Making Christmas: the finished product.

Merry Christmas eve all.  I hope where ever in the world you may all be, you are all feeling festive and snug. 

There is not a lot to say today, I just wanted to share the finished product of my making Christmas series - I have put it after the page break in an attempt to prevent my mother from having a peak before Christmas day!  

Making Christmas #8: Chocolate Spoons.

Another last minute project for chucking into the hampers and it is so simple it almost feels like cheating!  I bought a spoon mold at a local kitchen shop but you can also buy them here on amazon.  Then to make these beauts you literally just melt the chocolate of your choice, pour it into the molds and let them harden overnight.  To make them a bit special, once they are hardened flick melted chocolate (of a different colour) over the surface, wait for them to dry and wrap them up.

I am going to wrap mine up in grease-proof paper and twine and slip them into the hampers .  (Apart from the one I currently using to stir my coffee (a proper mocha) and the one that James has stolen for eating ice-cream)!

Making Christmas #7: Christmas Cranberry Chutney.

I think that Chutneys are some of the loveliest presents to receive for Christmas.  Initially I always overlook them in favour of more exciting gifts, but then, when boxing day arrives and you are feasting on cold leftovers, Chutneys are the make or break factor.  This recipe makes a very tart chutney, so do feel free to add a little more sugar if you feel it necessary.  I literally cannot wait to have this spread thickly in my cold turkey and stuffing sandwiches.

You will need:

     1kg Bramley apples

     500g of fresh cranberries

     450g finely chopped onions

     75g of finely chopped fresh ginger

     1 tbsp of whole black peppercorns

     500g granulated sugar

     250 ml red wine vinegar

Put all the ingredients into a heavybased saucepan and cook on a low heat for about an hour.  You want to chutney to have cooked off most of the watery liquid but for the fruit to still have some bite.  

Spoon into sterilised jars and give all (except one jar) away.

Making Christmas #6: Ombre-effect dipped candles.

As you can find instructions for making pillar candles all over the internet, I don't feel I have much to add regarding the basics.  I used this website here, but made some adaptations following much trial-and-error.

My additional hints and tips are:

- Instead of using a proper double boiler, putting the wax base (whether beeswax or paraffin beads) into a heatproof heavy-based jug into a large pan of boiling water works pretty darn well.
- It can be a nightmare to get the candle out of the mold!  The website I have linked (as with many others) suggest putting the candle in the fridge for 15 minutes - use the freezer!!  15-30 minutes in the freezer, then run the mold under the hold tap and the candle slides out peasy.
- Don't worry about a 'wick-rod', an old chopstick is a much more money efficient tool, and as for the 'sealer' just use a bit of blu-tac!

We trialed several different brands of wax-dyes and did not like any of them - the colours looked very artificial and plasticky.  Then I came across a Martha Stewart tutorial for Dip-Dyed candles which uses bog-standard wax crayons to colour the wax.
We dipped our candle according to her instructions but only for 5 seconds, then allowed the wax to harder.  Then we dipped the candle in the coloured wax again (another 5 seconds) but only half of the depth that we had previously dipped it.  Once cooled, we did this for a final time, but only dipping the bottom 1 cm of the candle into the coloured wax.  The building up of the coloured layers created a lovely ombre effect.

Making Christmas #5: Peppermint Creams.

These little packets of peppermint creams are the perfect last minute addition to any hamper or given as small treats with your Christmas cards.  They are super super simple, look pretty and taste awesome.

You will need:

     1 egg white

     60 ml double cream

     About 500g icing sugar (plus a little more)

     Peppermint essence

     A big bar of dark chocolate.

Mix the egg white and the cream into a bowl.  Sift in the icing sugar gradually and beat it in until it forms a stiff paste.  I added the peppermint cream at this point, I can't tell you how much to use because it depends how pepperminty you want them to taste.  I like them strong so added a teaspoon and then some more (and then a little more).  Just be aware that the more you add the stickier your dough will become, so the more icing sugar you will ultimately need.

Dust your work surface with icing sugar and then dollop the paste out onto it.  Knead it a little, using more icing sugar if it is too sticky.  When it is not too sticky, roll the dough out into a sausage shape and cut into slices, making disks about one centimeter thick.  Place the disks on grease-proof paper and let them dry for several hours or overnight if possible.  When they are dry enough, melt the dark chocolate in a deep bowl or mug, then dip half of each peppermint cream into the chocolate - dunk them quickly though so they don't re-melt.  If needs be you can always double dip them.  Let them harden again on the grease-proof paper then divvy them out and wrap them up.

I made pouches out of presentation paper I bought from a kitchen shop.  I picked two festive threads and hooked up the sewing machine and sewed along three edges, popped in five peppermint creams per packet and then stitched the top, adding a label and a ribbon for good measure.

Easy Peasy deliciousness.

Making Christmas #4: Limoncello recipe.

So there is just enough time to squizz this one in before Christmas - a cheats Limoncello recipe:

You will need:

4 unwaxed organic lemons

75cl bottle of vodka

550g caster sugar

525ml boiling water

Stage one, zest the lemons making sure you don't get any of the pith with it.  Drop the zest into large, sterilised jar and pour the vodka over it.  Shake vigorously for a couple minutes and then shake a couple times every day for a week.  

After 7 days stage two commences; put the sugar into a bowl and pour the freshly boiled water over the top and stir until all the sugar has dissolved.  When the sugar syrup has cooled, pour it into the jar with the vodka and lemons.  Again shake for a couple minutes and then shake a couple times everyday. 

Ideally leave it for a week, however I am fully aware that would take you past Christmas... so at the last possible moment, strain it and pour into the decorative bottles (or into mason jars as is the current trend) and give as a lovely, boozy gift with a couple of pretty glasses.

Making Christmas #3 Cranberry and Orange Vodka.

Another Christmas hamper goody (and again Mother, please avert your eyes).

This is a recipe for Cranberry and Orange Vodka.  It is sweet, rich and christmassy and the most phenomenal ruby-red colour.  It is a lovely drink on its own in the evening or, my personal favourite, it makes a slightly more decadent alternative to a Bellini - pouring a little of the spirit into the bottom of a champagne flute then filling the glass up with Prosecco (at some point in the future I will blog about this as it is, without a doubt, the worlds best cocktail).

The recipe for this is super simple.

1.  Weigh out 250g of Cranberries.  You can use fresh cranberries but you will need to prick them all over with a fork to make sure the juice can infuse into the vodka - it is much easier to use frozen cranberries (or freeze fresh ones before you use them) as the freezing process cracks the skin so you don't have to.

2.  Zest 2-3 oranges; be really careful to not put any of the pith (the white bit) in as it will make it bitter.

3.  Weigh out 175g of sugar (you can add more to taste later if you prefer it sweeter)

4.  Place all the ingredients into a sterilised, air tight jar amd pour over a litre of Vodka.

5.  Leave to infuse for two weeks, shaking it for 30 seconds every day.

6.  The fun bit, try a little bit and see if it is sweet enough for your liking, if it is then strain the vodka (a fine sieve or a muslin lined sieve will do the job) and pour into your bottles.  If not, add a touch more sugar, shake and leave for another couple days.  Repeat until perfect, then bottle.

7.  Gift or enjoy :)

Making Christmas #2: Handmade soaps.

I have a little confession to make with this one - I bought the soap base.  I really really want to make soaps from scratch but I just couldn't afford all the components (I know weight for weight it would have been cheaper in the long run, but long run shmong run).  The soap base was a nice hippy brand of unscented, uncoloured and relatively unmessed with soapiness.  With the soap base, you simply cut it up into chunks and heat it really slowly until it melts, add any extras (colours/scents/essential oils/etc) and then pour it into the molds.

We bought some colours designed for soap making from HobbyCraft first but we were really unimpressed - you can see in the top picture that the colours are really bright and a bit tacky.  But waste not want not, we couldn't simply bin the ones we didn't want, so a little glitter was added and we wrote them off as 'festive'!

The next ones were far, far more lovely!  We dried slices of orange which we then put into the mold and poured the soap base over the top.  As the soap base is relatively clear you can see the slice of orange beautifully in the soap and there is no need for nasty colours.

Drying oranges is really really simple - you just cut your orange into slices about 0.5-1cm thick, lay them out on baking paper and cook in the oven at a low temperature for several hours.  I turned them about every 30 minutes to stop them curling up at the edges and to stop them browning.  Easy peasy.

Soap molds come in lots of shapes and sizes, however there are also several cheaper alternatives that you may already own.  Silicone ice cube trays work really well especially if they are fun shapes, as do silicone muffin trays or jelly molds.  Plus they are really easy to clean.  In the end we simply used muffin cases in a muffin tray; they are pretty, simple and a good size.

And finally, scenting the soap; I love the smell of lavender so predominantly we used a lot of lavender essential oil (from a field owned by my mum's friend - I would love to own a lavender field!) but we also tried oils that are often sold for oil burners, a few drops is all you need and they come in lots of festive scents around this time of the year.

And there we have it, lovely gift-wrapped soapy presents.

Making Christmas #1: Pegs.

Firstly - Mum, if you are reading this stop now!

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Is she gone?

Right.  Well, basically money is a little tight this year, perhaps the tightest it has ever been in my experience!  But that's okay - I am informed regularly that it is character building!  Plus, in addition to the huge amount of character I have developed, my creative muscles are being forcibly flexed in order to provide Christmas gifts to those I love.  Every Tuesday afternoon my friend Becky and I sit together over endless cups of tea and manufacture our gifts.

I thought it might be nice to share some of our little projects; I will happily confess that none of these are ground breaking works of art, each can be completed in an afternoon or even within a couple hours, but by the end there will (hopefully) be a glorious hamper full of little gifts!

So, starting with the easiest project of the lot; these are our festive pegs, it seems ridiculous even sharing how to make these as they are so simple!  Also, the pictures do not do these justice (blooming phone camera), these are just so lovely!

You will need:

• Wooden pegs (we bulk bought ours from eBay, I think they cost about £2 for 100)
• Modpodge glue or PVA
• Colourful ribbons or scrapbooking paper
• Magnet backing
• Superglue
• Ruler
• Scissors or a guillotine, a steady hand and a pot of tea.

1. It is easiest to cut all the scrapbooking paper to size first; measure the width of the peg and then mark out the lines on the scrapbooking paper so you can cut it all up at once.  Although not necessary, it was easier to cut the scrapbooking paper a milimeter or two narrower than the width of the peg as it made it easier to line up and avoided any overhang.  If you are using ribbons make sure they are skinner than the peg; I have found no nice way of cutting ribbons evenly.

2. Using a paint brush, put a thin layer of modpodge/PVA on the top of each peg and then carefully place the paper/ribbon on top. We used another layer of modpodge on top to seal it in; glittery modpodge looks especially festive!  

3. Drink tea and wait for the pegs to dry.

4. Cut the magnet backing to size and stick to the back of the peg.  I used magnet sheets (like this but I can't actually remember where I bought it from!) which are supposedly already sticky, but we found that lots of them came unstuck within a couple days, so consider using superglue to make sure that the magnet sticks properly.

5. Again, drink tea and wait for it to dry.

6. That's it!  You have some seriously cute magnetic pegs for sticking to your fridge to hold Christmas cards in place!