Ingredients

Step by step

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C, fan 170°C, gas 5 and line two large baking trays with baking paper.

2. Use an electric hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment to cream together the softened butter and sugar for about 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the plain flour and mix briefly until just combined.

3. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until about 0.5cm-thick. Use a 7-8cm plain round biscuit cutter to stamp out circles from the dough – you should get about 24 circles, re-rolling as necessary.

4. Transfer the biscuits to the lined trays, then bake for 8-10 minutes (in batches, if necessary) until still pale and slightly golden at the edges. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes on the trays, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

5. While your biscuits are cooling, make the icing. Sift the icing sugar into a large mixing bowl, then very slowly beat in the milk – you may not need it all. Mix until you have a smooth, thick icing. The icing should be really quite thick to stop it running off the sides of the biscuits.

6. Once the biscuits have cooled, ice 12 of them with the icing. For a very neat result, pop the icing into a piping bag and pipe a circle of icing around the edges of the biscuits. Fill the centres with a slightly looser icing by adding 5-10ml more milk to your icing. Alternatively, use the back of a spoon to spread the icing into a circle. Top each with a Jelly Tot or glacé cherry half while the icing is still wet.

7. Dollop a heaped teaspoon of jam onto the base of one of the uniced biscuits, spreading it out a little but not right to the edge, then carefully sandwich one of the iced biscuits on top. Repeat with the remaining biscuits, then leave to set before serving.