Mima's White Chocolate Cookies

It seems the cooking bug has hit my eldest child.

She has always been into food, she'll eat anything at least once!

This year she has become a big fan of Masterchef and even scored another cookbook at Christmas, that's where the fun began(and daddy stepped in). 
I'm sadly not the kind of mother that has a lot of patience - especially in the kitchen(I lose my shit quite easily), Max says often "chill out babe, you're the one with the f#@!ing food blog, aren't you supposed to be all about the kids?"

And I would, of course, tell him in the nicest possible way to mind his own business and if he(being all calm and zen)would like to help Mima cook he is more than welcome!

Shitty mother behaviour I know,but I'm human and far from perfect and happy to admit it.
Anyway now she's cooked quite a few meals with the help of her ever peaceful daddy, I'm am slowly digging deep and finding more patience in her mess making and confidence in her cooking skills.

To this day she has made;

Gnocchi with a red sauce

Chocolate fondants - 3 whole times and they were insane!

Potato and zucchini fritters

And now she has perfected the best cookies ever!

She kept asking me when she could do them on my blog, and I told her when they were perfect - well they are.

So today is the day. 

She had her uncle and aunty over a few days ago and made a batch(no help whatsoever from me)and they(candy & Al)if allowed, would have eaten them all.

So today Mima is my first guest cook and this is her version of a white chocolate shortbread

And man they are so good!

First she gets everything she needs and finds a nice spot to make a mess...

Today I made her stand in the hottest spot of the house - so the photo's would look nice (it's hard work being a celebrity chef)

What you'll need for these cookies:

75g raw caster sugar

1/2 cup of best quality white chocolate

175g of salted butter cut into small cubes - at room temp

275g plain flour - sifted

and a pinch of Himalayan salt

Some fancy cookie cutters and a rolling pin

A non-stick surface to roll the dough out on

How she made them:

Pre-heat the oven to 180c

First she cuts the butter very perfectly. 

Then she weighs out the sugar and pops it in along with the butter in Tabitha's bowl.

Lastly she weighs her flour and sifts it into the bowl as well

I put the pinch of salt in for her and then she worked her magic.

She turned Tabitha on to 1, so as not to cover the table, my kitchen and herself in flour.

Once it starts to clump she turns the speed up to 2.

And then watches and waits till she thinks the mixture is ready.

Then its time to roll.

The mixture is very crumbly, so you will have to push it together with your hands into a kind of mound.

This should all be done on a non stick surface - we did it on an Ikea tray.

Then with your rolling pin (which needs to be floured)push the dough down and then roll.

You will have to do this many times throughout the cookie cutting process.

Put your cookies on a lined baking tray and bake in the oven for 10min or until they are golden.

Let them cool on a wire rack then store whatever is left in an air tight container.

The white chocolate in these cookies will caramelise, which adds a crunchy,caramely texture without then tasting burnt or over cooked and because they're not to sweet, you can't stop eating them.

If Mima had her way she'd bake these everyday.

 Unfortunately the members of our family cannot afford to eat these cookies everyday, so it will be something she can do when we have visitors or when her mates are around.

And because my friend Daniella and her kids were over and Mima had been shopping at T2 she made us tea with our scrumy cookies. 

Spoilt we were!

©Michelle Schoeps 2013

All photos taken by Michelle Schoeps

recipe adapted by Jemima Doyle