Medal cookies

Method

• step 1

  Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Line 2 baking trays with baking parchment. Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a small saucepan. Mix in the vanilla, remove from the heat and leave to cool for 10 mins.

• step 2

  Sieve the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Pour in the melted butter mixture and the egg, and stir together to form a stiff-ish dough. Pop the dough in the fridge for 10 mins to chill and firm up.

• step 3

  Roll the dough out on a floured surface to 5mm thick, then stamp out 15 circles using a 7.5cm round cookie cutter; you may need to re-roll the trimmings to get 15 cookies. Make a hole at the top of each circle with the end of a pencil.

• step 4

  Place on the baking trays and bake for 12 mins until golden, swapping the trays around halfway through. Cool on a wire rack.

• To decorate your cookies

• step 6

  To decorate, divide the icing into 4 pieces. Dye 3 lumps of icing with your chosen base colours (we used turquoise, coral and yellow).

• step 7

  Roll out the coloured icing to 2mm thick, then use a fluted 7cm cutter to cut out 15 rounds.

• step 8

  Stick these onto the cookies with a little icing sugar mixed with water.

• step 9

  Roll out the remaining icing, brush it with a little water and cut out 12 stars. Dip each star, sticky-side down, into a dish of edible gold glitter, then stick them on top of the cookies.

• step 10

  Use number cutters to stamp out numbers 1, 2 and 3, dip these into the glitter and stick to the final 3 medals. Using icing pens to add a border, if you like.

• step 11

  Leave the cookies to dry, then push a hole through the icing in line with the cookie hole and tie up with ribbon. Will keep for three days in an airtight container.