Halloween Cookies

Preheat the oven to 170°C, (fan 150°C, 325°F, gas mark 3).

Place the plain flour, baking powder and golden caster sugar into a mixing bowl. Add the diced butter and rub together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Make a hollow in the centre of the centre and pour in the beaten egg, golden syrup and vanilla extract. Mix together into a dough.

Halve the dough. To one half add a few drops of black colouring and knead until well distributed. This will give you a murky, sinister look too your dough (ideal for bats, spiders and gravestones).

To the other half add a few drops of red food colouring and a few drops of yellow food colouring. Knead until a light orange colour has been achieved. The colour is ideal for pumpkin lantern cookies.

Place the dough in separate plastic bags and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to 5mm thick and stamp out the cookies using spooky shaped cutters.

If you want to hang your cookies, make a small hole in the dough with a skewer before cooking. Bake the biscuits for 12-15 minutes until lightly coloured and firm. Leave on the tray for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Try using black, red and green writing icing to create scary designs, spider's webs and monster faces on your cookies. Or cover your cookies in coloured ready to roll icing by adding a few drops of food colour to a piece of white ready to roll icing and knead. Roll the icing and cut into a shape using your cookie cutter or template. Try black for bats and witches or red and yellow for pumpkins.