My friend Maeve is nearly 7 and is one of the world’s best sous-chefs. You can see some very old photos of our previous cooking exploits on my old blog, where we made rainbow cake and pink lamingtons. She visited our house one afternoon when Katie was over and said she wanted to bake us a treat. We declared that she would have to be a guest blogger on New Fat Ladies. She isn’t fat but she is fairly new. I will now hand over to Maeve and her assistant (and mother), Siobhán. – SJ

I wanted to bake these holidays because it’s really fun. I baked with my mum.

I love melting moments but I don’t want to marry them. But that’s why I chose them to bake.

First we softened the butter. We blended (Ed.: creamed!) the butter with electric beaters until it was pale. Then I used the scale and I weighed the flour, icing sugar and custard powder. Then mum gave me a wooden spoon and I mixed them with the butter. It was easy at first and then it was hard!

Will you look at how adorable she is? Also, those clothes? HER MUM MAKES THEM. AMAZING.

We rolled bits of the mixture into balls, and then after we rolled them and made sure they were round, we squished them with a fork. Then we put them in the oven and then we made the icing.

Then I had to go to bed, so Mummy put them together.

The bits I liked best about making them was rolling them into balls, and tasting the icing!

We shared them with Essie and Sajee and Robin, and I think they liked them. They were one of the yummiest things in the whole wide world, along with mudcake, choc chip cookies, chicken satay and fishcakes.

(me again: These really were delicious! The lemony icing really cut through the shortbread biscuits. I actually liked them more than any other melting moment I’ve ever eaten. – SJ)

Maeve’s Melting Moments

Helper’s note: Here’s our recipe, which came from taste.com.au, simplified for the 6yo reader

For the biscuits:

• 125g butter, softened
• 115g plain flour
• 45g icing sugar
• 50g custard powder

For the icing:

• 60g butter, softened
• 110g icing sugar
• 2tsp finely grated lemon rind
• 1tbs lemon juice

Tell your grownup helper to preheat the oven to 160°C. Line 2 oven trays with baking paper. Beat butter until pale and creamy. Add the flour, icing sugar and custard powder and use a wooden spoon to stir it all together.

Use your (really clean!) hands to roll the dough mixture into small balls. Place the balls 3cm apart on the lined trays. Use a fork dusted in icing sugar to gently flatten. Get your grownup to put the trays in the oven, swapping trays halfway through cooking, for 15 minutes or until just cooked through. Remove from oven (grownup again, sorry!) and set aside for 30 minutes to cool.

Icing: Beat the butter and icing sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add the lemon rind and juice and beat until combined. Spread icing on half the biscuits and sandwich together with remaining biscuits.