A great bake to get the kids involved with, or a seriously sweet Valentine treat.

Ingredients

  • 125 g (4 1/2oz) unsalted butter, softened
  • 125 g (4 1/2oz) caster sugar
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 250 g (9oz) plain flour
  • 7.5 ml (1 1/2tp) dr. oetker baking powder (gluten free)
  • dr. oetker cake release spray
  • 1 kg dr. oetker regal-ice ready to roll white icing
  • dr. oetker gel food colours
  • icing sugar for dusting
  • dr. oetker apricot glaze or honey?dr. oetker red writing icing

Method

  1. Spray 3 large baking trays with Cake Release Spray to grease. Put the butter and caster sugar into a bowl and whisk until pale and creamy. Whisk in the egg yolk.
  2. Sieve over the flour and Baking Powder and carefully mix together to make a mixture that resembles a crumble topping. Using your hands, bring the mixture together to form a firm dough. Turn on to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and pliable.
  3. Roll out the dough to a thickness no greater than 1/2cm (1/4inch). Using a 6cm (2 1/2inch) wide heart shaped cutter and a 6cm flower shaped cutter stamp out approx. 40 cookies, re-rolling the dough as necessary.
  4. Arrange on the prepared baking trays, prick lightly with a fork and chill for 30 minutes. Ten minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 180?C (160?C fan oven, 350?F, gas 4).
  5. Bake the cookies for around 10 minutes until firm and lightly golden round the edges. Leave to cool on the baking trays for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
  6. To decorate, divide the white Ready to Roll Icing into 5 equal portions. Keep one portion white. Dust the work surface lightly with icing sugar. Working on each of the other portions one at a time, flatten slightly and drop the desired amount of Gel Food Colours on top.
  7. Fold the icing over the gel to enclose it and carefully knead it into the icing until evenly mixed. Wrap each portion in cling film to prevent it from drying out whilst working on the next colour.
  8. When ready to decorate, roll out each coloured piece of icing. Stamp out a range of different sized hearts and flowers from the different coloured icings and put to one side.
  9. Brush the top of the cookies with Apricot Glaze or honey and layer with the biggest icing heart or flower to match the cookie shape.
  10. Continue to then layer the shaped icing on top to create the layered design using a light brushing of water to secure the icing. Finish the flower cookies by adding a small dot of Red Writing Icing in the centre.