How to Make Advent Biscuits

Ingredients

* 125g (4oz) Butter or Margerine

* 55g (2oz) Caster Sugar

* 180g (6oz) Plain Flour – Sieved

* Cookie Cutters

To Decorate

* Royal Icing

* Cool Boiled Water

Equipment

* Sieve

* Mixing Bowls

* Cling Film

* Rolling Pin

* Greaseproof Paper

* Baking Tray

* Cooling Rack

* Piping Bags

* No.2 Decorating Tip

* No.1 Decorating Tip

* Decorating Brushes

* Spoon

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas mark 5.

Put your shortbread ingredients in a bowl and combine until it looks like breradcrumbs. Then squeeze together to make a ball of dough. Wrap the shortbread in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out your dough to 1/2cm thick and use the cookie cutters to cut out your biscuit shapes. Place these on top of greaseproof paper on a baking tray and bake for 15-20 mins. Leave to cool completely on a cooling rack before decorating.

To make the runout icing, put 2 tbsp of Royal Icing in a bowl. Add ½ tsp of water at a time until it is a runny consistency and settles to a smooth surface when lifted and dropped off a spoon. Cover the bowl with a clean damp cloth and put to one side. Allow the royal cing to settle so the air bubbles come to the surface.i

Fill a piping bag with the runout icing. Pipe designs as shown in the picture.

Tip: Where required, e.g. the rim of the Christmas hat, start piping at the outline and begin to flood the area within the piped outline until it is completely filled. If the odd airbubble appears pop these as soon as they appear and not longer than 3mins after piping the icing.