Recipe
You will need:
For the dough
– 140g icing sugar (sieved)
– 1 tsp vanilla extract
– 1 egg yolk
– 250g butter (unsalted)
– 375g plain flour (sieved)
For decoration
– 200g icing sugar
– Drops of water or lemon juice
– Edible food colouring
– Cake decoration
1. Pre-heat the oven to 190°C/Gas 5 and line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
2. Mix the icing sugar, vanilla extract, egg yolk and butter (cut into small cubes) in a bowl of a food processor or stir together with a wooden spoon until ingredients are well combined. Slowly add flour and mix to a firm dough. Shape the dough into two flat discs, wrap in clingfilm and let it chill 20-30 minutes.
3. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface (approximately 0.4cm thick). Cut out pretty shapes with a cutter and place on the baking tray. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the cookies are lightly golden. Leave them on the tray for 10 minutes and (if possible) move them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
4. Mix the icing sugar with a few drops of cold water or lemon juice until thick and smooth but still slightly runny. You can colour the icing with edible food colouring if you like. After spreading the icing on the cooled biscuits you can decorate them with edible balls, Smarties or all kinds of cake decoration.