Rose Prince's Baking Club: parmesan shortbreads Equipment: a baking sheet, lined with baking parchment; round cutter, approximately 4cm/1 ½in diameter. Makes about 20 225g/8oz unsalted butter 375g/13oz plain flour 225g/8oz Parmesan cheese, freshly grated* 2 egg yolks 2-4 tbsp water To glaze and decorate: 1 egg, beaten with a pinch of salt; a small bunch of thyme You can use ready grated, but only the fresh type and not the dry powder in shaker pots, which has a stale flavour. Rub the butter into the flour, add the cheese, yolks and cayenne, then enough water to make a stiff dough. Refrigerate for one hour to rest the dough before rolling. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gas 5. Dust the worktop with flour lightly and roll the dough out in a circle to 2cm/¾in thick. Use the cutter to make as many discs as possible from the first rolled piece of dough, then squidge it together into a ball again; refrigerate for 15 minutes and make another batch. Place each biscuit onto the baking sheet. Brush with the egg wash and then place a thyme sprig on top of each one. Bake for approximately 12-16 minutes, until the biscuits are crisp and golden. Transfer them to a rack to cool - these biscuits keep well for about five days, in a sealed container. I get a lot of enquiries about gluten-free baking, and also requests to recommend a gluten-free flour. I confess that I do not bake with it, so am not necessarily the right person to ask. In his very good book on the subject, Seriously Good! Gluten-Free Cooking (Kyle Books, £19.99), Phil Vickery gives a recipe for a flour mix that he has developed himself. It can be used as a substitute for regular cake recipes, and stores in an airtight container for up to six months. Combine 300g fine cornmeal or chestnut flour with 500g brown rice flour and 200g cornflour and pulse in a food processor until well blended. Next week: Cinnamon and prune breakfast buns - you will need a cinnamon stick, ready-to-eat pitted prunes, yeast, strong white flour, milk, butter and eggs.