Christmas butter cookies

Heat your oven to 180ºC/ 160ºC fan.

Using a hand-held mixer or a food processor beat together the butter and sugar until smooth.

Whisk in the egg yolk and vanilla paste, then finally the flour to make a dough. If it’s a little sticky add a little more flour.

Remove the dough and roll out on a floured work surface to about ½ cm in thickness.

Using assorted cookie cutters, cut out the dough and place onto a lined baking tray. Reroll the off-cuts and repeat until all the dough is used up. Place the biscuits in the fridge for 30 minutes or until firm.

Bake on the middle shelf for 8-12 minutes or until just coloured on the edges. Remove the biscuits from the oven and cool on a wire rack before decorating with icing.

To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and stir in 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, adding more if needed to make a thick paste.

Decorate the biscuits and leave on a wire rack for the icing to set. If you want to use them as Christmas decorations, skewer a hole in the top of each biscuit just before baking and thread through ribbon or string, once cooked.