1 Day Until Christmas!

I made some rocky road for my family to eat over Christmas!

Snowy Rocky Road

This recipe is from this year’s Good Housekeeping‘s Christmas recipe guide. My mum and I have made several things from last year’s recipe booklet and they worked out very well.

• 400g white chocolate, chopped
• 25g mini marshmallows
• 50g dessicated coconut, plus extra to decorate
• 50g dried cranberries
• 40g pistachios
• 50g ginger nut biscuits, roughly chopped
• silver balls

Line a rectangular tin about 15cm x 20cm with clingfilm. Put the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water to melt the chocolate. Stir in the marshmallows, coconut, cranberries, pistachios and biscuits, then empty the mixture into the prepared tin and level the surface. Scatter over the extra coconut and silver balls then freeze for 15 minutes until solid. Cut into squares and serve.

8 Days Until Christmas…

…and me and my sister have been hand printing/stamping brown paper. We used potato printing in festive colours of gold and red to decorate boring brown wrapping paper.

13 Days Until Christmas…

…and I have been decorating baubles with beads. When at the Knitting and Stitching Fair a couple of weeks ago I came across the The Spellbound Bead Company‘s stall and was really tempted to buy one of their Christmas kits for decorating baubles, in particular their “sweetheart bauble”. I decided against it as I had already bought quite a lot of things but my aunty surprised with me the pattern, loads of beads, thread and a needle needed for the project. From looking at some of the projects on The Spellbound Bead Company’s stall I thought it would be incredibly difficult to get to grips with beading but the pattern was really detailed and it was really fun to make this bauble. So fun, in fact, that I quickly made another for my mum. On The Spellbound Bead Company’s website they sell a book of 15 patterns specifically for baubles so I might pick that up. Although the patterns are specified as “Christmas” I think if you change the colours they would make lovely decorations all year round so I am going to keep an eye out for cheap baubles in the Christmas sales.

This is the second bauble I made using a combination of red, purple and pink beads. I made this for my mum and hung it on our big tree, I wonder if she has noticed it is there!

Waste Canvas: Mini Tote Bag

One of the stalls which gave me inspiration was one that demonstrated how to jazz up plain tote bags using embroidery. The tote bahes were mini in size so I thought they would be perfect for using with waste canvas to sew my design on. Additionally I thought they would make perfect gift bags for Christmas as birthday presents.

The inspiration I found at the Knitting and Stitching Fair

I found a lovely pattern in the most recent issue of Cross Stitcher (273) by designer Marjorie Massey (I am now seriously coveting her Made In France:Cross-Stitch Samplers book). For the tote bag I used the Egyptian cotton I bought at the Knitting and Stitching Fair; as it is a bundle of off-cuts there was luckily a couple of pieces perfect for the body and handles of the bag. I folded a larger piece in half for the body the bag and a thinner piece into 4 for the handles. Once I had finished cross-stitching the design on the front (using waste canvas) I pinned the sides together, adding seam allowance to the side and the top. I then sewed the handles together and pinned to the top of the bag and then proceeded to sew the body of the bag together. Although I did sew an ‘x’ where the handles joined the main body of the bag I don’t think this bag would be suitable for any heavy-lifting!

Full of presents!

Finished Project: Larry David

Just a quick post about the Larry David project I finished a while ago. As per usual I opted for a simple black frame from Wilkinson’s to complement the colour scheme of this cross stitch.

16 Days Until Christmas…

…and I have been making yet more Christmas cards! I thought I had made plenty but it turns out I was three short. Luckily, Cross Stitcher magazine gave away free ‘make-your-own’ gift tags so I stitched them up and stuck them onto the front of plain white card like I did with the other set.

Chocolate and Lime Cheesecake

My parents had friends for dinner so I offered to bake the dessert mainly because I like to bake rather than a desire to be helpful…We settled on a baked chocolate and lime cheesecake from the Hummingbird Bakery’s Cake Days. This is a book I really enjoy baking recipes from as they turn out perfect every time. I am happy to report that this cheesecake was no different! It was incredibly easy to make and although it suggested to use a bain-marie whilst for the baking of the cheesecake I decided not to as I have had bad experiences using this method in the past so I haven’t included this step. I also consulted a recipe by Ainsley Harriott regarding the cooking section as he makes a fantastic baked cheesecake.

Chocolate and Lime Cheesecake

For the biscuit base

• 250g double chocolate chip cookies
• 100g unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake topping

• 800g full-fat cream cheese
• 150g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• zest and juice of 6 limes, plus zest of 1 extra lime to decorate
• 20g dark chocolate, grated

One 20cm diameter spring-form cake tin

First line the cake tin with baking parchment, then blitz the cookies into a rough crumb in a food processor with the blade attachment.

Tip the cookie crumbs into a bowl, add the melted butter, add the melted butter and mix together with a spoon. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin, pressing the crumbs firmly into the base of the tin using the spoon, then place in the fridge to chill and set for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 160C and make the cheesecake topping.

Using a hand-held electric whisk mix the cream cheese on a medium speed until smooth. Add the sugar and beat until combined, then break in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition to make sure all the ingredients are evenly incorporated. Lastly, add the lime juice and zest and mix in well.

Pour the cream cheese mixture on to the set cookie base and place on a baking tray.

Place the cheesecake in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes or until it has set and has only a slight wobble in the centre (this is where Ainsley states that it is fine for your cheesecake to be quite wobbly as it will set as it cools). Allow it to cool in the oven and then place in the fridge. Remove from the spring-form tin. Sprinkle with the grated lime zest and grated chocolate.

18 Days Until Christmas…

…and I have made this festive little robin! My boyfriend came across this project whilst scouring The Guardian website and thought I would be interested in it, which I was. I stitched it up in one morning and added some drops of lavender oil so it could be used as a scent diffuser.

Hot Cheese Straws

I nearly didn’t get around to making this month’s recipe as I have been quite busy with work but I finally made it on the last day of the month. I am a fan of cheese twists so was excited to try out this bake. They worked really well and were very tasty but still quite light.

Hot Cheese Straws

• 375g butter puff pastry
• 2 tsbp mild mustard (I used Dijon)
• 100g finely grated parmesan
• 1 tsp sweet paprika (I used smoked and it worked very well)
• 1/2 tsp dried red chilli flakes

2 baking trays lined with greaseproof paper

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface to a rectangle about 20cm x 50cm. Using a round-bladed knife spread the mustard evenly over the pastry, right to the edges. Combine the cheese with the paprika and chilli flakes and scatter over the pastry in an even layer. Gently but firmly press the mixture on to the mustard-covered pastry. Using a large sharp knife, cut the pastry into 20 even strips about 2.5cm wide and 20cm long.

To make the twists, hold one end of the pastry strip and then, with the other hand, twist the straw several times. Put it down on the work surface and gently roll it with your hands, like a sausage so the spiral tightens (I missed this bit out and they still worked just fine). Set it on the prepared baking tray. When all the strips have been twisted, scatter over any remaining cheese that has dropped off as you have shaped them. Chill for 20 minutes whilst heating the oven to 200C.

Bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes, until crisp and golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool.

19 Days Until Christmas…

…and I have fashioned a Christmas garland for my room. Whilst going through my ‘Christmas drawer’ (a place where I keep all my Christmas craft bits and pieces) I found some clays stars and a tree I made a while ago. I also came across some glitter and PVA glue. I covered the clay shapes in glue and then sprinkled on the glitter. Originally, I envisioned these stars as Christmas tree decorations but I decided to go with a garland as I don’t have many decorations for my room. I tied a length of twine to my mirror and then attached the stars and the tree to the line using loops of more twine.