Peppermint Baubles

If you don’t fancy candy cane stripes, you can keep them all white (or choose another solid colour).

Hands-on time 1hr, plus overnight drying and hardening. Makes about 12

• 1 medium egg white*

• ½tsp peppermint extract, we used

Dr. Oetker American Peppermint

• 300g icing sugar, plus extra to dust

• Red food colouring gel or paste

1 Line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment. In a bowl, using a balloon whisk, beat the egg white and peppermint extract until light and frothy. Sift in the icing sugar and stir with a spatula or wooden spoon until combined (the mixture will be stiff). Spoon 1/2 the mixture into a separate bowl and mix in a little food colouring to get a fairly solid red shade.

2 Lightly dust a work surface with icing sugar and knead each colour (separately) until smooth. Wrap the red mixture in clingfilm.

3 Roll out the white mixture to a rough 10 x 18cm rectangle. Cut lengthways into 5mm thick strips. Loosely cover with clingfilm to prevent drying out.

4 Repeat with red mixture. Working quickly (and keeping as much covered as you can), arrange the strips side by side, alternating colours and lightly pressing together to stick. Don’t worry if a strip breaks – simply squeeze back together with a little water.

5 Using a rolling pin, gently roll out the striped rectangle to about 3mm thick. Stamp out shapes using festive cutters, re-rolling and stamping trimmings (the colours will merge the more they are rolled). Transfer to the lined sheets. Stamp a rough 5mm hole in the top of each bauble using the tip of a piping nozzle or metal straw.

6 Leave, uncovered, at room temperature overnight to dry and harden. To display, thread food-safe string or ribbon through the holes and hang.

PER BAUBLE 87cals, 0g protein, 0g fat (0g saturates), 22g carbs (21g total sugars), 0g fibre TO STORE Keep in an airtight container at room temperature, or on display for up to 3 months.