Sadie Smith is an award winning cake designer and baker from Cake by Sadie Smith, Wimborne

Christmas Cookies These cookies are the perfect bake for any skill level, some icing and sprinkles is all the decoration you need or if you feel up to the challenge you can pipe royal icing details on them. I always have a tin of these cookies in at Christmas as they are the perfect treat for the kids or any surprise visitors. Makes approximately 12 but depends on the size of cutters you use. Ingredients for the cookies 175g plain flour 110g soft salted butter 75g sugar 1 level teaspoon of mixed spice For glace icing – which is perfect for topping with sprinkles 250g icing sugar Water For royal icing – the easiest way by far is to buy ready to use tubes of coloured icing or a tub of ready-made royal icing from the supermarket, you may need to water it down slightly. If you’d like to make your own 3 egg whites 600g icing sugar 1 tsp liquid glucose 1 tsp lemon juice Method Preheat oven to 180c Place the flour, mixed spice, sugar, and butter in a bowl, mix well until a dough is formed, add a few drops of milk if needed Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for 30 minutes Roll out to 5mm thick and using Christmas cookie cutters stamp out required shapes Place on a non-stick baking tray and bake for 8-10 minutes Leave on the tray to cool for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire cooling rack Once cool, make your chosen icing and have fun decorating as you like Method for Glace Icing Add a few drops of water at a time until the icing is smooth but not too runny. If it is too runny add a little more icing sugar until you get the consistency you want Method for Royal icing (if making your own) Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks Add the icing sugar a bit at a time, whisking until fully incorporated Add the glucose and lemon juice Continue to whisk until the icing is at the consistency you need. Stiff peaks for spreading on the cookies, firmer peaks for piping and a softer/runnier consistency for flooding icing. If you would like coloured icing, add a tiny bit of food colouring to the icing, edible gel colours are best. These cookies will keep in an airtight tin for a couple of weeks so can be made in advance