Recipe idea: Decorated Biscuits

Ingredients

For the biscuits:

  • 175g plain flour
  • 100g butter cut into cubes
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 1 egg yolk
  • ¼ tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 or 2 tsps. of water
  • Icing (optional)
  • 350g royal icing sugar
  • Approx. three tbsp water

Method

  1. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Add the cubed butter and rub in until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the caster sugar
  2. Make a well in the centre and drop in the egg yolk. Add ¼ teaspoon of vanilla extract and a teaspoon of water. Bring the mixture together with your hands to form a soft dough, add in a little more water if needed. Cover and chill for 30 minutes
  3. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the dough until it is about 5mm thick. Cut out as many shapes as you can using a biscuit cutter and place them on a lightly greased baking tray
  4. Gather the excess dough, re-roll and cut out more biscuits until there is no dough left. Chill for 20 minutes
  5. Preheat the oven to 190℃ /170℃ fan/gas mark 5. Bake for 10-12 minutes until pale golden
  6. Allow to cool on the baking tray for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely
  7. Decorate the biscuits
  8. Sift the icing sugar into a small bowl and add water. Mix until smooth and add to the biscuits
  9. As an alternative, you could switch out the icing sugar for jam, peanut butter or other spreads!