Instructions

1. For the biscuits, cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until just becoming creamy in texture. Do not over mix otherwise too much air will be incorporated which will cause your biscuits to spread too much while baking.
2. Beat in the egg and vanilla just until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl to make sure it is thoroughly mixed in. Add the flour and salt and mix on low until a non-sticky dough forms.
3. Tip the dough out onto a clean surface and knead into a ball. Flatten into a thick disc then wrap well in clingfilm. Chill for at least 2 hours. Once dough is chilled, discard clingfilm and place dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll out to about 6mm/¼ inch thick, flouring as needed to keep dough from sticking.
4. Cut cookies out with an 8cm (3 inch) round cookie cutter and arrange each on a non-stick baking sheet, or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Arrange them with 2-3cm space between them. Re-roll scraps and cut out more cookies until all the dough has been used.
5. Refrigerate or freeze baking sheets with unbaked cookies between 30 minutes to 1 hour. Meanwhile, pre-heat oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4.
6. Remove chilled biscuits from the fridge or freezer and immediately place in the oven. If only able to bake 2 sheets at a time, leave other cookies chilling while you bake the first batch. Bake for 8-15 minutes, just until biscuits are golden around the edges. Remove from oven and leave biscuits to cool completely on a cooling rack.
7. To decorate, follow the instructions on the packaging of the royal icing mix but only add enough liquid so that it is a spreadable consistency that will spread slightly but won’t completely run off the cookie.
8. Spread the royal icing on to each cooled biscuit and keep the leftover royal icing for decorating. Top each cookie with a white marshmallow off-centre then add three coloured chocolate buttons in a line. Leave cookies aside to allow the royal icing to dry, at least an hour.
9. Once icing has dried, colour the leftover royal icing orange. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a very small plain piping tip, or even into the corner of a freezer bag then snip off the very tip, and pipe a long triangle on to each marshmallow to make the carrot nose.
10. Empty remaining orange icing into a small bowl and add black food colouring. Again, spoon into a piping bag with a very small tip, or a freezer bag with just the very tip trimmed, and then use the black icing to pipe on the eyes, mouth and arms of the snowman.
11. Leave to dry before storing.
12. Will keep for 2-3 weeks in an airtight container at room temperature.