Grease 2 large baking sheets with a thin layer of butter. Preheat your oven to 200C / 180C fan / gas mark 6 / 400F.

Place the flour and cocoa in a large mixing bowl and mix together thoroughly (you can sieve it if you like, but I never bother)

Add the cubes of cold butter, then rub the butter and flour/cocoa mixture between your fingers (as if you are trying to rub the flour/cocoa into the butter) until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Add the sugar and stir in thoroughly to combine. Then add the beaten egg and stir again. Gradually the mixture should start to come together as a dough.

As soon as your biscuit mixture starts coming together, use your hands to squish it together into a ball. (If it doesn’t all stick together, add a tiny bit of water to help it come together. Don’t add too much, though!)

Sprinkle your work surface with a little flour and pop your ball of biscuit dough on top. Sprinkle some more flour on top of your dough, then roll out the biscuit dough to a thickness of about 5mm / ¼inch (it doesn’t have to be perfect – no need to get your ruler out!)

Using a selection of Christmas themed cutters, cut out your Christmas shapes and gently lay them on the prepared baking tray. Be sure to spread them out a bit as they will grow a little in the oven.

When you have got as many stars out of the biscuit dough as possible, squish the mixture back together, shape into a ball again and then roll out again. You should find you can get a few more stars out of the re-rolled dough. Keep squishing and rerolling until you have run out of biscuit dough.

Put the biscuits in your preheated oven for 5-10 minutes, until the biscuits are just a tiny little bit darker round the edges. Start checking after 5 minutes and if in doubt get them out! They can always be popped back in if they are not done enough.

When your biscuits are cooked, place them on a wire rack to cool. While they are still warm dust lightly with icing sugar.

They can be eaten warm or cold. When they are completely cool they can be stored in a biscuit tin or other airtight container, where they will keep for about a week.