But instead of filling my face with Mexican food and downing shots of Tequila at Fogon – the BEST Mexican restaurant (and Happy Hour) in Seattle – I’ll be sitting on a flight tucking into a plastic tray of airline food. Sometimes life sucks so bad.

So not only will I be celebrating a rather tardy Sexto de Mayo this year – well, it’s a ladies privilege to be late isn’t it? – but today I’ll be baking up a batch of these delicious and super fun Cinco De Mayo Sugar Skull Cookies to ease my woes. This cloud does have a silver lining after all – wink wink!

I just love, love, love this Sugar Skull Cookie Cutter Set – how cute are they?! Not only are the Mexican inspired designs to die for, but due to the detailed cookie stamp designs, the resulting cookies will look totally impressive – even after my dodgy attempt at decorating them!

Each set contains one large plastic skull shaped skull cookie cutter – so they’re perfect for baking with children – and six unique cookie stamps, which all clip together for secure storage. The cookie stamps engrave the design into the cookie, making it super easy to decorate them, simply get into the groove with your icing and let the cookie guide the way. Alternatively, they look just as impressive without icing, or sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.

You can buy the Tovolo Sugar Skull Cookie Cutter Set from the Arugula & Rocket Store on Amazon in the UK and Europe, or contact Tovolo direct for availability elsewhere.

Now we have the tools sorted let’s get started on the cookies…In the bowl of a standing mixer (or using a handheld mixer) cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then add the egg and the vanilla extract and mix until combined.

In a separate small bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Now add the dry mix to the wet ingredients in small increments until thoroughly combined.

Scrape dough together into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for at least one hour.

Sprinkle a clean surface or non-stick pastry mat with a little flour. Divide the dough into quarters, keeping the dough you’re not using in the fridge while you work. Roll out each quarter of dough to a ½ inch thickness and cut out the skull shapes with your cookie cutter.Now use the cookie stamps to add the designs to your cookies.Line a cookie sheet with a non-stick baking mat or some parchment paper and place the stamped cookies onto the pan. NOTE: You should keep your cookies and the dough cool at all times. If your dough becomes soft, place it in the fridge until it hardens back up enough for you to cut it out.

Allow the cookies to rest in the fridge for approximately 30 minutes. While you wait pre-heat the oven to 325ºF (165ºC).

Take the sheet pan out of the fridge and bake on the middle rack for approximately 15 minutes, or until the bottoms of cookies are just beginning to turn golden. After a couple of minutes transfer them to wire racks and allow the cookies to cool completely, before decorating.