Sift the flour, icing sugar and baking powder into a large bowl. Mix in the salt. Add the vanilla extract and the ghee. Rub it in with your fingers until it is well incorporated with the dry ingredients and forms a stiff (almost crumbly) dough that will hold together when pinched together. If required, add a little more ghee, about a teaspoon at a time till your dough comes together. Do not overwork the dough though.

Take small portions of the dough, press together by forming a fist around it and then roll into marble sized smooth balls. Press one piece of the chopped glace cherries onto each ball without flattening the cookie, if using the cherries.

Place on ungreased or parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for about 15 minutes. Bake them at 180C (350F) for 15 to 20 minutes till the cookies just start changing colour. They should not brown and retain their "unbaked" off-white colour. A good way to check if they're done is to look at the bottom of the cookie. It should be golden brown in colour (lighter rather than darker. It is important not to over bake these cookies or they will burn from underneath.

Roll them in icing sugar while they're still quite warm so they're well coated. Let them cool completely. Roll them in icing sugar once again to cover the "bald" spots caused by the first coat of icing sugar that would have melted a little.

Then store them in an airtight container and they will keep for a couple of weeks. This recipe makes 2 dozen Snowball Cookies.