Eleni's Rose Sugar Cookies

Today is my best friend's birthday. Happy Birthday Eleni! I was very glad that she loves these soft cookies that I made. During my most recent trip to London, I bought a small portion of culinary rose petals. I decided to make a soft, buttery cookie with rose petal sugar and rosewater. Eleni loved it when I asked her to taste them, so from now on I will call them Eleni's Rose Sugar Cookies!

Ingredients: (makes 20-25 big cookies)

250g butter, softened

150g of rose-petal sugar

Rose petals with caster sugar

The rose petals were ground up with the sugar

2 tsp of rose water

1 egg, beaten

220g of flour

1 tsp of baking powder

a pinch of salt

Sugar crystals of your choice (for decoration)

Preparation:

1. Sift the flour and add the pinch of salt and the baking powder in a bowl. Mix and set aside.

2. Cream the butter and the sugar together until pale and fluffy.

3. Mix the rosewater and the egg in a small bowl.

4. Add the rosewater-egg mix into the creamed butter a little at a time while continuously beating. Doing so prevents the mix to curdle.

5. Add the flour to the buttery mix and fold until thoroughly mixed. The dough will be soft and buttery.

6. Make a cookie dough 'sausage' - on baking parchment, make a cookie dough log and wrap. Refrigerate the dough log for at least 3 hours.

7. Take the time to clean the kitchen. Just before you want to bake your cookies, preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

8. When the dough is firm, cut it into slices and arrange them on a lined baking tray. Sprinkle some sugar crystals on to the cookie dough and bake until slightly golden brown. NOTE: they expand and become flat - so make sure there is ample space in between every cookie.

9. Cool on a baking rack.

10. ENJOY!