Light Christmas Cookies

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and place oven rack to middle position.

Combine Flour, Baking Soda, Salt and Spices together in a large mixing bowl and mix until evenly distributed. Alternatively, you can sift all ingredients together to combine.

In a mixing bowl, beat Butter and Brown Sugar until smooth, add Egg and continue mixing for another minute.

Add Flour mixture into the Butter and Sugar at 3 separate stages and beat until all the flour is incorporated. The cookie dough should be somewhat stiff. Do not over knead the dough.

Divide dough into two separate batches, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 2 hours to firm up the butter.

On a well dusted work surface using a rolling pin roll out the dough into a 5mm thickness.

Cut into desired shapes (gingerbread man/Stars…) using a cookie cutter.

Place on a baking sheet with 1cm space between each cookie.

Bake cookies for about 10-12 minutes depending on the size of the cookies. Cookies are done once the edges are golden brown. For a crunchier cookie, bake a couple minutes longer.

For Frosting: beat Egg-white until slightly fluffy. Add sifted Icing Sugar in batches to make sure sugar incorporated smoothly. Add Vanilla and Water and finish by mixing for another 3-4 minutes until smooth and a piping consistency. Different food coloring can be added to frosting for desired decorative colors.

Place frosting mixture in a piping bag and decorate the cookies as desired. Smiley faces and buttons are most popular.