One of my goals for 2015 was to start making my own versions of traditional Griffins biscuits (the ones I grew up eating, and still adore). The theory behind this is that every biscuit ever tastes better when homemade.

First up: Cookie Bear Hundreds and Thousands

Shortbread base

• 250 g butter, at room temperature, and extra for greasing
• 125 g caster sugar
• 250 g plain flour, sifted, and extra for flouring a surface
• 125 g cornflour

Leave butter on the bench for AT LEAST 3 hours to come to room temperature. If your kitchen is cold, put it somewhere warm (a hot water cupboard or the oven turned to the ‘warm’ setting) so it’s soft and squishy.

(I’m aware that most people know what room temperature butter is. I didn’t appreciate until recently how much easier life could be if I made sure it was actually room temperature before trying to use it).

Preheat the oven to 150 °C. Line two oven trays with baking paper and grease it with butter. Just because you can never have too much butter.

Cream butter and sugar together with a wooden spoon, whisk, or electric beater until pale, light, and fluffy. Sift in the plain flour and add the cornflour. Mix very lightly with a wooden spoon and your hands until you have a smooth dough.

Flour a clean bench top or cutting board and transfer the dough onto it. Roll into a somewhat circular log about 4 cm in diameter. Flatten the ends of the logs with your hands. Slice into rounds 1 cm thick and lay on the baking sheets.

Bake in the over for 20-25 minutes. They will be pretty much the same colour coming out as going in, but they’ll be crisp to the touch.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes then shift to a rack to cool completely.

(Adapted from Jamie Oliver’s ‘The best shortbread in the world’)

White chocolate berry icing

• 200 mL full fat cream
• 200 g white chocolate
• 1 tbsp freeze-dried fruit power OR 2 tbsp smooth jam
• 4 tbsp cornflour
• 3 drops red food colouring

Break up the white chocolate. Put the cream in a small pan and heat until it is just simmering. Add the white chocolate and whisk until it melts into the cream. Add the fruit power, cornflour and food colouring and whisk until smooth and completely combined.

At this point the icing is still very liquid. If you want your final icing to be thin, like the one in the photo above, put it in the fridge for an hour. If you want it thick and creamy, put it in the freezer instead.

Note that this produces twice as much icing as you need. I froze it and spread it on random biscuits whenever required.

(Adapted liberally from Annabel Langbein’s chocolate ganache recipe)

Assembly

• Shortbread biscuits
• White chocolate berry icing
• Hundreds and thousands of hundreds and thousands

Spread your cooled shortbread biscuits with your chilled icing. Sprinkle hundreds and thousands over the top. Resist the urge to download Instagram solely to post pictures of these. Eat!