Early in the day or the day before:
In a large bowl, cream the butter and the sugar. Add the eggs, extract and milk.
In a medium bowl mix the dry ingredients with a wire whisk. Add the dry ingredients to egg mixture and mix until well combined. With your hands, shape the dough into a ball. Wrap with cling film and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Lightly grease and then flour some a baking tray. Roll half or 1/3 of the dough at a time, keep the rest refrigerated. For crisper cookies, roll the dough paper thin and for softer cookies, roll them a little bit thicker.
With a floured cookie cutter, cut into star shapes. You can re-roll the trimmings over and over and recut. Make sure you put enough flour under them before you roll them out so that they don’t stick to the work surface.
Using a small round cutter, or even a bottle top, cut a hole in the middle of the cookie. Add the crushed up boiled sweet. Alternating the colours to give a nice variety.
Place the cookies 3cm apart on the baking tray. Bake for 5-8 minutes or until very light brown.
With a spatula, remove cookies to racks; leave to cool completely or the sweets will stick to the baking tray.