A creative treat to say ‘I love you’. Perfect as a Mother’s Day treat for your loved ones.
Makes: 25
Prep & Cook: 1 hour, 30 mins
Ingredients
- 250g cold unsalted butter, chopped
- ½ cup pure icing sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla bean paste
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 3 cups plain flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
TO DECORATE
- 1kg packet ready-to-roll white icing
- 1½ tblsps liquid glucose
- Pink liquid food colouring
- Rose spirit liquid (see Tip)
- Art paintbrush and edible gold star accents, to decorate
Method
1. Grease and line two large oven trays with baking paper.
2. To make dough, place butter, sugar and vanilla in a food processor. Process, scraping down side of bowl, until combined. Add egg. Process until combined. Add flour and baking powder. Pulse to form a soft dough.
3. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured bench. Knead until smooth. Divide in half. Shape into discs. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4. One at a time, roll out each disc between two sheets of baking paper to about ½cm thickness. Using an 8cm heart-shaped cutter, cut out shapes, re-rolling dough until it is used. Place 2cm apart, on prepared oven trays.
5. Cook in a moderately slow ovTIPen (160C) for about 15 minutes, or until light golden. Remove. Cool biscuits on trays completely.
6. To decorate, knead half the icing on a clean bench until smooth. Roll out icing between two sheets of baking paper until 3mm thick. Heat the glucose until runny.
7. One biscuit at a time, brush top lightly with glucose. Using same heart-shaped cutter, cut out heart of icing. Lift and press onto biscuit. Repeat with rest of biscuits, glucose and icing.
8. Add a few drops of pink colouring to 1 tblsp rose spirit liquid in a small bowl. One at a time, brush onto icing using paintbrush. Decorate with stars. Stand at room temperature until colouring is dry and icing is firm.
TIP: If dough becomes too soft, refrigerate until firm enough to roll. Rose spirit liquid and gold stars are available from cake-decorating stores. As the spirit liquid evaporates quickly, add extra to bowl of colouring as required. You can replace the spirit with vodka.
