I've always loved sugar cubes, they have a certain feeling of elegance that regular granulated sugar just doesn't have, and shaped cubes, well don't even get me started!

So I'm sure you can imagine my delight when Kirstie Allsopp did a quick DIY on making your own sugary shapes on her Kirstie's Homemade Christmas show last year. The best bit is you don't need any fancy ingredients or equipment to make them!

What you'll need:

• Small cup of granulated sugar (250g)
• 1 teaspoon of water
• Food colouring (if desired)
• Flavouring (if desired)
• Small moulds (shaped ice-cube trays and sugar paste moulds work well)

What to do:

1. Take your cup of sugar and the teaspoon of water, mix thoroughly until all of the sugar is moist and resembles wet sand.
2. If you want to add any colour to your sugar cubes, add tiny drops of food colouring and mix in well until desired colour is achieved - be mindful of adding to much, particularly with strong smelling colourings.
3. Repeat step 2 with flavouring if desired - again, be careful not to add too much, you don't want your sugar cubes to be overpowering, so a couple of drops should suffice.
4. Spoon the sugar into your moulds and press down firmly to compact (this is an important step, as if you don't compact the sugar enough it won't form a tight enough shape and may fall apart when removed from the mould). NB: If you're using ice-cube trays or larger moulds, only fill them to about half way so as to keep the amount of sugar to around a teaspoon per shape.
5. Set aside in a dry place to allow the water to evaporate and the cubes to set.
6. Leave until completely dry before turning out from the moulds. This may take as little as an hour or they may need to be left overnight.
7. Store in an airtight container and enjoy!

Here's how my first batch turned out: