3-2-1 Cookies

Put all 3 ingredients into a mixing bowl. Mix. Start with a wooden spoon, finish with your hands, squeezing the dough together to form a ball.

Lightly knead the dough. If it seems a little dry, add a dash of milk and knead again. (If you like, you can cream the butter and sugar, then add the flour – but it doesn’t make a difference to the final outcome!)

EITHER roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thick on a lightly floured surface and cut out any shapes you like with cutters; OR roll the dough into a log, chill and then slice into 1/4 inch rounds.

Bake the cookies on a cookie tray lined with parchment/greaseproof paper at 200 Celsius for 15-20 minutes, until lightly golden at the edges of each cookie.

Allow to cool for five minutes on a tray before transfering to a wire rack to cool. (Or add to a bowl with ice-cream and eat them warm fresh out the oven).

That’s it. Mix, shape, bake. 3-2-1 refers to both the ingredients and the method.

Variations: this mix can be scaled up easily. Pick your base quantity (150 grams, 300 grams, etc – but use a weight measure – this doesn’t work with volume measures like cups) and just use 1 part sugar, 2 parts butter and 3 parts of flour. Doesn’t matter what kind of flour – self-rising, plain – whatever you have in the cupboard. And you can use margarine instead of butter if you prefer (but they won’t be as rich.)

The dough can also be flavoured, limited only by your imagination. Add powdered flavouring (cinnamon, cocoa, etc.) to the flour; add solid flavouring additions (chocolate chips, raisins, chopped nuts, etc.) to the dough once it’s mixed and knead to combine; or add liquid flavouring (vanilla, maple syrup. etc.) half way through mixing – once the dough has started to combine, but before it’s formed a ball.

The finished cookies can be iced, dipped in chocolate, dusted with sugar or left plain, and can be eaten warm or cooled.

You can also make one batch of basic dough, divide it between any children present and let them flavour the mixed dough by kneading in their flavouring. Customised cookies are a big hit at a sleepover that’s started to flag!