Vanilla Sugar Cookies

Whisk sifted flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Using a mixer (hand or stand) combine butter and sugar on high speed for 2/3 mins. When no longer grainy scrape down the bowl and add egg and vanilla. Mix on high until well combined. Keep scraping until mixture comes together and is soft. You can use your hands if you feel more comfortable. When mixture comes together and is soft add the dry ingredients (flour, sugar and salt) into wet ingredients a little at a time mixing on low speed. Your batter will turn into dough.

Place dough onto baking paper and cover with another piece of baking paper. Roll it out to the thickness of your choice and then place in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours. The longer you leave the better.

Remove dough from fridge and leave for 2-3 mins for dough to acclimate to room temp. Preheat oven to 170C. Cut and shape cookies and place in oven for 10-11 mins. You may need to rotate halfway through depending on your oven. They're ready when edges are golden. Remove and cool completely.

Royal icing: Using gloves knead the royal icing to soften. Using the toothpick, dab some colour of your choice food colouring (gel) and mix into the icing. Knead until the dye is combined (for marbled effect stop once dye is no longer dark and gel like). Sandwich icing between baking paper and roll into a thin layer (2-3mm). To place on cookie dab both icing and cookies with a little water, this helps a lot.