Christmas Eve cookies

It's odd that on Christmas Eve I found myself rolling out cookie dough, baking and icing it. Obviously ensuring that Father Christmas has freshly baked goodies in the hope that this'll excuse my innate badness!

Christmas Eve cookies

250g unsalaried butter
250g caster sugar
1 egg
750g plain flour
1 tsp vanilla extract

Make sure your butter is really soft. I left it out on the worktop overnight.
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
Beat the egg and add in
Add the vanilla and beat again
Add the flour in thirds beating well to incorporate
Tip what is now dough onto a floured surface and bring together with your hands
Split the dough into 2 portions, wrap each in cling film and put in the fridge for at least half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C
When the dough is chilled. Flour your surface before rolling out. I try to keep the dough in roughly a square by rotating the dough a quarter turn between each roll.
Cut out your shapes, we made stars. Keep bringing the offcuts together and re-rolling until you have no dough left
Cook on baking trays lined with grease proof paper for 13 minutes
Cool on wire trays

Glacé/ water icing

4 dessert spoons icing sugar
Splash water to make a runny paste
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Mix up a runny paste of icing and tip into a saucer
Dip each cookie into the icing so the top is covered and putting it back on the wire rack to dry

To make mine particularly Christmassy, I crushed up candy canes in my pestle and mortar and sprinkled it over the cookies

Christmas perfection. Apparently they'll be being left out for Father Christmas with sherry

Merry Christmas