You can use this recipe to make gingerbread men, but if you have the time then mini gingerbread houses are a quirky idea. I had great fun icing and decorating mine, and will be giving some away as gifts. The houses are designed to sit on the edge of a mug of tea/cocoa etc. and look so cute! This recipe makes more than enough dough for mini houses, so if that is all you are making I would suggest you half the ingredients.

These cookies are a great idea for Christmas presents as they turn out bright red, and with white chocolate drizzled on top remind me of candy cane stripes! They look very festive and are deliciously chewy. I think quite a bit of preparation goes into these cookies so there's really no need to tell anyone about using a boxed cake mix... right?!

Adapted from Two Peas & Their Pod (Dec 2011)
Makes 10-12 cookies
Cooking time: 15 mins (plus 2 hours - overnight chilling time)
Ingredients:
1 box red velvet cake mix (Duncan Hines brand from the Stateside Candy Co, or Betty Crocker from any large supermarket)
2 tablespoons plain flour
2 medium eggs
125ml rapeseed oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
50-100g white chocolate (to melt and drizzle on top)

Cheesecake filling:
50g cream cheese
140g icing sugar
1 tablespoon plain flour

Do you know anyone that doesn't like mince pies? Crazy right?! Well, my flatmate is one of these strange people so I wanted to make her a different sort of pie so she won't miss out next week. I have to say, I would quite happily eat these "Not mince pies" over the real thing!

Adapted from Orange, Cranberry & Almond Mince Pies (Dec 2009) and An Alternative Mince Pie (Nov 2012)
Makes 24 pies
Cooking time: 20 mins (plus 15 mins for chilling)
Ingredients:
200g butter, chilled
400g plain flour
100g ground almonds
100g golden caster sugar
zest of 2 clementines
6 tablespoons of milk
1 egg and a splash of milk (for brushing the pastry with)

For the Filling:
2 cooking apples
30g dried cranberries
60g pecans
40g (plus an extra 3 tablespoons) golden caster sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 a teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions
1. You can use a food processor or mix the ingredients by hand at this stage. Whichever way you choose, mix the butter, flour and ground almonds until the butter disappears. Then add 100g golden caster sugar, and the clementine zest. 

2. Add the milk and keep mixing until a dough starts to form. This dough is quite crumbly so don't be afraid to add more tablespoons of milk (one at a time) to bring the mixture together. Tip the dough onto your work surface and shape into a flattened ball, kneading it if you need to. Pop it in the fridge for 15 minutes and you can start to prepare the filling for the pies.

I got the Scandilicious baking book a few months ago but have only just got round to making anything from it. These truffles are perfect for Christmas time; I imagine they'd make a pretty and thoughtful gift for anyone that likes coconut, however the only thing I'm planning to do with mine is eat them! The recipe in the book uses porridge oats instead of traditional cake leftovers. I also used 'the Kraken' spiced rum to make these; I think the hints of vanilla and caramel are a nice touch and work well with the cocoa powder.