Ingredients
125 g unsalted butter, chopped, at room temperature
⅓ cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups plain flour
¼ tsp baking powder
1 small packet strawberry laces
1 packet candy-coated milk chocolate pieces, such as M&M's, to decorate (see notes, below)
Icing
2 cups pure icing sugar, sifted
2 tbsp water
blue food colouring gel, to tint
pink food colouring gel, to tint
orange food colouring gel, to tint
Method
- Beat butter, sugar and vanilla in a small bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add combined sifted flour and baking powder. Mix well.
- Turn out onto a lightly floured bench. Bring together to form a soft dough. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, or until firm.
- Roll out between two sheets of baking paper until ½ cm thick.
- Using a 6 1/2 cm flower cookie cutter, cut out 18 shapes, re-rolling dough as necessary. Arrange 2cm apart on two oven trays lined with baking paper.
- Cook in a moderately slow oven (160C), swapping trays halfway through, for about 12 minutes, or until light golden. Remove. Cool on trays.
- To make icing, stir icing sugar and water together in a bowl until smooth. Divide among three small bowls. Tint each bowl with a different colouring.
- To decorate, cut sweet laces into 4cm lengths. One at a time, spread 2 tsp of blue icing over six biscuits. Decorate with blue M&M’s for eyes and sweet laces for mouths. Repeat with remaining biscuits, icings, M&M’s and sweet laces.
