Home Made Christmas Crackers

This year, Mr B and I are hosting Christmas brunch at our house for the first time. I'm  really excited, but also really nervous because we have always had Christmas brunch at my Mum and Dad's and they have certainly set big standards for us to live up to.

In saying that, I think I am nearly organised, I've got the dinner set, I've made the centrepieces, I've stamped some beautiful napkins, I've brought platters and today Mum and Dad dropped in some gorgeous Christmas Lillies. The only thing left was the Christmas Crackers! Unfortunately none of the ones in the shop really grabbed me, sure they were pretty, but nothing matched my table and the idea I had in my head for how it was all going to look. So I decided to get my Martha on and make our own Crackers or Bon Bons or whatever you want to call them!

I was surprised at how easy they were really.

All you need is

6 small cardboard tubes (you could use toilet rolls or the cardboard roll from the inside of your wrapping paper cut into 4 works great too!)
Wrapping paper
Ribbon
6 small toys (we used the little toys from the inside of kinder surprises - win/win, we got to eat chocolate and we got cool toys for the crackers! Plus I think everyone will love putting them together on Christmas Day!)
6 dodgy Christmas jokes (definitely optional!)
6 Snaps (These are the things that make your crackers go 'bang' - I brought mine on Ebay but you should be able to find them at most craft shops at this time of year)
Glue gun or glue stick

Cut the paper into 6 rectangles roughly 31cm x 25cm.

Take one square of paper and place one cardboard tube in the centre of one edge.

Place a snap underneath the tube. Place your toy and your joke in the tube.

Now roll the tube up firmly in the paper and seal with the glue.

Gently twist the ends, using the edge of your cardboard tube as a guide. Tie some ribbon around these twists to secure them.

And there you have it! Home made Christmas Crackers at a fraction of the cost and you can personalise them anyway you want!

Mrs B xx

Mrs B tackles the Christmas Pudding!

So this year, due to space constraints in the caravan kitchen, Mum and Dad decided they just could not do the Christmas puddings. Yeah ok I get that, but Christmas with none of my Mum and Dad's Christmas Pudding smothered in cream for dessert?! I don't think so! This meant there was only one option, it was time I stepped up to the plate and tried to make it myself. Never mind I have never so much as helped my Mum and Dad make theirs before - the most involvement I've had is picking the peel out of the fruit mixture (honestly, who likes peel!?) and shaking the fruit while it soaks (long time family tradition, everyone shakes the fruit!).....this was going to be a massive learning experience. And reflecting back on it now, it certainly was!

It was at times very stressful, my little pot was definitely not big enough to boil a pudding in and resulted in it being raw the first time we took it out (after 9 hours of boiling!!) but then we went out and brought a proper big stock pot, boiled it for another 1.5 hours and it was good to go. I should clarify that the pudding should only take 3 hours to cook, but as I said, small pots + puddings = not cool. Anyway, we learnt from that and moved on, plus look at the end result, it looks like pudding, it smells like pudding and I just hope it tastes like pudding too!

Christmas Pudding - Makes 1

375g sultanas
150g glace cherries
150g dried cranberries
125ml brandy
1 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tspn salt
125g butter
1 tspn bicarb soda
1 lightly beaten egg
1 cup plain flour
1 cup self raising flour
1 tspn mixed spice
1/2 tspn cinnamon
Large oven bags
Brown kitchen string

In a large container, combine the sultanas, cherries and cranberries. Pour over the brandy and mix to combine. Place a lid on the container and leave in the cupboard to soak for 2 days. (At this point, we all shake the fruit container....it's good luck!)

In a large pot, combine the fruit, water, sugars, salt and butter. Bring to the boil and simmer for 8-10 mins.

Remove from heat and add bicarb soda. Mixture will begin to foam so don't panic.

Add the egg, flours and spices. Stir well to ensure everything is combined.

Now take one oven bag and cut it down the joins so it opens into a large rectangle. Place the oven bag in a large bowl so that the edges are hanging over the sides.

Spoon your pudding batter into the bowl. Bring the sides of the oven bag up and tie tightly with the string, ensuring there are no gaps for water to get in or for the pudding to expand, your bag should be water tight. Now cut open another oven bag and place the pudding into that, again bring the edges up and tie it tightly ensuring it's water tight.

In a large stock pot, place enough water to submerge your pudding (it will need to be able to float and be completely covered with water). Bring the water to the boil and place the pudding gently into the pot.

Cook with the lid on for 3 hours, turning the pudding after 2 hours. Make sure the water remains boiling constantly and replenish with more boiling water when necessary.

Once the pudding is cooked, remove from the water and allow to cool and set over night. The following day, remove from the bags and wrap tightly in cling wrap and foil. Place in the fridge until your ready to serve.

Before serving we microwave ours for 15-20 seconds (for a small slice) and serve with cream.

Did I mention how much I LOVE Christmas Pudding!? 

Last week we went to Mum and Dad's for dinner and put their Christmas tree up. Given that they are still living in the caravan there is not much for their normal tree, so this year they went with the simple (but effective!) version and I must say it was much easier and quicker to put up! 

Mrs B xx 

Christmas 2011

Christmas this year was one of THE best yet....

Normally OH and I spend the day bouncing around between my parents and his Mother and step mother....

The day is always fantastic but it is also exhausting and OH and I normally get home mega late and are always buggered when we do our presents together...


This year the universe smiled upon us, we had dinner with OH's Mum and brothers and sisters a few days before Christmas, on Christmas Eve we had our traditional 8 ball tournament with Mum and Dad before dinner with OH's step Mum and family which left Christmas Day to spend with my parents and we even got to squeeze in some time to ourselves!

And on Christmas morning when I woke up, our christmas lillies were out, they looked as gorgeous as they smelt :)


OH got to live his childhood dream of being in Ghostbusters (I've never seen someone so excited about a spraying backpack!)


I got to live my adulthood dream of being in the roller derby (except I've never skated before so the only injuries I was causing were to myself....there was lots of screaming, pleading, giggling and begging for my life...)


Then it was onto Mum and Dad's, as always the table was beautifully set...


And we were greeted with a spread of biscuits, cheeses,salad, seasoned chicken breast, dolmades, dips and of course freshly dug new potatoes! All washed down with some midori (very festively coloured if you have the melon and the strawberry!)


On Christmas Day it is compulsory to wear your Christmas hat or your Christmas ears!




And because any Christmas brunch is not complete without dessert, we finished off with some fresh strawberries, chocolate cream and wafer straws :)


OH and I headed home mid afternoon and had the rest of our presents together. For the first time ever we had dinner together on Christmas night. We even had a few drinks and curled up on the bean bags watching a movie and it was the perfect end to a perfect Christmas season.

And at the end of the day, there is nothing better then spending Christmas time with your family....


And seeing the excitement on someone's face when you give them something they really really wanted...


All in all, the day was.....


I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas with your families and friends.

Em x

Christmas Pudding (without the pudding!)

As most of you know, my OH is not a 'cakey' person...

Cake has to be disguised as some sort of dessert....

But Christmas pudding is a total no go.... so each year when Mum gives me some of her Christmas pudding, I like to make something special for OH and this year I thought I would make him his very own Christmas pudding, but without the pudding part!

All I did was....

line a pudding steamer with cling wrap

Line the base and sides with sliced chocolate sponge roll

Fill with softened caramel ice cream and place in the freezer for 3-4 hours

Cover the top with sponge roll as well.

Freeze overnight.

The following night combine 1/3 cup cream, 2 tbspns brown sugar and 80g white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and heat in 40 second bursts until well combined. Allow to cool for 5 mins.

Remove the pudding from the mould and pour over the cooled sauce.

Place mint leave and jaffas on top to create the 'pudding effect'





An easy Christmas dessert that looks impressive, tastes delicious and will keep the non-pudding lovers happy!!

Em x

Mum's Bishops Cake

When I was younger I remember my Mum baking up a storm at Christmas time - there were puddings and cakes and mini truffles and all sorts of goodies. One of the things I remember most is this Bishops Cake. Mum always used to make a heap of them and then cut them in half and give them away as gifts to people. I used to think it was a bit rough giving people half a cake, but now i understand why....they look so pretty when they are cut and I believe the name comes from the fact that they look like a stained glass window when cut - to be honest when I was little I thought it was because the nuts in the top looked like a Bishops Hat...hey, it's totally plausible!

Anyway, this year I wanted to make something to give a few of the special people in my life and this was the first thing that came to mind - it's delicious, it's pretty and it's easy, ticks all the boxes!!

Now this recipe makes 1 tall loaf or I actually doubled the recipe and baked it in a sheet pan which gave me 8 decent sized squares...they weren't as tall as the ones I remember Mum making, but still looked great!

All you need is:

250g brazil nuts
250g macadamia nuts
12 pitted dates
2 glace pineapple circles cut into chunks
6 glace apricots sliced
1 cup red and green glace cherries
3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
3 eggs
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 tspn vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 150C

Grease a 21x11cm loaf tin or a large sheet cake pan and line the base and sides with baking paper.

Place the nuts and fruit in a bowl.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt over the fruit.

In a small bowl, beat the eggs until frothy. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until nice and thick. Pour over the fruit and nut mixture and stir to combine.

Spoon the mixture into prepared tin - try to arrange it so you get a good mix of everything.

Bake for around 45 - 60mins. I recommend checking it at 45mins with a skewer, if the cake is golden and the skewer is clean then it's done, if not, give it another 10-15mins.

Allow the cake to cool before removing from pan and peeling off the baking paper.


Now like I said before, if you are giving this away and you make a single loaf, then cut it in half or if you make a sheet cake, cut into nice squares. I recommend using an electric knife to cut it as it looks really pretty with a nice straight edge. I have wrapped all my pieces in two layers of cling wrap and then in some cellophane and they make really nice gifts to give to people, plus you get the added bonus of a home made pressie :)

And Mum tells me this cake is best served sliced very thin (with your electric knife) with a nice tasty cheese!

Em x

Christmas Chocolate Cups

I love these!! OH and I made some of these yesterday and I'm going to make some more later in the week for the Christmas Day lunch my work holds every year. They are so quick and easy and they just look adorable!!

All you will need for the tartlets is:

250g packet Arnott's Butternut Snap Cookies
1/3 cup cream
200g milk or dark chocolate melts
65g unsalted butter, chopped
(If you don't have unsalted butter, use the salted and add 1/2 cup caster sugar)

Pre-heat oven to 180C.
Place butter, cream and chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on medium high in 40 second bursts, stirring inbetween until melted and smooth.

Pour into clean and dry bowl and refrigerate until cool but not set - approx 20 minutes.

Place 12 biscuits over each hole of a twelve hole patty pan tin.

Bake for 2-3 minutes or until soft.

Remove from oven then carefully press softened biscuits into tin with the back of a spoon to mould into a cup shape. Allow to cool. Remove from tin and transfer to serving plate. Repeat with remaining biscuits.

Fill biscuit cases with 1 heaped teaspoon of chocolate mixture then place in refrigerator for about 20mins or until set.

Now here is where it's good to get the kids...or OH involved! Line up your jaffas, marshmallows (big and small), spearmint leaves, star shaped pretzels (found in the bags of mini pretzels) and 1/2 cup chocolate frosting on the bench like so...


To make the little reindeers....
Cut a regular marshmallow in half and place cut side down for the snout.
Stick a jaffa to the marshmallow using some chocolate frosting.
Place two mini marshmallows onto the tart for the eyes. Add a small drop of black food writing gel or chocolate frosting to the eye whites.
Cut mini star shaped pretzels in half and gently push into chocolate filling to make ears.

To make the little holly leaves....
Place a jaffa in the middle of the tart.
Place two spear mint leaves on either side to make the leaves.

These really are very easy and something great to get the kids involved in this Christmas :) even if you don't have little kids, I recommend making these with a friend, is there anything better then sitting in your kitchen with someone you love creating something yummy and adorable!

Hope you all have a fantastic week :)

Em x
Em x

Mini Boozy Christmas Pudding Cake Balls

Tomorrow night is a big night for me :) Awhile ago you may remember I wrote a post about a Bridal Knees Up that I went to which was organised by some ladies I work with for two of our co-workers who were about to get married....well this weekend it's my turn! I'm so excited and nervous and scared all in one because a) I never thought I would have a hen's night and b) all any of us know is where to meet up and that it's kind of going to be like the amazing race...that's it!!

Anyway I have been working on a cake to take to the party tomorrow night (stay tuned for a full run down on the night AND the cake!!) and I had a big bowl full of mud cake off cuts that I had big plans for!


So you will need:

Roughly 3-4 cups of mud cake
1/2 cup of chocolate frosting
60ml of whiskey
Red glace cherries (halved)
375g of milk or dark chocolate melts
100g of white chocolate melts

To make these I crumbled up the mud cake off cuts, added the chocolate frosting and whiskey and mixed it all up until it was holding together well. Place in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

Roll tbspns of the mixture into balls (or I used my lil gadget that puts holes in and fills cupcakes to make them nice even shapes) and place on a lined tray and back in the fridge for a few more hours.

Melt the milk or dark chocolate in 50g batches. Roll the balls in the chocolate to cover and using a fork or a toothpick place them back on the tray and repeat with remaining chocolate and balls and you guessed it, back in the fridge till set.

Melt the white chocolate and drizzle a teaspoon over the top of each pudding. Top with 1/2 a red glace cherry. Back in the fridge one last time and your done!!

Oh yummmmm....mud cake...chocolate...glace cherries and hellloooo whiskey!!!

Happy Friday night everyone :)

Em x

Candy Cane Whoopie Pies

The first week of December is always very exciting in our house, not only does it mean the onset of Christmas but it also means the Toy Run. The Toy Run is where thousands of bikes, laden with toys, ride together into the city where we fill up the waiting Salvation Army trucks, have a drink and just revel in the fact that the entire waterfront is just full of bikes as far as the eye can see....and anyone who rides a bike will know the sound of all those bikes thundering down the highway is incredible...but what I love the most? All the people that come out and line the streets, the excited kids, the families, the oldies, it just attracts everyone and being a part of it is the best feeling. Hopefully next year I will be confident and experienced enough to take my own bike :)


This year we were treated to an air show by 6 jets whilst we were down at the waterfront.


Dad's bike, my Uncle's new bike and OH's bike


OH and I ready for a drink in the sun and a sticky beak at all the bikes!

The onset of Christmas to me means Christmas trees and decorations and lots of time with family and friends....but it also means christmas baking! My head is filled with ideas involving marshmallows and gingerbread and reindeer and holly sprigs...but at the top of my list??

These Candy Cane Whoopie Pies!


For the whoopie pies I used the Classic Chocolate Whoopie recipe from Amy Treadwell's Whoopie Pie cookbook, although I halved it, and I also adapted the Mint Buttercream recipe from that book as well.

Classic Chocolate Whoopies

Just under 1 cup of plain flour (about .8 or .9 of a cup)
1/3 cup cocoa
.75 tspn baking soda
1/4 tspn salt
4 tbspns butter melted
.5 cup sugar
1 egg
.5 cup milk

Combine all the ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until smooth.

If the mixture seems too thin, let it sit for a few mins and it will thicken up.

Heat the oven to 180C and spray 2 x baking trays or whoopie pie trays with cooking spray.

Drop tbspns of the batter onto trays about 3-4cms apart. Place the trays in the oven, one at a time for 10 mins or until they spring back when lightly touched.

Allow the cakes to cool before filling.

Candy Cane Buttercream

2 cups icing sugar
125g butter
1 tspn peppermint essence
1/2 tspn strawberry essence
1-2 drops pink food colouring (you might not need this if your strawberry essence is pink)
12 long candy canes

Combine everything except the candy canes in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat well. The buttercream should be nice and thick. The best way to check it is to get a tablespoon full and hold it upside down, if it holds its shape and stays on the spoon it's good! Set the frosting aside.

Carefully snap the top ends off your candy canes to creat 12 mini candy canes. Set these aside.

Put the remaining candy cane ends in a freezer bag (I suggest double bagging), take them outside and bash them with a mallet until they are nice and crushed.


Now for the assembly!

Take 1 of your whoopie pies and place a good tablespoon of filling in the centre. Top with another whoopie pie and squeeze the two gently together to push the filling out to the sides. Now roll the edges in the crushed candy cane. Place about 1/4 tspn of filling on top of the whoopie pie and push one of the mini candy canes into it. Repeat with remaining whoopie pies and filling.


These just look so cute!! And they taste amazing...believe me, we struggled not to eat all the filling while the whoopie pies were cooling down!!

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

Em x

Swiss Chicken, New Potatoes and Some Christmas Pics!

HELLO EVERYONE!! I'm back and oh how I have missed my lil blog - sad isn't it!

Well Christmas was fantastic, lots of good food - my Mum does a plate of bikkies, dips, cheeses, tomato, dolmades and new potatoes for xmas breakfast followed by a plate of chocolate creme, marshmallows, strawberries and mini meringues - best thing ever! And we normally go to OH's family for lunch or dinner so he still gets his fix of xmas meat!

This year Mum and Dad gave me something I really really love - and no it wasn't the waffle maker, although that was up there! She brought me two books.


The one with the shoe is half full of all of my favourite recipes of Mum's, her xmas pudding, her pumpkin pasta bake, her pumpkin scones, her jams and chutneys, it's just fantastic. And the other one is for me to write my recipes down in and pass on to my kids. I love the whole idea of it and can't wait to start filling it up and making some of Mum's recipes! We also got spoilt rotten with things for the garden, kitchen appliances, books and OH even brought us a kayak each!!

One thing I brought OH was this book called Cheese Matters. It's a great book because all the recipes use brands such as Coon, South Cape, Tasmanian Heritage, Mil Lel brands that are readily available in the supermarket here. So seeing as we had some xmas smoked ham left over we decided to make the Swiss Chicken first and oh it was delicious!!

You will need

2 x sml chicken breast
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tspn french mustard
1 tbspn oil
salt and pepper
2 slices of smoked ham
2 slices of swiss cheese

Preheat oven to 200C.
Combine the wine and mustard and pour over the chicken breasts. Season with salt and pepper. Leave in the fridge for 30 mins to marinate.
Heat oil in a fry pan and cook chicken until golden on both sides, but not cooked through.
Wrap each chicken breast in a slice of ham and top with a slice of cheese.
Place on a lined oven tray and bake for 20-25 mins or until cheese is melted and chicken is cooked.


We had ours with freshly dug new potatoes and baby carrots from our garden....absolutely devine! And the wine and mustard give the chicken a beautiful flavour :)


Hope you all have a safe and enjoyable New Years Eve!!

Em x

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has been reading and commenting this year and I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas however you choose to celebrate!

Em xx

The last of the Xmas Baking!!

Honestly it has to be because my fridge just cannot hold anymore!!

Today I made some Chewy Maple Oat Cookies and some White Xmas (minus the white!)

I had been telling Mum how much I enjoyed making the white xmas and how yummy it was, but that it was a shame OH doesn't like white chocolate and Mum suggested I make it with normal milk chocolate (duh Emily....) so I thought I would give it a go.

Not So White Xmas
You will need:

375g milk chocolate melts
125g cooking butter
1/2 cup milk powder
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 1/2 cups rice bubbles
1/2 cup coconut
1 cup glace cherries

Combine milk powder, icing sugar, rice bubbles, coconut and cherries in a bowl.
Melt the chocolate and butter over low heat and pour over dry ingredients.
Stir to combine and press into a lined slice tin. Refrigerate until set :)

Very easy and OH loved it which is always a bonus!!

Now onto the next one - Chewy Maple Oat Cookies


For these cute lil babies you will need

200g cooking butter
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup brown sugar + 1tbspn extra
1/2 tspn bicarb soda

Pre-heat oven to 160C and line 2 baking trays.
In an electric mixer combine 80g of the butter (softened), 2 tbspns of maple syrup and extra brown sugar. Leave it on low speed to make the frosting while you are making the biscuits.
Combine oats, coconut, flour and brown sugar in a bowl.
Melt remaining butter and maple syrup and add bicarb. Pour over dry ingredients and combine.
Place rolled tspsns of the mixture onto the tray, you should get around 36. You may also want to turn your electric mixer off now!
Bake for 7-10 mins, just keep an eye on them, when they look golden on top, take them out.
Once the biscuits have cooled you can place a tspn of the filling on half of them. Sandwich together with an un-iced biscuit. You may want to put them back in the fridge so that the filling goes harder or you may want to lick it all off straight away!!

I only made these yesterday and I have already had to make a second batch coz the first one disappeared so quick!

My kitchen still smells like maple syrup and it's just giving me the greatest urge for pancakes!

But alas there is literally no room what so ever in my fridge now due to the marshmallow puddings and marshmallow candy canes and christmas bark and christmas chocolates and maple biscuits and not so white xmas....not to mention the food we live on! So that is the xmas baking for the year and I am quite pleased with it all!!

I hope you got some great ideas and enjoyed it as much as I did :)

Em x

Parental Dinners and Christmas Baking No. 2!

Last night we finally got to put the tree up at Mum and Dads, so I thought I would show you some photos of my favourite decorations :)

This is on the shelf right next to the tree, there is a ball with each of ours names, plus our lil dog who passed away last year. Underneath the balls is a decoration to symbolise each of us - Dad loves his bikes (although normally not the pedalling kind!) Mum has a penchant for leopard print and shoes and of course the reindeer and high heel shoe for me and OH. I think it adds a really nice personal touch to the decorations.


And these are the Christmas 'ears' I brought Mum and Dad - the reindeers are Dads, and the angels are Mums, at Xmas brekkie we each have our own pair of 'ears' that we wear!


And last but not least, Mum's pride and joy, her gorgeous lil gold tree. Mum and Dad have had the actual tree since they met and I made that gold star when I was in kindergarten!!


After all that hard work we were starving! So Mum dished up one of her awesome suprise pies, this one being egg, brocolli, cauliflower and vegetarian sausage and some potato swirls on the side....everyone made fun of me because I like nibbling the crunchy outside off and then eating the soft ball of mashed potato inside...


And then tonight I made these cute lil Marshmallow Candy Canes


Aren't they adorable? And so simple!

You will need:

20 white marshmallows
30 pink marshmallows
Toothpicks
80g white chocolate melts
Strawberry straps cut into thin strands

Begin by cutting 10 white and 10 pink marshmallows in half.
On a toothpick thread one pink, then one white, then another pink marshallow (although I also quite like the look of the all white ones - colour selection is totally up to you!) and place on a lined baking tray.
Melt your chocolate and brush a white marshmallow half on the cut side. Stick to the top of one of your pink marshmallows on the stick. Repeat with pink, white and pink marshmallow halves, creating a curve as you go. It's best to do this whilst it is lying flat on the baking sheet.
Once all these are done, place in the fridge for 10 mins to set.
Meanwhile you can cut the strawberry straps into strands!
For each candy cane, tie one strand of strap just above the bottom marshmallow, you can tie it in a bow or a know, whatever suits you : )

These would be great for the kids to help you make too!

And there you have it, marshmallow candy canes!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Em x

Christmas Baking No.1 And The Day That Was!

What a day!! It started at 7:30am this morning when I picked my best friend (and also my bridesmaid!) up and we went to have our hair trials for wedding. We have gone with a vintage / old Hollywood theme so my hair was up in a cluster of buns with lil finger waves through the front and Allison's had gorgeous high curls at the front and fell in thick curls down the back, we were so happy with them! Then we set off for the final dress fittings. We met Mum there and we all tried our dresses on. While we were there Allison found a cute pair of lil diamond earrings to wear with hers and I found an vintage looking comb with white roses, white feathers and diamantes to put in my hair - we were on a roll!

Next stop was the local day spa where we all had different treatments. Mum had a hand and foot massage, Allison had a back, shoulders and hand massage and I had back, shoulders and arms. Ohhh it was so good! There were a few iffy bits where they were rubbing knots out of the muscles and I thought I was going to cry, but it feels so much better now! We left there, dazed and relaxed, and headed to Hadleys Hotel for High Tea! We each got our own lil pot of tea and a glass of bubbles which was impressive enough, but then they brought the food out! Oh I wish I had got a photo! We had a 3-tier stand - bottom tier was the most delicious salad finger sandwiches (we requested vegetarian), second tier was bite sized morsels or caramel slice, lemon slice, custard and strawberry cups and chocolate eclairs and the third and final tier was scones, jam and cream! And there was 3 of everything so no arguments over who got what! We nearly rolled out of there when we left, that was over 5 hours ago and I still can't look at food!

Then we did a bit of power shopping, we were looking for a pair of shoes for Allison to wear with her dress and all the shops were closing and we just couldn't bring ourselves to run with full bellies....but we went into one shop that was open and found the perfect pair! Funny how things work! Somehow I managed to come home with these lil babies....I think I'm in love!!


Nearly 10 hours later I finally got home! And what better way to unwind after a great day, then to make a start on my Christmas Baking!

First off the rank was White Christmas!

I looked at alot of recipes and they seemed to either have alot of copha or alot of white chocolate, so I decided to combine both coz I wanted that chocolatey taste without it being too sickly.

1 block Milky Bar Chocolate
1 cup red cherries
125g copha
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup milk powder
1/2 cup icing sugar
1.5 cups rice bubbles

Combine all ingredients except copha and chocolate.
Melt copha and chocolate together either in the microwave or on the stove top.
Stir chocolate mix through dry ingredients.
Press into a lined slice tin and leave in the fridge for an hour to set.


So simple yet so delicious!!!

And while that was setting I got started on these lil Marshmallow Puddings

I really like the lil chocolate covered bite sized xmas puddings you get but my OH hates xmas pudding, so I thought these would be a great alternative!


15 large marshmallows
300g milk chocolate melts
150g white chocolate melts
1/4 cup red and green cherries finely diced.

Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
Place toothpicks in the top of the marshmallows.
Melt milk chocolate.
Using toothpicks, dip marshmallows into chocolate and use a teaspoon to coat them. Place on baking tray. Repeat with remaining marshmallows and place in the fridge to set.
Once set, remove toothpicks and melt white chocolate. Drizzle teaspoons of white chocolate over marshmallows and place cherries on top.
Place back in the fridge to set.

Two very easy and delicious Christmas baking recipes!!

And now I need to have a hot shower and go to bed because I can barely keep my eyes open!

Em x

Putting up the Christmas Tree

In our family it is a tradition to

a) have the tree up as close to the 1st of Dec as possible
b) that Mum, Dad, OH and I all put it up together and
c) each year Mum and Dad buy me a new shoe decoration and OH a new reindeer decoration

So last night we all got together to put our tree up and in a couple of days we are doing Mum and Dad's.

Here is the lil shoe that Mum and Dad got me this year


And here is the lil reindeer that they got OH, I don't know if you can tell but he has lil diamantes on his ears, he is so sweet!


And here was have the final product, we have a purple, blue and silver theme, plus the growing collection of shoes and reindeer taking over the tree! I love them though, it gives the tree a real personal touch I think : )



Hope you are all having a fantastic start to your festive season!

Em x

And the Christmas Baking Has Begun.....

Ok so Christmas Bark is dead easy, I'm sure we've all seen it, heard of it, tried it and hopefully loved it!

Simply melt some chocolate, stir through half a pkt of crushed up candy canes, pour it into a tin to set and then melt a different chocolate, stir through the remaining candy canes and pour over the top and chuck it in the fridge to set! It doesn't get much simpler then that!

So you may remember that for Halloween I set myself a baking challenge of certain things I wanted to make?

Well I'm doing it again!

Over the festive season I would like to make:

- Marshmallow Candy Canes
- Marshmallow Christmas Puddings
- Honey Biscuits
- White Christmas (I have never made this and always wanted to!)
- Christmas chocolates using different flavourings and fillings
- Maple Cookies

So the challenge is on! I will keep you posted of everything I make and seeing as OH is going away for his bucks weekend in a few days, what better time to get started!

Em xx