Easter bonnet biscuits

Makes 12

300g plain flour, plus extra for dusting 60g caster sugar 175g chilled unsalted butter, cubed, plus extra for greasing 100ml double cream 370g icing sugar, plus 1 tsp to fix flowers 1 tsp vanilla bean paste ½ tsp red food colouring ½ tsp yellow food colouring 12 yellow and white violas 20 x 30cm oven tin 7cm circular cookie cutter 11in (28cm) each of thin yellow, white and pink ribbon Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas mark 3 and grease and line the oven tin. In a large bowl, mix together the flour and caster sugar, then add the butter. Rub the butter into the mixture with the fingertips until fully integrated. Squeeze the mixture together by hand until it becomes moist and bring together into a dough. This will take approximately 5 mins. On a surface lightly dusted with flour, roll out the dough to approximately ½cm thick. Using the cookie cutter, cut 12 circles, discard the remaining dough, then place the circles on the prepared tray. Bake for 15-20 mins until a light golden colour. Allow to cool. In a large bowl, whisk the cream with an electric whisk for 2-3 mins until thick. Whisk in 70g of the icing sugar and the vanilla paste, then transfer to a piping bag fitted with a large smooth nozzle. Pipe approximately 1 tbsp into the middle of each biscuit to make a hat shape. Chill the biscuits for 15 mins. Place the remaining icing sugar into a mixing bowl and add 55ml of water to make a smooth paste-like icing. Transfer half of the icing to a clean bowl and add the red food colouring, then add yellow colouring to the other half. Stir thoroughly to obtain consistent colours. Place the cooled biscuits on a sheet of baking paper. Spoon 1 tbsp of pink icing each on the top of half of the hats and allow to cover the entire biscuit. Ice the other half of the biscuits with the yellow icing. Allow to dry, uncovered, for 2-3 hrs. Once the hats are dry, cut four lengths of each ribbon, dip them briefly in cold water and tie around the hats. Mix the 1 tsp of icing sugar with a drop of water and dab on the back of the flowers to fix them to the hats. Leave to dry for 10 mins before serving.