Preheat the oven to 160°C. Cream the butter, caster sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Add the egg and beat in thoroughly. Slowly add the fl our and mix in as much as you can with a wooden spoon. You will need to use your hands to bring it into a smooth dough. Cover with cling fi lm and allow to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Divide the dough in half and carefully roll out to about 2cm thick. Using your favourite cookie cutters, cut out cookie shapes with the cookie cutter of your choice. Using a skewer, make holes at the top of each cookie so that you can thread some cotton through it after baking.
Make sure the hole is large enough so that it doesn’t close while baking. Place the cookies onto a lined baking tray. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly golden. Once cooled, thread with red cotton or ribbon and decorate your Christmas tree.
To give these as a gift: Place all the individual components required to make these in a large glass jar, including the flour mix, caster sugar, recipe, skewer, red cotton, cookie cutters and of course the recipe! Tie with a beautiful ribbon.
