Bluey biscuits

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150C/170C Fan/Gas 2. Line two large baking trays with non-stick baking paper.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy – I prefer to use an electric hand whisk for this part, but you can do it by hand. Add in the beaten egg and vanilla extract and briefly mix until combined.

3. Next, add the flour and xanthan gum. Mix until all the flour is combined and it starts to come together as a dough.

4. Lightly flour a large sheet of non-stick baking paper and a rolling pin. Roll out the dough to a 6mm/¼in thickness.

5. Cut out the shapes carefully using the template (link in the recipe introduction) and a small sharp knife. Transfer the shapes to your prepared trays, ideally using a large palette knife.

6. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the edges are very, very slightly golden.

7. Allow the cookies to cool briefly on the tray before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

8. To decorate the biscuits, first make the royal icing. Put the royal icing sugar in a large mixing bowl and gradually mix in 70ml/2¼fl oz water using an electric hand mixer. Start slow and then build up speed until it's thick, glossy and smooth.

9. Divide the icing between five small bowls – with two bowls containing less than the others (as you will need less of the black and yellow icing). Once divided into bowls, colour the icing by adding small dollops of the food colouring gel and mixing well. Use the gel colours to tint the icing in the smaller bowls black and yellow. Tint the icing in two of the remaining bowls to make light blue and navy blue. Keep one bowl of icing white.

10. Grab five more small bowls and transfer a small amount of each icing into each of the new empty bowls – so that you now have two bowls of each colour. Transfer about a third of the light blue and navy blue colours to the new bowls, but transfer only around a quarter of the yellow, black and white.

11. Set the smaller bowls of icing aside and cover with a tea towel. Add a smidge of water to the larger bowls of icing and mix in well – just to make it a bit looser, smoother and more free-flowing but absolutely in no way watery! To the blue and navy blue bowls I added around around half a teaspoon, to the other colours, add even less unless it’s still particularly stiff after mixing in.

12. Transfer all of the bowls of icing into ten separate piping bags labelling them as you go. Label the ones that have water added with their colour as well as the phrase ‘FLOOD ICING’. Label the ones without water added with their colour as ‘LINE ICING’. When you’re ready to decorate, snip off a tiny bit at the end of the piping bags (you want an opening of around 2–3mm).

13. To decorate, use the yellow line icing to pipe a circle onto the biscuits and small triangles for ears (see the photo or video for direction and sizing). Allow them to dry for 5 minutes before using the yellow flood icing to fill the circle and triangles. Use a small toothpick to drag the icing to the lines. Allow to dry for 15–20 minutes or place into an oven at 50C for 5 minutes.

14. Using the white line icing, draw on the shape of the eyes. Use the light blue line icing for outline of the eyebrows. Wait 5 minutes, then flood the eyes with the white flood icing and the eyebrows with the light blue flood icing. Allow to dry for 15–20 minutes or place into an oven at 50C for 5 minutes.

15. Using the navy blue line icing, draw an outline on both sides of Bluey’s face. Allow them to dry for 5 minutes before using the navy blue flood icing to fill the shape. Allow to dry for 15–20 minutes or place into an oven at 50C for 5 minutes.

16. Using the light blue line icing, draw an outline around the bottom of the biscuit and a small line at the very top of the biscuit that bridges both navy sections. Allow them to dry for 5 minutes before using the light blue flood icing to fill the shapes. Allow to dry for 15–20 minutes or place into an oven at 50C for 5 minutes.

17. Using the black line icing, draw on the pupils, nose and smile. Allow them to dry for 5 minutes before using the black flood icing to fill the shapes. Allow to dry for 15–20 minutes or place into an oven at 50C for 5 minutes. Your biscuits are now finished – enjoy!