Mix the flour, cocoa, icing sugar and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Rub in the butter and then mix in eggs. Knead quickly with your hands to a smooth dough. Wrap in foil, press into a flat disc and chill for 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Line a couple of baking sheets with baking parchment. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured worksurface to about 3mm thin. Cut out shapes from the dough. Put the biscuits on the baking sheets – it’s best to put similarly sized cookies together. Bake for 7-10 minutes, depending on the size of the biscuits.

Knead the off-cuts of the dough together and chill again for 15 minutes. Roll, cut and bake as before. Cool completely.

When cooled, the cookies can be decorated with chocolate or icing and sugar pearls and sprinkles.