Cobweb cookies

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC, fan 160ºC, gas mark 4. Put the margarine, sugar, flour, mixed spice and semolina into a food processor and pulse until it resembles fine crumbs. Add 1 tbsp cold water and pulse until it comes together. Add a little more water if necessary.
2. Put a sheet of baking parchment onto a clean surface and empty the dough onto it. Knead very lightly to bring together until smooth, then roll out to the thickness of a £1 coin. Using a 7cm crinkle cutter, stamp out 16 cookies. You may need to re-roll the dough. Transfer to a large baking tray and chill for 30 minutes.
3. Bake the cookies for 25-30 minutes until lightly golden. Leave to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack, then leave to go cold.
4. When the biscuits are cold, put the icing sugar into a bowl and add 11/2 tbsp cold water. With an electric whisk, whisk until the mixture is smooth and stands in soft peaks. (Add a couple more drops of water if needed).
5. Set aside a quarter of the icing mixture in another bowl. To this, beat in a few drops of black food colouring to dye the mixture. Use the remaining undyed icing to cover the top of each biscuit, smoothing it with a knife. Put the black icing into a piping bag with a fine nozzle and draw spiders onto the cookies. Or, to make cobwebs, pipe circles onto the biscuits, then, using a cocktail stick, draw from the centre circle outwards all the way round. It is best to do this in batches so that the icing doesn’t set before you have a chance to decorate.