*Preheat your oven to 150°C / 300°F / Gas Mark 2

6 oz / 175g Plain flour
4 oz / 100g Unsalted butter (or Margarine)
2 oz / 75g Sugar

1. Put the butter and sugar in to a bowl and mix them together until they look pale and creamy.

2. Sieve the flour in to the butter and sugar mix … don’t worry if you don’t have a sieve, it’s not the end of the world.

3. Stir the flour in to the butter and sugar mix then get your hands in there and knead the mixture together to make a ball.

4. If the biscuit dough is too sticky sprinkle a little flour on to it and knead it again.

5. Roll out the dough on a surface that’s lightly sprinkled with four … adding too much extra flour will make the biscuits dry and difficult to work with so take care here … ideally the rolled out biscuit dough should be about 1/2 cm / 5mm thick but don’t stress too much about this. As long as the biscuits are roughly the same thickness they will take about the same time to cook.

6. Use cookie cutters to create shaped biscuits or simple round scone cutters if you prefer. Don’t worry if you don’t have any cutters just use a knife and cut them in to squares.

7. Lightly grease a baking tray using a little butter or margarine and put the biscuit dough shapes on to it then put the tray in the pre heated oven.

8. Cook the biscuits for 20 to 30 minutes on the centre shelf of the oven. The time will depend on your oven. Keep and eye on the biscuits and take them out when they are golden brown.

9. Once the biscuits are cool you can ice them and decorate them as you wish.

Caster sugar is best for this recipe as it is finer but don’t worry you can use your usual bag of sugar if you don’t have caster.

Water icing is very simple to make just take a few tablespoons of icing sugar and gradually mix in a little cold water until you get the consistency you require. Remember if you are going to add food colouring you only need a tiny drop. Add the colouring before you mix in the water.