Tag: christmas

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 Christmas. Entries 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! 

Comforting Rhubarb Cinnamon Cake and the onset of Christmas

Sometimes I think that the following confession makes me quite un-Australian. But I cannot change the way I feel, I just really love Winter. Summer is nice and I like to go to the beach and spend time outside just as much as the next person but there is something so snuggly about winter that makes it my favourite season. I love winter pjamas, flannel sheets, hot chocolate, reading in bed on a blustery, rainy morning, roast dinners, open fires, winter wardrobes, is there anything not to love? I have spent christmas in the european winter a few times now and I love that you can eat all the traditional food and its not stinking hot. I mostly love that I can cook whatever I want whenever I want because it’s never too hot to have the oven on.  So im not particularly put out by this crazy change in the weather we are currently experiencing in Sydney as it makes the putting up of decorations and the cooking of christmas treats much less sweaty. And so, my lovelies, I put the oven on today, this cold and rainy day in DECEMBER… and made this

Stephanie Alexanders’ Rhubarb Cinnamon Cake

The recipe was astonishingly simple with no need to stew or pre-cook the rhubarb. The yield was one family size delicious cakey/puddingy dessert with tangy sweet rhubarb, fragrant cinnamon and lots of crunchy munchy topping. Just the thing to eat with a cup of tea while watching Love Actually (lets face it, it really is time to break out the Christmas movies).

 

All you do is start with some ruby red rhubarb stalks

Chop them up. I think the chopping is quite theraputic

See, the red and green of the rhubarb marks the onset of the festive season. In fact you might want to bust out some of your christmas cds to listen to while cooking this

Whiz your cake batter in the food processor. Look! It matches the stand mixer from my last post 😀 hooray! And it’s red… see… christmas….

Stir through the rhubarb pieces and dump it all in a cake pan

And not too long after you can pop this baby out

Perfect delicious crispy crunchy top, and moist crumb with flecks of deep pink rhubarb.

JOY!

Just a step up from a plain old tea cake, the cinnamon addition gives it a bit more depth and the rhubarb adds colour and texture. You could probably cook it a bit longer to get it firmer in the middle but I love it more moist and pudding like. A super easy way to warm you up on a cold Summer winter day. I defy you to eat this cake and not feel comforted and cuddled. So, my lovelies, what do you like to cook/eat to warm you up when you are cold and feeling miserable?

Rhubarb and Cinnamon Cake from The Cook’s Companion by Stephanie Alexander

Ingredients

80 g unsalted butter

300g plain flour

380g brown sugar

2 eggs

a few drops of vanilla essence

1 tsp salt

1 tsp bi carb soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

grated zest of 1 lemon

1 cup sour cream

400g rhubarb (cut into 1 cm pieces)

1/4 cup brown sugar (for the topping)

1 tsp ground cinnamon (for the topping)

Method

1. Mix together the butter and sugar

2. add the eggs and vanilla

3. sift together the flour, salt, bi carb and cinnamon then add to the food processor and pulse a few times to combine

4. Add the lemon zest and sour cream then transfer to a large bowl and stir in the rhubarb

5. pour into a 24 cm round tin that has been greased and lined with paper

6. Mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over the top of the cake

7. Bake at 180 degrees celsius for 1 1/4 hours or until a skewer inserted comes out clean