Iron Chef Shellie
 

Sugar Cookies & High Tea at the Grand Hyatt, Melbourne

These are my first attempt at iced shortbread, and for my lovely friend Haz's surprise high tea.

Travel & Dining

Sugar Cookies & High Tea at the Grand Hyatt, Melbourne
August 26, 2012
Dining

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Sugar Cookies & High Tea at the Grand Hyatt, Melbourne

Dear, darling, fellow food blogger Haz is getting married to Gaz soon; and to celebrate, I secretly organised a hen’s doo with Az, Taz, Raz and Kaz. We had booked the high tea, and Az convinced Haz to join her for lunch…. no one gave away the surprise, and as Haz walked into the restaurant she was greeted by our cheeky faces, wonder what the fudge was going on! 😛

So to go along with this surprise high tea, I wanted to make it a little more special with some goodie bags. I decided to try my hand at sugar cookies for the first time ever… probably not the best time to attempt them for the first time. I had troubles with the icing not drying in time, and I couldn’t have them wrapped in plastic bags or in noodle boxes as I had planned. My piping wasn’t the best either, but I’ve vowed to myself to learn how to perfect sugar cookies. I had a few issues with not letting my icing dry before I flooded the cookies… I was on a strict time frame though!

None the less, everyone seemed to love them, and the amazing high tea at the Grand Hyatt. For $52 you get a two tier caddy of some cakes and sandwiches (air dried wagyu is the bomb!) and then there is buffet with other sweets, ice creams, scones, chocolate fountain, more cakes and savouries (the crossiants with salami, brie and relish were totally amazeballs, I had to control myself!) You also get a glass of bubbly and endless tea and coffee.

Can’t wait for your wedding Haz & Gaz ♥

To learn how to decorate the cookies, check out the great tutorial on Cake Journal’s post.

 

Shortbread Cookies

Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 260g plain flour
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 225g unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 60g icing sugar
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Instructions
 

  • In a separate bowl whisk the flour with the salt. Set aside.
  • In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes).  Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated.  Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour or until firm.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) with the rack in the middle of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough into a 1/4 inch (.6 cm) thick circle.  Cut into rounds or other shapes using a lightly floured cookie cutter.  Place on the prepared baking sheets and place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. (This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked.) Bake for 8 -10 minutes, or until cookies are very lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

Notes

Comments

19 comments on “Sugar Cookies & High Tea at the Grand Hyatt, Melbourne
  1. Agnes

    You are awesome. Your cookies were great. Seriously, I can’t believe they were a first attempt – they were amazeballs.

    August 26, 2012 at 10:04 pm
    • Iron Chef Shellie

      nawww shucks! thank you thank you 🙂

      August 29, 2012 at 4:23 pm
  2. msihua

    You are simply the best! Jeng jeng jeng *cue Tina Turner music* Yayyy!! LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!! Thanks so much. Seriously that has been the highlight of my week, month, year to date!!! 🙂

    August 26, 2012 at 10:39 pm
    • Iron Chef Shellie

      LOL!! yay!! I’m so glad we could pull it off, and have a delicious time 🙂

      August 29, 2012 at 4:24 pm
  3. leaf (the indolent cook)

    Very cute cookies and what a lovely gesture! Also, them cupcakes at the Hyatt look amazing.

    August 26, 2012 at 10:46 pm
  4. Catherine

    Amazing!! So much effort put in, she must feel so special 🙂

    August 26, 2012 at 11:28 pm
  5. Jenny @ Ichigo Shortcake

    That is the cutest wedding dress cookie!!! Great first attempt, I don’t think I’d be able to do it first round..:P Congrats I-Hua!! Although I should hop to her blog to say that eh…

    August 27, 2012 at 1:03 am
  6. Kristy @ Southern In-Law

    What sweet friends! You all did an incredible job 🙂 Love the cookies!!

    August 27, 2012 at 7:21 am
  7. Maureen | Orgasmic Chef

    What a wonderful way to show a friend how much you care. She would have been over the moon at all this attention – I know I would have been. 🙂

    I’ve seen that wedding dress cookie cutter and always thought it might be too much like work. 🙂

    August 27, 2012 at 8:16 am
  8. Daisy@Nevertoosweet

    You guys are sooooooo sweet 🙂 I’m so jealous because hahahaa i know my friends would NEVER do anything like this for me 😛 I’m usually the one organising all the surprises and baking cakes hehe

    Good job with the cookies they look great 🙂 it’s soooooo hard to flood cookies i’ve found ~

    August 27, 2012 at 8:42 am
  9. Tina @ bitemeshowme

    For a first time attempt your cookies do look perfect Shellie! I love the theme of the high tea – quick dainty and yet quirky at the same time.

    August 27, 2012 at 9:41 am
  10. Hannah

    Aw, happy happy happiness!! This gives my heart great joy, for I-Hua and for all of you celebrating her 🙂

    August 27, 2012 at 10:13 am
  11. MoMo and Coco Dessert Correspondents

    You have some very creative baking talents here!! Very sweet token. 🙂

    August 27, 2012 at 10:59 am
  12. Gourmet getaways

    What a gorgeous sugar cookie! I bet the recipient was so pleased to receive it!! I love high tea and all of these treats look absolutely delectable!

    August 27, 2012 at 1:09 pm
  13. Thanh

    Gimme more croissants with salami and Brie. Mmmm. Great work organizing it all.

    August 29, 2012 at 9:04 pm
  14. Cherrie

    Great looking cookies!

    August 29, 2012 at 9:27 pm
  15. Erika

    What a sweet gesture! And I’m not just referring to the sugar cookies (although, they look amazing!). I’ve been scouting out somewhere to drag my friends along to high tea – the Grand Hyatt looks like a great place to do it 🙂

    August 29, 2012 at 11:11 pm
  16. Heidi - Apples Under My Bed

    ok you’re just freakin awesome, Michele!! Well done. It all looks divine, what a fun surprise. Such a treat 🙂
    Heidi xo

    August 31, 2012 at 9:25 am
  17. Nic@diningwithastud

    You’re awesome 😀 what a great surprise!!!

    September 5, 2012 at 2:19 pm

Sugar Cookies & High Tea at the Grand Hyatt, Melbourne

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Shellie Froidevaux

All content on this site is by Shellie Froidevaux - aka Iron Chef Shellie. Her skills include recipe development, food styling in her kitchen studio, lifestyle and travel photography, restaurant photography on location, styling and shooting social media for her clients and photography workshops for people who really want to change their game :)

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