Ingredients

Step by step

1. Sift the flour into a large bowl and add a pinch of salt. Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the light brown sugar, egg yolk and vanilla and continue to rub the ingredients together until fully incorporated. Bring together into a ball then roll out the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper until 3-5mm thick. Chill for 30 minutes or until firm.
2. Line 2 trays with baking paper. Cut out stars from the dough using cutters (about 11cm across). Re-roll any offcuts. Transfer to the lined trays. Mix the egg white with 1 tablespoon of cold water; brush onto the stars. Sprinkle with demerara sugar, and chill for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6.
3. Bake the stars for 12-14 minutes until golden and a sandy consistency. Leave to firm up for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
4. To decorate, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and gradually stir in 2 tablespoons of water until you have a fairly thick but pipeable consistency. Divide the icing between two bowls and tint one to your chosen shade.
5. Transfer some of each icing into a piping bag fitted with a fine plain nozzle. Pipe either straight lines or dots around the edge of the biscuits, adding gold sugar sprinkles while the icing is still wet. For the fully-iced biscuits, slightly thin down the icing that's left in the bowls with a little water, then spoon into the line-edged biscuits, to flood them. When dry, pipe contrasting coloured names in the centre of each star and add any other decorative touches that you want. Leave to set.