It's amazing how five simple ingredients can be transformed into aromatic melt-in-your-mouth cookies.

Baking healthier cookies can be a challenge, since butter and sugar are usually the reason why cookies are so flavourful and crispy.

In this recipe, the 'power' ingredient is the zest of citrus fruits.

Having reduced the fat and sugar in this recipe, I need the citrus zest to impart flavour and ensure each star cookie packs a 'citrusy' punch.

Another calorie saver tip is to avoid coating the entire cookie with icing. Instead, pipe words or simple decorative designs onto each one to give the cookies a festive look.

Zesty Star Cookies
Makes approximately 80 cookies
One star cookie weighing 5g contains 23 calories, 1g fat and 0.6g of sugar

Ingredients

• 100g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
• 50g icing sugar
• 150g plain flour (sifted)
• 100g corn flour
• 2 pinches of salt
• Orange zest (finely chopped)
• Lemon zest (finely chopped)
• Ready-made icing for decorating (optional)

Method

» Pre-heat oven to 175ºC and lightly grease a baking tray.
» Mix butter and icing sugar until white and creamy.
» Fold in the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
» Form a dough with your hands, place flattened dough between two pieces of grease-proof paper and roll to »   3mm thin with a rolling pin.
» Cut into desired shapes and bake for 15-20 minutes until the cookies are light brown.
» Decorate with ready-made icing and store in air-tight cookie jars.

Tip

Using the ready-made icing, pipe your friend's or loved one's initials on the cookies to create the perfect gift!

The nutrition consultant runs a home-based bakery specialising in healthy treats. She has a Shatec diploma in pastry and baking, and has worked with the Grand Hyatt hotel's best pastry chefs. For more information, log on to sylviatreats.blogspot.com

Is this article useful to you?