Mice for decorations

Press, 7 December 1976, Page 16

Mice for decorations

It’s fun to decorate your Christmas tree with iced biscuits and sweets, as well as paper decorations. These little mice taste good and look amusing if you hang them by their tails from the branches and let them dangle down. To make them you need:— 3 cups of sifted icing sugar; white of one egg; 3 drops of cochineal; 5 drops of peppermint or vanilla flavouring; clean string for the tails. Put the egg w’hite, 3 drops of cochineal, and 5 drops of flavouring into a

basin... Beat lightly together with a wooden spoon until the colour looks fairly even. Next, add the icing sugar, a little at a time, and beat it in until your mixture looks pink and is smooth and stiff.

Sprinkle icing sugar on to your hands and knead the mixture into a large, firm ball. If it seems too sticky to work with, add more sifted icing sugar. You are ready now to mould the mixture into mice. Working on a clean, dry surface, divide it up

into little mouse-shaped lumps. Make these shapes small as they are rich to eat. The back end of each mouse should be round and the front should be pointed. Save some of the mixutre for making into ears for each mouse. Make the ears by rolling the mixture into small balls. Press your finger on to each ball and pinch together slightly at the bottom. Work fairly quickly as your mice soon harden. When all the ears are

shaped, stick them firmly on to each mouse. Make eyes by pricking small holes with a skewer. Make a hole for the tail on each mouse with the skewer. Cut up the string into lengths for the tails. Dip the end of each piece of string in water and put in the tail hole, pinching the hole together so that it fits snugly. Using a broad knife, gently and carefully ease the mice off your working surface and put them on a plate. Leave them to set for a few hours.