Bright and sparkly decorated festive biscuits

Chanukah is all about children. Light up their faces with these fun treats that they can help make and decorate

Children will love making (and eating) these gorgeous crunchy biscuits. You can easily find Chanukah cookie cutters at this time of the year. Use as many different sprinkles as possible.

Makes: 30 biscuits

INGREDIENTS

350g plain flour (plus 50g approx for rolling 100g butter

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1½ tsp ground ginger

175g light soft brown sugar 1 medium egg

4 tbsp golden syrup

Jam

Sugar paste, white and coloured Decorative sprinkles, gold and silver edible spray

METHOD

Put the flour, butter, ground ginger and bicarbonate of soda in a mixing bowl.

Rub with your fingertips until the texture of breadcrumbs. You can also do this in a food processor, but stop before it clumps together.

Add sugar, syrup and egg and mix until it forms a firm pastry dough. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Dust your kitchen top liberally with flour, and flour your rolling pin. Roll out the dough to about 3mm thick. Cut out shapes with Chanukah pastry cutters.

Place the shapes on a greased or nonstick baking tray, 2cm apart to allow for them to spread.

Bake for 12 minutes, but check after 10 minutes as they may cook more quickly. Let the biscuits cool on a wire rack.

Dust a clean worktop with icing sugar and using the rolling pin (dusted with icing sugar) roll each colour of sugar paste to 2mm thick. Do clean the surface in between colours! Use the pastry cutters to cut out the shapes.

With a brush paint, the top of the biscuits lightly with a little jam, then stick on the sugar paste shape.

Leave as they, are or to decorate, lightly moisten the top of the icing and stick on the sprinkles. Spray some edible glitter.

Store in an air tight box for up to 3 days.

www.homecookingbyfabienne.co.uk Makes: 12

INGREDIENTS

1 carrot, grated

40g walnuts, chopped

60g sultanas

1 tsp cinnamon

2 pinches sea salt

1 tsp baking powder (gluten-free) 120g brown rice flour

100g coconut sugar

120g rapeseed oil

2 eggs, large

1 tsp vanilla powder/bean paste

Cream cheese frosting

250g cream cheese

2 tsp custard powder

5 tsp agave nectar or honey 1 tsp lemon juice

Garnish:

Cinnamon for sprinkling 35g chopped walnuts

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan-assisted).

Mix the grated carrot, chopped walnuts, sultanas, sea salt, baking powder and brown rice flour in a large mixing bowl until combined.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar, oil and vanilla powder or bean paste. Stir into the dry mixture until thoroughly combined. Then pipe the mixture into your 12hole doughnut tray, ¾ of the way up. Bake on the middle shelf for 20 minutes.

To make the cream cheese frosting, mix the cream cheese with the custard powder, agave nectar and lemon juice. Beat until smooth. Spoon into a piping bag and refrigerate.

Remove the tray of carrot cake doughnuts to a wire rack from the oven after 20 minutes. After 5 minutes carefully insert a sharp knife around the edge to release them. Leave on the wire rack until cooled.

When cool, pipe with the cream cheese frosting and sprinkle with a touch of ground cinnamon and chopped walnuts.

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