Strawberry Biscuits

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and the vanilla bean paste and mix well. Sift in the flour and thoroughly mix to a dough.

Wrap the dough in cling film and chill in the fridge for half an hour. Once the dough is nicely chilled it will be much easier to cut out perfect cookies.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan 160°C, gas mark 4). Roll out the dough approximately 4mm thick.

 

Cut out the cookies using a heart shaped cutter and place on a greased or lined baking sheet, chill again for a further 15 minutes or until they are completely hard again. The chilling stops the cookies from spreading and will help them keep their shape. Keep re-rolling the scraps and chilling again

Bake in the oven for approximately 12 minutes until the cookies are golden brown on the edges. Baking times will vary depending on the size of cutter.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a couple of minutes on the tray before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Mix together the icing sugar and water. Once cooled use your heart shaped cutter to cut out red sugar paste and stick to the biscuits using icing sugar mix.

Use the cutter to cut out green sugar paste and use a knife to cut the strawberry stalk shape. Brush lightly with water and stick on top of the red sugar paste. Decorate using white designer icing to create a seed effect.