1. Mix butter, confectioner’s sugar and vanilla extract till a creamy mixture. Add the egg and mix again very well. Add the flour and salt and mix or knead by hand until you form a beautiful and cohesive dough. Press it into a very thick pancake with your hands.

2. Dust the surface of your counter and rolling pin with flour and roll out the dough to a thickness of approximately 3/8 inch to ½ inch. (If your dough is too soft to work with, refrigerate it 15-30 minutes.)

3. Dust the surface of your dough and your cookie mold with flour. Press the mold into the dough just far enough down to fill the mold cavity. Remove your mold and cut out the cookie. You do not need to brush off the excess flour on the top of your cookie.

4. Place your cookies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

5. Chill your cookie sheet full of molded cookies about ½ hour in the fridge.

6. Take your cookie sheet out of the fridge and immediately place it in the center rack of a preheated 325 degree F (160 degree C) oven. Bake your cookies about 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies. Remove the cookies when the bottoms are just beginning to turn golden brown. The tops should still be ivory.

7. You can vary the flavor of this recipe by trying finely ground cinnamon, ginger, cloves or even garam masala.

By Marlies van der Meulen, owner of Partycupcakes