Tropical burst smoothie

Ingredients

• 25g strawberries
• 25g pineapple
• 25g mango
• 1 banana
• 25g papaya
• 10 fl oz apple juice

Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. For an extra cool drink why not blend with ice.

Gingerbread people

Ingredients

• 115g butter ( extra for greasing)
• 450g plain flour
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground mixed spice
• 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 100g golden syrup
• 115g light muscavdo sugar
• 1 beaten egg
• To decorate
• Currants
• Glace cherries
• Icing sugar

Preheat oven to 160 ºC, then grease 3 large baking sheets. Sift the flour, ginger, mixed spice and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Place the butter, syrup and sugar into a saucepan and stir over a low heat until melted. Pour on top of the dry ingredients and add the egg. Mix together to make a dough. The dough will be sticky to start with but should become firmer as it cools.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough to about 3mm thick and stamp out people shapes. Place the cut out shapes onto the prepared baking sheets. Re-knead and re-roll the trimmings and cut out more shapes until the dough is finished. Decorate with currants for the eyes and pieces of glace cherry for the mouth. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until firm and lightly browned.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Mix the icing sugar with water to a thick consistency. Place the icing in a small plastic bag and cut a tiny hole in one corner. Use the icing to pipe buttons or bows on to the cooled biscuits.