange food colour to the second portion and green food colour to the third portion to get the shade you want. Knead the colour in so there are no streaks and the colour is uniform. If youu2019re using liquid colour you might need to add about a tbsp. of flour to each portion (not more) while kneading. Shape each portion into a ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for about an hour till firm again.
  • Now take each portion and roll it out, using your palms, into a thick log that is about 1 1/2" in diameter. All the three logs should be more or less of the same length. If theyu2019re not, you can trim the lengths to make them equal later. Refrigerate again, if necessary.
  • Now, using a rolling pin, gently flatten each log lengthwise until it is about 2u201d to 2 1/2" in width and about 1u201d to 1 1/4" in height.
  • Stack the uncoloured portion on the green coloured dough and the orange coloured dough over this. Gently press/ roll along the length of the stack so that the three layers stick together without flattening it out any more. If you donu2019t the layers will separate out when the cookies bake. Also make sure your layers are even and the same thickness or your finished cookie will have uneven layers!
  • You can cut the stack into two halves (along the length) to make it easy to store in the fridge. Wrap the cookie dough stacks in cling film and refrigerate for at least 6 to 8 hours or upto 3 days. You can also freeze them if want to store it for longer. If you freeze them, you can let them u201cthawu201d in the fridge overnight before slicing them.
  • When youu2019re ready to bake the cookies, take the stacks out and slice them with a sharp knife into 1/4" slices. Place the slices on ungreased cookie sheets or sheets lined with parchment. Leave about 2u201d between cookies as they will spread out during baking. Return the cookie sheets to the fridge for half an hour. This will ensure that they do not spread too much.
  • Bake them at 180C (350F) for 10 to 12 minutes till theyu2019re pale golden. Do not let them brown. Let the cookies cool on the sheets for about 5 minutes, then carefully lift them off and cool completely on racks.
  • Once they are cool, pipe a small wheel with spokes in the centre using blue coloured Royal Icing. Let the icing dry completely, then stack the cookies in an airtight tin.

Notes

This recipe makes 4 dozen Flag Cookies
Royal Icing
Ingredients:
1 egg white
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (or lemon juice)
1 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted ( a little more, if necessary)
A few drops blue food colour
Method:
Put the egg white in a clean bowl and beat with a hand held mixer till it is quite frothy. Add the vanilla extract (or lemon juice) and add about 1 cup of the icing sugar and beat on low speed until well mixed and shiny.
Add the remaining icing sugar and beat on high speed (about 5 minutes) until the icing forms stiff and glossy peaks. Add the colour and beat till well mixed. If using immediately, transfer this to a piping bag. Otherwise transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate. It should keep for about 3 days.
This amount of icing is a lot more than is required for this cookie. So you can store about 2/3rd of it in the fridge before adding the colour, for some other use. Add colour only to about 1/3rd of the icing.
Let me leave you all with best wishes for yet another happy and peaceful Independence Day and these words from Rabindranath Tagore.
“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action--
Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.”