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1
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.
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2
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!)
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3
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.
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4
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.
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5
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).
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6
That's it. Mix, shape, bake. 3-2-1 refers to both the ingredients and the method.
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7
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.)
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8
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.
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9
The finished cookies can be iced, dipped in chocolate, dusted with sugar or left plain, and can be eaten warm or cooled.
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10
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!
