Stained glass stars

A box of these pretty stars, threaded with ribbon, makes a fabulous festive gift.

Hands-on time 30min, plus chilling and cooling. Cooking time about 15min. Makes about 20

✺ 150g unsalted butter, softened ✺ 75g caster sugar ✺ 1tsp vanilla extract ✺ 200g plain flour, plus extra to dust ✺ About 10 coloured boiled sweets

1 In a large bowl, mix butter and sugar with a wooden spoon until soft and combined. Beat in the vanilla, then stir in the flour until the mixture comes together. Shape dough into a disc, wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30min.

2 Meanwhile, separate sweets into their different colours and put each colour into a plastic food bag. Bash sweets in the bags with a rolling pin to break into small pieces.

3 Line 2 large baking sheets with baking parchment. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 3mm thick and stamp out 10cm stars, or other Christmas shapes. Arrange stars on prepared baking sheets. Use a 5cm star cutter, or similar, to stamp out the centre of each larger star. Reroll trimmings to make more biscuits.

4 Spoon ½tsp crushed sweets into the middle of each biscuit. If you plan to hang the biscuits up, use a skewer to make a hole at the top of each. Chill for 15min.

5 Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan) mark 4. Bake biscuits for 12-15min until lightly golden and sweets have melted. Remove from oven and use a skewer to reopen holes if they’ve closed. Cool completely on sheets.

6 To hang, thread a thin ribbon or twine through holes and knot into a loop.

PER BISCUIT 115cals, 1g protein, 6g fat (4g saturates), 13g carbs (6g total sugars), <1g fibre

TO STORE Keep cooled biscuits in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. Biscuits will soften over time if hanging.