3 ways with ... Xmas gingerbread

Move away from gingerbread men and localise with kiwi Santa gingerbread. Photo / Babiche Martens

Animal farm
Extend the repertoire from little gingerbread people to farm animals and birds - starting with kiwis, of course. Use easy icing tubes to add Santa hats, sugar sprinkles for feathers and more silver balls than you could possibly eat.

Stained glass windows
Cut out a cookie, then use a smaller cutter to cut another hole in the centre, pop in a piece of boiled sweet and poke a small hole in the top. As it bakes, the sweet melts to create "glass". Once cool, thread with ribbon and hang on the tree.

Mini woodland
Use star-shaped cookie cutters in graduated sizes to bake stars from tiny to large. Stack on top of each other, offsetting the corners to create "branches" and gluing with icing to create mini-trees. Drizzle with icing "snow" and top with a mini silver ball.