Love Heart Cookies

Preheat oven to 180°C (fan forced). Line two cookie trays with baking paper.

In an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the egg, vanilla, salt and flour. Mix on low until combined. Gently knead dough together, and form a soft ball. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Roll dough between two sheets of baking paper, until about 5mm thick. Cut with heart shaped cookie cutters, then place on prepared trays. Any leftover dough can be re-rolled and cut – if dough gets too sticky, place it in the fridge for 10-15 minutes. Bake for 12-16 minutes, until the edges start to go golden brown. Allow to cool fully before decorating.

To decorate, prepare Royal Icing as per packet instructions. Separate icing into two bowls - 2/3 in one bowl and 1/3 in another. For the larger bowl of icing, tint icing with Rose Pink Colour and mix well. Add a little water half a teaspoon at a time to achieve flooding consistency (a toothpick mark dragged through the icing will disappear after approx. 15 seconds). Spread over entire surface of biscuits and allow to dry fully (2 hours). Tint remaining icing using Red Food Colour Gel, ensuring consistency is thick enough to pipe. Cover bowl with cling wrap until first layer of icing is dry.

Once pink iced biscuits are dry, transfer thicker red icing to a piping bag and pipe a cross pattern over the hearts. Finish decorating by placing soft sugar pearls or piped white icing in between the red icing pattern and allow to dry overnight in cool, dry conditions. Do not refrigerate biscuits.