Vegan shortbread biscuits

Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Put the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Cut the baking block into cubes and add to the bowl, tossing with the flour. Work the cubes into the flour by pinching everything together and rubbing the ingredients between your fingertips. Do this until you have a bowl of sandy textured flour with no large lumps – the mixture will feel quite dry. Tip the mixture out onto a worksurface and knead it together briefly until it just forms a large ball of dough.

Chop the dough in two, wrap each well and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes. When you are ready to cook, roll out the dough to 5mm thickness and cut into rounds using a 5-6cm cutter (alternatively you could cut into fingers or squares using a sharp knife).

Put the rounds onto one or two baking trays lined with baking paper and prick the surfaces with a fork. Sprinkle the surfaces with a little caster sugar, if you like. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden on the surfaces. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack. Allow to cool fully before eating.