Catherine Wheel biscuits

175g/6oz butter
200g/8oz unrefined caster sugar
2 large eggs
1tsp vanilla essence
400g/14oz plain flour
1tsp baking powder 1tspsalt
Zest of 1 lemon, finely chopped You'll also need two different food-colouring pastes (I used chestnut brown and claret)
And optionally, some beaten egg white to brush over as a glaze.

What to do:

Cream the butter and sugar in a food processor, using a mixer, or with a feisty wooden and vanilla. Then add the eggs and vanilla (maybe add a tablespoon of the flour to stop the mixture going 'curdly').

Add the flour, baking powder salt and lemon zest to the egg mix and beat until the mixture forms a ball
Divide this lump into 3 parts - 2 of them equal and larger than the remaining part.
Take a half a teaspoon of your first chosen colour, and knead into the dough, until you like the depth of colour (add more paste if you require)
Do the same with the second part.
(do all this in a bowl to save on scrubbing afterwards [wish I had done this!])

Now, tear a section of greaseproof paper, and roll out your first amount of dough until it is roughly rectangular (A4 paper sized) - I'd advise doing the non-dyed portion first!
Do the same with the other two parts, until you have three similarly-sized rectangles of dough each on their own sheet of grease-proof paper.
Gently place the non-dyed rectangle on top of one of the dyed portions. Peel off the paper. Do the same with remaining portion on top of the dough you have just eased down. Similarly, peel off the paper.

So you have an A4 slab of tri-colour dough…neaten the edges with a knife. Roll these trimmings into a sausage the same length as the width of the slab. Set along the bottom edge of the slab of dough. Now gently easy the dough around the sausage in a Swiss-roll fashion. Use the greaseproof paper of the bottom layer to help you. Roll until you have a fat dough sausage. Wrap up in the paper, and set in the fridge for a while - at least a few hours - to harden.

When good and stiff, unwrap, and slice into thin rounds. Voila! Catherine Wheels!
You can brush with beaten egg white to give them a mystical gleam if you like. Bake at 180C/360F for 8 - 12 minutes.