Keep the home front baking: Vintage shortbread poppies 

MAKES 15-20

110g unsalted butter diced

50g golden caster sugar plus extra for dusting

100g plain flour plus extra for rolling

60g rice flour

1 tsp orange flower water (for example Nielsen-Massey brand)

★ Whiz the butter, sugar and two flours to crumbs in a food processor, then trickle in the orange flower water and whiz to form a dough. Wrap this in clingfilm and chill for half a day or overnight.

★ Preheat the oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Knead the dough until pliable, then roll it to a thickness of 1cm on a lightly floured work surface. Cut out poppies using 5cm and 6cm flower cutters, rolling the dough twice as necessary (you should get 15-20 biscuits depending on size). Arrange the poppies spaced slightly apart on nonstick baking sheets. Bake for 35-40 minutes until just starting to colour. Dust with caster sugar if wished, loosen with a spatula and leave them to cool.

POPPY TOPS Using ready-to-roll coloured icing (for example Renshaw brand from lakeland.co.uk), stamp out red poppy shapes slightly smaller than the biscuits and black centres and use them to decorate some or all of the biscuits if wished.