Oh Christmas treats, oh Christmas treats . . .

Cupcakes. Picture by Preeti Maheshwari

225g butter, cold, diced into cubes

½ cup sugar

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1¾ cups all-purpose flour

Put flour, sugar and salt into a food processor. Add butter and blitz a few times then add vanilla. Pulse until it comes together as a dough.

On a floured surface, roll the dough out to 1cm thick. Cut into squares or rectangles (using a cookie cutter or knife).

Transfer to baking-paper lined trays, spacing a few centimetres apart.

Transfer the tray to the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes. Halfway through preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Bake one tray at a time in the centre of the oven until cookies are just set, about 13 - 16 minutes.

Let cool for 15 minutes then transfer to a wire rack. Repeat with second baking tray.

Once cool, decorate with icing made up of 1 cup icing sugar, 1 tbsp butter, a few drops of food colouring and about a tablespoon of hot water. Add more or less water depending on the consistency you are after.

Drizzle over the cookies and decorate with sprinkles.

Melt a bag of white chocolate buttons.

Spread thin on baking paper on a baking tray.

Sprinkle toppings (crushed candy canes, Christmas-themed sprinkles etc) on before the chocolate sets.

Place in refrigerator to set and then break with your hands.

1½ cups plain flour

1 tsp cornflour

¼ cup butter (You can replace it with oil if you prefer)

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup milk

¾ tsp vanilla essence

½ tsp salt (if using unsalted butter)

1 tsp baking powder

1½ tbsp chocolate chips

100 grams butter

1½ cups icing sugar

1tsp vanilla essence

Sprinkles

Sift the flour, baking powder, cornflour and salt together at least twice to make sure they are evenly distributed. Set aside.

In a wide bowl, cream the butter and sugar using a whisk until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Add vanilla essence to the milk, mix well and add the milk to the creamed butter-sugar mixture. Beat well until it’s light and creamy.

Now add the flour in two parts to the creamed mixture and mix well.

Add in the chocolate chips, reserving half a tablespoon for the topping. Fold in gently, being careful not to overmix.

Arrange muffin liners in the baking tray and spoon the mixture to fill three-quarters of the muffin liners. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and bake the muffins for 20-25 mins or until a fork inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Decorate the cupcakes with buttercream and Christmas-themed sprinkles.