Christmas Treats to Eat - Vegan Egg Nog and Food-Colouring-Free Candy Canes

Egg Nog for Everyone

In a jug, mix together:

• 1L vanilla soy milk
• 4 teaspoons maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon brandy or rum essence
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Chill before drinking. Great for people with an egg allergy, vegans, and kids. If you whizz it in a blender before serving, it will have a bit more froth to it - like egg nog made with whipped egg whites.

Alcohol can be a tricky thing over Christmas. WA police expect a 15% increase in domestic violence over Christmas, and Victorian police responded to more than 1,000 reports of domestic violence in the week between Christmas and New Year in 2008. Domestic violence is often fuelled by alcohol, and Christmas adds a lot of extra pressure to families who are already having difficulty with family relationships. If you see violence this Christmas, especially where there are children involved, call the police - they will be able to take steps to keep people safe, even if that means getting a violent person to leave the family home temporarily.

Candy Cane Cookies

Hang these over the edge of your egg nog cup. There's a great recipe for basic sugar cookie mix in the Summer "Paper Blog" newsletter from MissChief Maker, one of my favourite Canberra kids clothing shops. Sign up for Kate's newsletter on her website, and you'll receive it in the actual mail with the changing seasons. Full of kids craft and cooking, fashion that won't break your budget, and environment tips - without spending more time reading on the computer! I got the candy cane make instructions from Filth Wizardry, my fave blog for keeping the kids busy with crappy craft.

It's very simple - 300g softened butter (margerine will work for no-dairy cookies), 1 cup icing sugar, and 3 cups plain flour. I also like a little vanilla essence in my dough, although you could use a little lemon juice and zest instead of vanilla if the sweetness is too cloying. Chuck it all in the food processor and whizz til it looks like dough. Then take out half, wrap in plastic wrap and put in fridge for 30 minutes. Add a few drops of beetroot juice (so you don't have kids bouncing off the walls from red food colouring) and whizz til the remaining dough is pinkilish-red (my four year old's favourite colour). Take out the dough, wrap in plastic, put in the fridge. When it's chilled out, it can be rolled flat and cut into strips. Then follow the instructions on the Filth Wizardry blog to turn it into candy canes. Yummo!