Christmas pinwheel biscuits

Use dairy-free margarine and vegan colouring gels to make these suitable for vegans.

■ Makes 14-16 ■ Prep 35 mins plus overnight chilling (or 1 hr freezing) and cooling

■ Cook 14 mins unbaked

200g butter or dairy-free margarine

100g caster sugar

2 tbsp vanilla bean paste

300g plain flour, plus extra for dusting red and green food colouring gels

1 Beat the butter or margarine, sugar and vanilla using an electric whisk until pale and smooth, then mix in the flour until you have a smooth dough. Bring together with your hands, then cut into three equal pieces (about 200g each). Wrap one piece and set aside, then colour the second piece red by mixing in a drop of food colouring gel, then make the third piece green. Separately wrap, then chill all the doughs for 30 mins.

2 Roll out the plain dough between two sheets of baking parchment to 30 x 20cm rectangle. Repeat with the coloured doughs. 3 Lift the plain dough rectangle over the red, then the green dough over the plain, peeling away the parchment as necessary to create a triple stack of dough layers. Put a clean sheet of baking parchment on top, then lightly roll to help the layers stick together.

4 Peel away the top sheet of parchment, then use the sheet underneath to roll the dough from the longest side to make a log. Wrap tightly and chill overnight, or freeze for 1 hr.

5 Heat the oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3 and line two baking trays with baking parchment. Slice the chilled dough into 2cm rounds. Place on the prepared baking trays with space between each and bake for 12-14 mins. Cool completely on wire racks. Will keep in an airtight container for up to three days.

PER SERVING (16) 104 kcals, fat 1g, saturates none,

carbs 22g, sugars 7g, fibre 1g, protein 2g, salt 0.2g