Cranberry and Pistachios Shortbread

• Line your baking sheet with greaseproof (parchment) paper.
• If using a hand mixer affix the beaters, if using a stand mixer affix the paddle attachment. Beat your softened butter a few times to ensure it is adequately soft, if it no longer sticks around the beater/paddle attachment then it is ready.
• Tip in your sifted icing sugar and beat until smooth, starting on a low setting and then moving up to medium-high. Wipe down your bowl intermittently with your spatula to ensure everything is mixed equally.
• Add your rosewater and and beat in.
• Sift your flour and salt together, then add to your beaten butter and sugar mixture and beat on a low setting until it starts to clump together in balls.
• Roll your chopped glace cherries in a little extra flour, so that they do not stick together and then add them your shortbread dough and mix in evenly.
• Bring the dough together into a ball, using you hands.
• Lightly flour your worksurface with a little extra flour and the roll out your shortbread dough into a circle of about 1½ cm in depth.
• Cut out 12 hearts. You will need to roll your dough out twice to do this. Place the hearts on place on your lined baking sheet leaving a gap of at least 1½ inches between each one.
• Refrigerate your shortbread hearts for 45 minutes, you want them cold and hard (or you can put them in the freezer for 20 minutes ).
• Heat your oven to 150°C Fan/170°C/340°F/Gas mark 3.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the rim of the shortbread is just starting to turn golden and the base is also lightly golden. If definition has been lost during baking. use a heart shaped cookie cutter the next size up from the one you used to cut the cookies out and twizzle it over the cookie whilst still hot to reshape it.
• Leave to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes and then remove the cookies to a cooling rack to fully cool before decorating.

Decorating your heart shortbreads

Rosewater Icing

• Sift your icing sugar into a small bowl and then stir in your rosewater flavouring.
• Gradually add your water until you have a fairly thick consistency.
• Mix in a speck of red food colouring to turn the icing light pink.
• Use a teaspoon to gently pour icing over your shortbread heart and then immediately sprinkle over your sprinkles.

Chocolate Topping

• Add your milk chocolate to one of your microwavable bowls and your white chocolate to your other microwavable bowl.
• Microwavable each in bouts of 10-15 seconds, stirring in-between, until fully melted. Be extra careful when melting the white chocolate as it burns easily.
• Take a teaspoon of melted chocolate and spread it over half the top of a shortbread cookie, allowing it to drip down the sides, dip the side of the cookie into the chocolate if any areas are still not covered.
• Place on your cooling rack to allow the chocolate to drip off and immediately and gently sprinkle over your sprinkles.