With just days to go until the launch of the London 2012 Olympics, why not celebrate by making one of these games-inspired party treats?

Gold medal shortbread biscuits

Make these crumbly, buttery, traditional shortbread biscuits in the shape of gold medals — perfect for children. Makes 12-15.

Ingredients:
200g plain flour
120g unsalted butter, chopped
50g caster sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
Gold lustre, edible glitter, a tube of writing icing and a ribbon, for decoration

Method:
1.    Sift the flour into a bowl and add the chopped butter. Rub with your fingertips until it looks like breadcrumbs and then tip in the sugar and the vanilla extract. Bring the dough together with your hands and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
2.    Preheat the oven to 200°C and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Take out the dough and roll out to a thickness of around 5mm. The dough will be crumbly, but just push it all back together and roll again. With a 7cm circular biscuit cutter, stamp out biscuits

You can get a hot dog anywhere in the world. But they're not all just slathered in mustard and fried onions. To mark National Hot Dog Month we take a look at some of the variations of this meaty snack from all over the globe.

The Sauerkraut Dog, Amsterdam

In Amsterdam hot dogs are likely to be loaded with toppings such as tomatoes, cheese and mayonnaise. Other toppings include sauerkraut, fried onions, mustard and chopped gherkins. The mustard and mayo add moisture to the dog, while the sauerkraut, pickles and onions cut through the rich smokiness of the sausage.

Chilli Dog, USA
The chilli dog is thought to originally come from Michigan, where someone decided to perk up an already meaty hot dog by pouring a mildly-spiced beef chilli sauce over it. The chilli sauce is traditionally without beans, although in some parts of America you might be served one with beans, chilli sauce, diced raw onion, pickles and cheese.

Chinese Hot Dogs, Hong Kong
In China, they don't always just

We all want to get a good deal with our groceries. But buying cheap doesn't always mean you're getting your money's worth. Check out these foods that it might be worth shelling out a little more for.

Bacon

According to Telegraph journalist Rose Prince, cheap bacon might not be as economically sound as we think. She says that it contains added water — making it heavier — either added during the animal's life or injected afterwards.

A sure way to tell if you're paying for watery bacon, she says is to look for the 'rainbow sheen' on the surface of the meat. This is a sign that it contains polyphosphates, which retain moisture.

So if you've ever fried bacon and found it sitting in a pool of milky-looking liquid, now you'll know why.

For an extra pound or two per pack you could have bacon from naturally-reared pigs, which doesn't shrink so much on cooking, is thicker-cut and won't boil in your frying pan.

[Related article: Fast food favourites that you can make at home]

Sausages

What's