Matariki marks the start of the Maori New Year and is a time for celebration and spending time with whanau, loved ones and friends.

To celebrate Matariki why not get the kids to be creative and help make some star shaped biscuits. It’s a great way to get the kids involved by getting creative in the kitchen.

A great biscuit recipe that’s easy to make is shortbread - they make a great base to add plenty of decorations to create amazing stars.

Recipe:

1 ½ cups of plain flour

1/3 cup of caster sugar

½ tsp vanilla essence

150g butter (at room temperature)

Extra caster sugar or icing sugar for dusting

Method:

1. Line a baking tray with baking paper

2. Sift flour into bowl & mix in sugar and vanilla

3. Rub butter into dry ingredients with your fingers (the kids will love this) until the mix resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

4. Using your hands, form dough into a ball and place between 2 sheets of baking paper

5. Roll the dough out until it’s about 2-3 cm thick and cut using a star cookie cutter.

6. Place your shortbread at least 3cm apart on a baking tray.

7. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes at 180, checking regularly until golden.

8. Remove from the oven and then dust generously with caster sugar or icing sugar before letting cool completely.

This is now when the kids can get creative with icing, chocolate and hundreds and thousands, creating as many different stars as possible.