Cookies & Friends – December 2025

This was the fastest a year has ever flown by! So much happened in our lives this year – we moved to another province, had to find a place to stay in a very short time and enjoyed an amazing road trip in our neighbouring country, Namibia. In short, we quickly had to adapt to our new circumstances.

There were three big positives this year:

  • Our new home on a farm is the best ever
  • We are just over an hour’s drive from our beach house in our hometown, Langebaan and
  • We are back with all our friends

The downside is that we haven’t had much time to go on getaway weekends. I’ve also spent very little time on our blog – with just 46 posts this year, it’s the least since 2019. My humble apologies to our blogging friends whom I neglected this year. We hope to rectify this in the new year.

Let’s end this hectic year with delicious Christmas cookies and an amazing Christmas lunch with our friends.

I’m going to share two very famous South African cookie recipes with you: Old-fashioned sugar cookies (‘outydse soet koekies’ in Afrikaans) and custard cookies. They’re not only easy to make, but absolutely delicious.

Old-fashioned sugar cookies (‘Outydse soet koekies’):

Few cookies are as delicious as sugar cookies. And if you can cut them into Christmas shapes and decorate them with sprinkles, they also look very festive.

Put it on the table:

This recipe requires few ingredients and you probably have everything in your pantry.

Ingredients for sugar cookies

180g butter

200g castor sugar

10ml (2 teaspoons) vanilla essence

1 egg

240g cake flour

2,5ml (½ teaspoon) baking powder

2,5ml (½ teaspoon) salt

Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy.

Cream butter and sugar

Add the vanilla essence and egg and whisk until well combined.

Add vanilla essence and egg

Add the cake flour, baking powder, and salt and mix well.

Add dry ingredients and mix well

To make Christmas-inspired cookies, use festive cookie cutters and colourful sprinkles. Roll the dough as thinly as possible on a clean work surface (lightly dusted with flour). Use the cookie cutters for different shapes.

Christmas cookie cutters & sprinkles

Roll the dough and press Christmas shape cookies

Place the cookie shapes on a baking sheet lined with parchment/baking paper. Bake the cookies in a preheated oven (180°C) for 10-15 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

Cookies ready for the oven

When you take the cookies out of the oven and they are still soft and hot, decorate the cookies with coloured sprinkles. (Tip: With the second batch, I added the sprinkles over the cookies before putting them in the oven, and it worked better).

Cookies with sprinkles

Old-fashioned sugar cookies

When the cookies have completely cooled, store them in an airtight container (and enjoy with your favourite hot drink).

Custard Cookies:

My mum used to bake custard cookies for us during school holidays. The best part of these cookies was the type of cookie press she used (which I have imitated in this recipe) – more on that later.

Put it on the table:

This recipe has almost the same ingredients as the sugar cookies, except for the custard powder.

Ingredients for custard cookies

250g butter

175ml sugar

2 eggs

5ml (1 teaspoon) vanilla essence

37,5ml custard powder

20ml (4 teaspoons) baking powder

750ml (3 cups) cake flour

Cream the butter and sugar together until light yellow and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla essence and mix well.

Cream butter and sugar

Add eggs and vanilla essence

Sift the custard powder, baking powder, and cake flour together and add to the butter mixture. Mix well.

Sift dry ingredients

Mix well

Wrap the dough in cling film and put it in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Wrap the dough and place in fridge

After 20 minutes, lightly roll the dough into small balls and place them on a baking sheet (lined with parchment/baking paper).

Roll the dough into small balls

Now for the cookie cutter. A plastic thread spool makes the most beautiful patterns on cookies.

Thread spool used as a cookie cutter

Dip the thread spool in a little flour to prevent it from sticking to the dough. Press on each cookie and place in a preheated oven (200°C) for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.

Ready for the oven

Oh, the wonderful smell of freshly baked custard cookies

Place the cookies on a cooling rack and let them cool completely before storing in airtight containers.

Custard cookies

Christmas lunch with friends:

On a hot summers’ day, we invited all our friends (and their children) to join us for a Summer Christmas lunch on the farm.

Each family made a main course, salad, and dessert. I made a starter of brie cheese and caramelised onions on puff pastry, while Berto took care of a refreshing punch with a kick. We had such an enjoyable time around our festive table.

Our Christmas lunch table

Punch with a kick

Main course(s)

Salad table (and Berto’s tomato, mozzarella & basil Christmas tree)

Dessert table

And if you were wondering about the Christmas cookies I baked earlier – well, that ended up in a Christmas cracker (with a twist).

Cookie Christmas cracker

There is a saying: ‘A GOOD friend knows all your best stories, but a BEST friend has lived them with you.’ This is very true of our friends, and we are grateful to have them in our lives.

Some of the young adults (and the two youngest girls in our group) enjoy each other’s company under a shady tree in the garden

We have been friends for decades

This post will be the last one on our blog for 2025. We are heading out on a wild camping adventure (without Wi-Fi) and will be back in the middle of January next year.

We wish you a blessed Christmas in the company of your friends and family. May the New Year bring you all you’ve wished for. God bless and Happy Holidays!