Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F and line a couple of baking sheets with baking paper.

Whisk together the butter, peanut butter and both sugars in a bowl until smooth and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and egg and mix again until smooth. Sift the flour and gradually add it to the dough in about three stages until you can combine the mixture to form a cookie dough.

Scoop a tablespoon of the dough into your hands and form rough balls (each ball should be about 30g/1oz). Roll each ball in a little extra granulated sugar and place on the prepared baking sheets, around 5cm (2in) apart. Bake for around 12 minutes until the cookies have spread a little but still have a domed appearance, and are beginning to crack and turn golden around the base. As soon as they come out of the oven, press a chocolate button or candy kiss into the centre of each one. Allow to cool on the baking sheets for a couple of minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Decorate the cookies when they are cold. Use white and black line icing (see instructions below) to add googly eyes and a cheeky mouth and red line icing for the nose. To make the antlers, you can pipe them on a piece of baking paper laid over a template (Biscuiteers’ template available via the QR code on page 9 of An Iced Christmas) in brown line icing and let them set before peeling off and sticking into each biscuit. Alternatively, you can decorate with edible googly eyes, red sweets for the nose and chocolate-dipped pretzels for the antlers.

To make the icing:

Make one quantity of Royal Icing: For the powdered egg recipe, sift together your egg white powder and icing sugar into a bowl and then add 100ml (3 1/2fl oz) of your water. Start to whisk slowly so you don’t cover your kitchen in icing sugar! After a minute or so it will begin to come together and then you can add the rest of the water. For the best results, use a handheld electric whisk and mix it for about 5 minutes. You are looking for stiff peaks that hold their shape.

For the fresh egg white recipe, we recommend using a stand mixer or a handheld electric whisk. Place your egg whites into the mixer or into a mixing bowl, mix on a low speed, and after about a minute once they have started to go a bit frothy, slowly start to add your sifted icing sugar. Once it has come together, increase to a medium speed and continue to mix for 5–10 minutes. You are looking for stiff peaks that hold their shape.

Now you have made your royal icing, you are ready to start making your line icing. Line icing is what you will use to detail your biscuit creations. You don’t need to change the consistency of the royal icing to make the line icing. Simply look at how many colour variations you need and divide up the icing into clean dry bowls to colour. It’s always a good idea to leave a little bit spare just in case you need it! At Biscuiteers, we look for the consistency of toothpaste!