Merry Christmas cookie letters recipe

1. Preheat the oven to gas 4, 180°C, fan 160°C. Grease and line 2 baking trays with nonstick baking paper. Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl, then beat in the egg and vanilla. Sift in the flour and stir until combined, then tip out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead gently to form a soft dough.
2. Divide the mixture into three. Knead a few drops of red colouring into one and green colouring into another, leaving the remaining one plain.
3. You should have enough dough to make 2 sets of 'Merry Christmas'. Start by taking 8 walnut-sized balls (in any colours you like) and lightly rolling each into a roughly 6cm circle. Using cookie cutters, stamp out a few of the letters from each piece, keeping the circle. Add the letter back to the dough to use again.
4. Roll out the remaining dough and cut out the rest of the letters in a random colour selection to complete the phrase 'Merry Christmas' twice. Transfer all the letters to the trays; bake the individual letters on 1 tray for 6-7 mins and the circles on the other for 10-12 mins. Gently press on the sprinkles, if using.
5. Allow to cool on the tray for 5 mins, then transfer to a cooling rack. Layer each set of letters into a glass jar and decorate with ribbon. Eat within a week.

Tip: Drop a couple of sugar cubes into the jars with the cookies to keep them crisp.

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