GLAZED COOKIES

30 MINUTES

250g butter, softened

1 cup (160g) icing sugar

2½ cups (375g) plain flour cachous, sprinkles, hundreds and

thousands, to decorate

GLAZE ICING

2¼ cups (360g) icing sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice, approximately

blue food colouring

1 Beat butter and sifted icing sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

2 Stir flour, in two batches, into butter mixture. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Divide dough in half; cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm.

3 Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180°C⁄160°C fan. Grease and line two large oven trays with baking paper.

4 Roll dough between two sheets of baking paper until 1cm thick. Using round, heart and star cutters, cut out shapes from dough. Carefully place on trays 2cm apart. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm. Repeat with remaining dough, rolling and rerolling as necessary.

5 Bake for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on trays for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

6 GLAZE ICING To make glaze icing, sift icing sugar into a large bowl. Stir in enough juice to achieve desired consistency. Divide icing between two bowls; tint one with blue colouring and leave the other white.

7 Decorate cookies by piping, spreading or drizzling with glaze icing; sprinkle with cachous, sprinkles and hundreds and thousands.