Festive Favourites Blog Hop: Gingerbread House

I hate being late. Considering my utter disorganisation in every other area of my life, this might seem like a strange dislike, but there you go. I don’t mind so much when other people are late, but I loathe arriving somewhere after an event has already begun or after everyone has already arrived. I would much rather get somewhere early and wait, calm and composed and relaxed.

But, alas, despite my best intentions for this post, I am several days late for the newest Sweet Adventures Blog Hop. Hopefully, this is a case of ‘better late than never’?

I love gingerbread and the way it makes the house smell like Christmas when it’s baking in the oven. I love the idea of making gingerbread houses, but I always forget how fiddly they are! Gingerbread houses are the sucker punch of baking. You get through making, chilling, rolling, cutting and baking the dough no worries. You enjoy it, the house smells nice, you sneak a bit of gingerbread dough while you’re at it and then you’re in a happy place. Until it comes time for assembly. Then BAM it all falls apart. Often literally.

I made my dough fine, thanks to the spiffy new Kitchenaid food processor

I chilled, rolled and baked fine

even the royal icing was working fine

but then my pink food colouring had mysteriously turned red (elves? i’m looking at you.)

and sliding walls necessitated impromptu scaffolding.

An engineer was consulted before lowering the roof on

Decorating supplies were gathered. And, not too long after, we had a

complete house!

An all the reindeer gathered round.

Here’s a side view. I think the world would be a better place if everyone’s guttering were made of musk sticks and lemon sherbert. Who could be cranky and late then?

This post was part of the Sweet Adventures Festive Favourites Blog Hop kindly hosted by 84th&3rd

   

Gingerbread House Recipe – Taken from the Australian Women’s Weekly Cook

Ingredients

4 1/2 cups (675g) self raising flour

3 tsps ground ginger

2 tsps ground cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground nutmeg

185g butter, chopped

1 cup (220g) firmly packed dark brown sugar

1/2 cup (180g) treacle (I substituted golden syrup as I had no treacle and it worked fine)

2 eggs beaten lightly

assorted lollies for decorating

Method

1. Mix flour, spice and butter in a food processor until mix is crumbly

2. Add sugar, treacle and enough egg for the mixture to just combine

3. turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth

4. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 1 hour

5. Roll out your dough to 5mm thick and cut out according to your pattern

6. Cook in the oven at 160 degrees celsius (fan forced) for 12 minutes or until they are just firm and golden

7. You will probably have excess dough so you can churn out a few trees or g-bread men if you like

8. Pipe some royal icing onto the corners of each piece in order to attach walls and roof. You may need to use some scaffolding to hold pieces in place while the icing dries. Leave undecorated house overnight to dry before decorating.

9. Secure decorations to the house by using extra royal icing

Royal Icing Recipe

Ingredients

2 egg whites

3 cups icing sugar (480g)

Method

1. Mix the egg whites lightly until foamy

2. Whisk in the icing sugar until a stiff icing is formed.

3. Decorate!

Edible Christmas Gifts: Christmas Hot Chocolate

Dear Time,

Why do you move so quickly? Only yesterday it was weeks until Christmas and today I wake up to find that there are only three more sleeps! Slow down loser.

Love, Katie.

Anyone else wondering where all that time went? I like to think that i’m pretty organised when it comes to Christmas (laugh all you want people, but despite my lack of organisation throughout the year I do get my Christmas shopping done super early). But it’s not the shopping that has fazed me this year, rather its all the co ordination of the cooking, cleaning, seeing friends etc. At the moment i’m procrastinating before working up the energy to decorate my gingerbread house (post to come!) and cook my potato salad for a Christmas Party tomorrow. Of course, in the interim I thought I would have a crack at another quick and easy edible Christmas gift, you know, in case you aren’t quite as organised in the shopping department as I am. (Let me take this moment to gloat because, i’m clearly behind throughout the year. Give me this one!)

I saw this recipe for Hot Cocoa at My Baking Addiction (another find through Twitter. Loving that!) and thought that this would be a great way to use up some sweet little jars I bought, and it would make great Christmas gifts. PLUS it meant that I could buy marshmallows, because who doesn’t have marshmallows all the time with their hot chocolate? I thought I would make it a little more christmassy by adding in some cinnamon and I reduced the amount that I made, but otherwise the recipe was great as it was.

marshmallowwwwssssss…..

all you need to do is sift all the ingredients together. I sifted mine a few times to get the sugar really fine otherwise you’re left with white specks throughout your mix

then bottle!

then repeat!

p.s. how cute are these jars? $2.5o from a little reject shop style store. Make sure that you wash them thoroughly in hot soapy water though.

If you are totally stuck for ideas this Christmas, I would recommend this. Who doesn’t like hot chocolate? And why would you be friends with someone who doesn’t like hot chocolate? I’m pretty sure thats not normal.

If you want to view the original recipe you can find it here.

Otherwise,

Christmas Hot Chocolate Mix – yield is roughly 2 and 3/4 cups

Ingredients

1 cup icing sugar (powdered sugar or confectioners sugar)

1/2 cup cocoa powder (dutch processed is best)

1 1/4 cup powdered milk

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cornflour

1 tsp cinnamon (add more according to your taste)

Method

1. Mix all ingredients together and sift several times. The more times you sift, the finer your mix will be.

You could add more or different spices according to what you like or what your giftee would like. Be creative!

2. Pour into jars and seal

3. To make the hot chocolate, add to hot milk or water and stir thoroughly

Edible Christmas Gifts: Wicked Chocolate Orange Cookies

So i’m a twit.

Yes, I hear you saying “but Katie, we already knew that”. But did you know that im also the other kind of twit?

Thats right peeps, i’ve jumped on the Twitter bandwagon and you can follow me by clicking on the little button in the sidebar to the right or by following @atrueloveofmine

Im not a big fan of social media. Never have been. I resisted facebook until it became absolutely necessary to get an account and I have always been vocal about my dislike for twitter. But, things change and after some gentle nudging from friends at work (thanks guys!) I decided to dip my toe in the twitter pool. And I was not disappointed! As well as broadening my horizons and perspective, twitter is also responsible for broadening my waistline with a plethora of delicious recipes appearing regularly in my feed. One by the lovely Jennifer at Delicieux that particularly caught my eye was that for Wicked Chocolate Orange Cookies.

I had to go to an impromptu evening meeting where I needed to bring a plate of food. And I was really hungry. A cake was out because I wouldn’t be able to sneak a piece without anybody noticing, but cookies? These ones sounded like just the ticket. A very easy, straightforward and decadently chocolaty recipe, these babies turned out so well that I knocked up another batch a few weeks later to give as christmas gifts.

And it allowed me to vent my stress and frustration accumulated during the year

Chop chop!

While the final product looked suspiciously like many other cookies i’ve made before such as Nigella Lawson’s Ultimate Chocolate Cookie, the difference was in the delicious orange that permeated.

Are there any flavours in the world that go together as well as chocolate and orange? I highly doubt it! And if there are, please send your suggestions my way!

So, while it is extremely tempting to keep all the delicious cookies for yourself, in the spirit of the season these make excellent christmas gifts. Wrap them up in some cellophane or a small box and someone will love you forever!


You can find the recipe here at Delicieux 

 So, my lovelies, can you suggest any other whiz bang flavour combos to try? I’m much more of a sweets person (clearly!) but am open to savoury suggestions as well.

And before you go, have you entered the Christmas Giveaway yet? Entries close on Monday so you really should get your skates on!

 

 

 

Home Made Christmas Gifts and a Christmas Giveaway!

So its two weeks until Christmas and i’m hoping that you’ve started thinking about your Christmas shopping. Have you made your list and checked it twice? Or do you still have names bouncing around in your brain like a gaggle of five year olds on a jumping castle? Either way, it’s time to get your skates on and fill up that space beneath the tree. In case you’re trapped inside by the unseasonable Sydney weather, or you just can’t be bothered to go to the shops, I thought I would bring you a few suggestions of home made gifts that you can whip up to give your loved ones.

All these gifts were made from recipes in the fabulous book Gifts from the Kitchen: 100 Irresistible Homemade Presents for Every Occasion by Annie Rigg.  I have made so many of these recipes for gifts throughout the year and recently gifted some of the ones below to co workers for Christmas. (There are a few more suggestions to come in the next few days so make sure that you check back!) But for now, lets recap on some of the ideas of 2010:

1. If you’re shopping for a high tea loving lady, can I suggest some sweet little novelty sugar cubes like these

2. Perhaps the more savoury, down to earth man would like some home made honey wholegrain mustard?

3. Anyone at all would LOVE some Strawberry and Vanilla Conserve (particularly with the delicious strawberries around at the moment)

4. And the sci fi fan in your life might appreciate some of the above jam with a twist. A GRAVITY DEFYING twist. Just make the recipe as above but reduce the jam a little more and allow the jam to cool completely while keeping the jar inverted. When you flip it back the right way up, the jam will remain at the top. Gravity defying I tell you!

See!

5. Finally, if you have a bit of a baker/cook/crafter in your collection of giftees, perhaps they would like a copy of Gifts from the Kitchen: 100 Irresistible Homemade Presents for Every Occasion by Annie Rigg? I have two of these fabulous books to give away just in time for Christmas! (Or you could keep it and cook yourself some lovely treats. Doesn’t everyone buy themselves a gift at Christmas?)

In order to enter the competition, all you need to do is leave a comment below telling me what home made gift you have received or would like to receive for ChristmasEntries will close at 5pm (Sydney time) Monday 19th December and the two winners will be chosen at random and contacted via email. The prizes will be mailed via express post already gift wrapped ready for giving! Please make sure that you include your email in your comment and if you are a lucky winner, please reply to my email for mailing directions asap so that these will arrive in time for Christmas. Due to time and shipping constraints, entries are limited to Australian residents.

Good luck!