Makes About 15
Preparation Time 2 hours, plus refrigeration and setting time
Baking Time 10 to 12 minutes
Oven Temperature 170oC

• 130ml (120g) butter
• 80ml (70g) castor sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 5ml vanilla essence
• 180g (330ml) cake flour
• 3 large egg whites
• 20ml lemon juice
• about 865ml (450g) icing sugar, sifted
• 10ml glycerine
• food colouring

1 Biscuits Beat the butter and sugar together until light. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla. Stir in the flour to form a soft dough. Cover and chill for 1 hour.
2 Roll out between plastic wrap. Chill to harden. Cut into 6 x 6cm squares. Place on a lined baking tray and bake in a preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove and cool on wire racks.
3 Icing Whisk the egg whites and lemon juice until frothy. Stir in enough icing sugar for the mixture to drop slowly off the spoon. Stir in the glycerine.
4 Divide into 4 or 5 parts. Keep one batch white and colour the rest in different bright colours. Cover with plastic and chill until ready to use. Gradually stir more icing sugar into the white batch until thick but still able to be piped. Use a paper piping bag to pipe white patterns onto the biscuits. Leave to harden for 1 hour. Use small plastic piping bags to fill in the patterns with coloured icing. Leave to harden.

Text and image: Ideas