PINÑATA BISCUITS

PREP + COOK TIME 1 HOUR (+ REFRIGERATION & STANDING) MAKES 8 PIÑATA STACKS

You need a 7cm and a 5cm star-shaped cutter, plus a paper piping bag (see right). 250g butter, softened

½ cup (110g) caster sugar 2½ cups (375g) plain flour pink, green, yellow and

blue food colouring

¼ cup (55g) baby M&M’s ¼ cup (60g) small jelly beans

ROYAL ICING

1½ cups (240g) pure icing sugar 1 egg white

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan. Grease two oven trays; line with baking paper.

2 Beat butter and sugar in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until pale and creamy. Stir in sifted flour until a firm dough forms; gently knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Divide dough into four equal portions; tint pink, green, yellow and blue. Flatten each portion into a disc; wrap separately in plastic wrap, refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm. 3 Roll one dough portion between sheets of baking paper until 3mm thick. Using the 7cm cutter, cut out 10 stars (re-roll dough scraps if necessary). Using the 5cm cutter, cut a star from the centre of six stars; you don’t need the small cut-out stars.

4 Place whole stars and hollow stars on separate oven trays. Bake hollow stars for 7 minutes and whole stars for 10 minutes or until a biscuit can be pushed gently on the tray without breaking. Cool on trays.

5 Meanwhile, roll and cut stars, as above, from remaining coloured dough portions. 6 Make royal icing. Three-quarters fill a paper piping bag with royal icing; cut a small hole from the tip of the bag.

7 To assemble piñatas (use alternating colours for a pretty effect), place a whole biscuit on the work surface. Pipe icing around the edge of the star; top with a hollow star; pipe the icing around the edge of the hollow star, and top with another hollow star. Repeat and top with another hollow star; stand until set. Fill the cavity with combined M&M’s and jelly beans. Pipe icing around the edge and top with a whole biscuit to enclose the lollies. Continue layering until all biscuits are used. Stand biscuits for 1 hour to set. ROYAL ICING

Sift the icing sugar through a fine sieve. Lightly beat the egg white in a small bowl with an electric mixer until mixture is just broken up – don’t whip it into peaks. Beat in the icing sugar, a tablespoon at a time, to get the required consistency. When the icing reaches the right consistency, stir in the juice.

HOW TO MAKE A PAPER PIPING BAG A Cut a square of baking paper in half to form a triangle. Hold apex of triangle away from you; wrap one point around to form a cone, wrap the other point round to line up.

B Wriggle the points of the triangle until they line up perfectly. Staple the bag to secure the points in place. No hole should be visible at the base.