Christmas Sugar Cookies
Sugar cookies are easy to make and these can be decorated however you like – think candy cane stripes, snowmen, or reindeer!
Ingredients
- 225g / 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (or use salted, skip salt)
- 1 cup caster/superfine sugar (granulated/ordinary white sugar ok too)
- 1½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg (55-60g / 1.9-2oz)
- 3 cups flour, plain/all-purpose
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp salt
Method
- Preheat Oven to 180°C/160°C fan. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until creamy (1 minute on speed 5)
- Add egg and vanilla, beat until completely combined.
- Add flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Start mixing slowly, then beat until the flour is incorporated – it will be clumpy.
- Dust your work surface with flour, scrape dough out of the bowl. Pat together then cut in half, then shape into 2 discs.
- Roll out to 0.3cm / 1/8” (for thinner, crispier cookies) or 0.6cm / 1/4” (for thicker, softer cookies), sprinkling with flour under and over the dough so it doesn’t stick.
- Use cookie cutters to press out shapes and use a knife or spatula to transfer shapes to prepared baking sheets. (Keep dough that doesn’t fit in the oven in the fridge).
- Bake for around 10 minutes until the surface is pale golden and the edges are just beginning to turn light golden.
- Allow cookies to cool completely on trays (they will finish cooking on the trays).
- Decorate your cookies with icing (add green or red food colouring to make it Christmasey!), melted chocolate, or dust with icing sugar.
Big drive to Brisbane
Kiwi turned Aussie Lucas tells us all about truck life in North Queensland.
Hey guys, I’m Lucas Gallagher, and I’m 15 years old. I was born in Thames, New Zealand, but we now live in Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays in North Queensland. The town is a little bit like Queenstown in New Zealand and is based largely around tourism.
My dad Bradley drove trucks for his whole driving career in New Zealand for Main R & L Ltd, Provincial Freightlines and Paul Rudd before we moved to Australia.
Dad’s current boss owns a resort, which also has a restaurant, a bar as well as three bottle shops in town. Because we live so far from any main cities, Dad’s boss bought his own Kenworth T909 B-double for Dad to drive down to Brisbane and back, which is 13 hours each way (1100km) to pick up the alcohol and supplies each week – sometimes two times a week in the busy holiday periods.
I’m lucky enough to go for rides with Dad during the school holidays. His truck is a 2019 T909 Kenworth with a 50-inch sleeper. It went to Bling Man HQ in Brisbane and got all the tanks stainless steel wrapped, with lots of lights and stainless steel everywhere. It has a custom stereo with subwoofers, so we’ve got some good tunes to listen to on the way to Brisbane.
Dad normally goes to one big warehouse in Brisbane and loads up all the alcohol the business needs for the week, then comes back up and unloads it at the hotel. After unloading the trailers, the truck gets a full wash all ready for the next trip. Lots of tourists like to ask Dad questions about the truck and take photos of it when it’s parked at the hotel.
Last year, Dad and I took the truck to the Brisbane Convoy for Kids truck show and Dad’s truck won a trophy for Truck of the Show, beating out more than 700 trucks
Here’s a few photos from my trips with Dad, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
Go for it girls!
Isabella had the pleasure of meeting Samantha Russell, known as Sam, from Swanson Transport Ltd in Auckland.
One of the interesting things I learnt is that Sam is the only female operator at Swanson Transport. Six years with the company, she now proudly operates an 8-Wheeler Rear Mount Hiab – a job that she didn’t expect to be doing as a young girl but is super proud of.
You can do it, too
In a male-dominated industry, her message to young girls is, “If transport is the career path you are thinking of, and you want to operate one of these big machines, go for it! Girls and women can do the same jobs as the boys and can do it just as well!”
What Sam also loves about her role is the variety of work she gets to do while also discovering some beautiful parts of New Zealand. Getting to know the North Island well, one of her favorite drives would be to Tauranga.
Safety first
Sam knows that being an operator comes with a lot of responsibility, and safety is always key to make sure she can perform her job. Pre-checks every morning to make sure the truck is in good condition to allow her to get to her job. There are also safety checks that are done on arrival and departure from a work site. Operating these machines requires you to be alert of your surroundings, which is why it’s important to get a good night’s rest. Sam has been fortunate that Swanson Transport have been able to assist her get the licences she needs.
Moo-ving Cattle
Name: Zoe
Age: 8 years old
Lives: Queensland
Can be found in: A Kenworth C509
Hey Little Truckers, my name is Zoe and I live in Queensland, Australia. I LOVE getting the chance to go with my dad in the cattle truck some school holidays. The truck is a Kenworth C509 with Cannon Trailer cattle crates.
We live in Goondiwindi, Queensland and our family owns McKelvey Livestock Haulage, which helps farmers move their cattle very big distances across Australia.
Depending on the job, sometimes the truck has a B double hooked up (three decks), but it’s my favourite when the road train is set up because it looks huge! A road train carries six decks of cattle. When they are taking cattle into the feedlot, there are 156 head of cattle on board. That’s a lot of beef!
When I go in the truck, my favourite part is watching and helping load the cattle into the crates. When I grow up I’d like to be a Jillaroo and also drive a truck.
See you on the roads!
Zoe
Dawsons Down Under
Little Trucker Down Under’s Top Truck for this issue is truly trans-Tasman; it was built at Bayswater, near Melbourne and is owned by Dawsons Haulage of Baranduda in Victoria, and the driver, a Kiwi lad, began his driving career the North Island of New Zealand.
Dawsons Haulage runs a striking fleet of Kenworths, towing a variety of trailers from singles and B-Doubles to extendables (trailers that can lengthen out to 22 metres long) and road trains carrying freight all over Australia.
‘Olivia Rose’ is one of four C509 Kenworths in the Dawson fleet, however she is the only one painted in the striking metallic green colour – combine that with her polished tanks and bulbar, she’s certainly a standout out.
A 615 horsepower Cummins X15 engine and 18-speed Eaton Roadranger transmission propel the Kenworth, which can be seen anywhere from Victoria to the far reaches of Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia hauling freight.
Driver of ‘Olivia Rose’, Shane Mitchell, as a youngster spent hours riding around in trucks, learning the ropes and washing them before getting behind the wheel at the end of his schooling.
Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients
• 2 cups dairy milk or alternative milk such as soy
• 6 tablespoons chocolate
• ¼ cup smooth peanut butter
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Method
1) Add milk, chocolate, peanut butter and sugar to a small saucepan and heat over medium heat.
2) Whisk constantly until chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
3) Add cocoa powder and vanilla and whisk until completely combined and warm. Serve.
Hot Vanilla Milk
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients
3 cups dairy milk or alternative
milk such as soy
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Method
Whisk milk and maple syrup together in a small saucepan.
Stir over low heat until the milk mixture begins to bubble.
Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.
Serve.
Easy Peasy Chocolate Popcorn
Ingredients
• 12g popcorn
• 15g chocolate, melted
Method
1) Put the popcorn on a baking tray and drizzle over the melted chocolate.
2) Put in the fridge to set for 5-10 mins, then get snacking!
Chocolate Cornflake Crackles
Ingredients
• 50g butter
• 100g chocolate, broken into chunks
• 3 tbsp golden syrup
• 100g cornflakes
Method
1) Put the butter, chocolate and golden syrup in a saucepan or microwavable bowl. Melt the butter, chocolate and golden syrup in the saucepan over a low heat or briefly in the microwave. Allow to cool a little.
2) In a separate bowl, add the cornflakes. Pour the melted ingredients over cornflakes.
3) Stir the ingredients together gently using a wooden spoon. Spoon the mixture into 12 cupcake cases arranged on a muffin tray or baking sheet.
4) Put it in the fridge to set.
Easy rocky road
Ingredients
• 200g digestive biscuits
• 135g butter or margarine
• 200g chocolate
• 2-3 tbsp golden syrup
• 100g mini marshmallows or chopped up regular marshmallows
Method
1) Grease and line an 18cm square brownie tin with baking paper.
2) Put the biscuits in a freezer bag and bash them up with a rolling pin until they’re broken.
3) In a large saucepan, melt the butter, chocolate and golden syrup over a gentle heat stirring constantly until there are no lumps of chocolate, then remove from the heat. Leave to cool.
4) Take the biscuits, marshmallows and stir into the chocolate mixture until everything is completely covered.
5) Spoon the mixture into the lined baking tin, and spread it out to the corners. Chill for at least two hours.
6) Cut up into slices and enjoy.