Friday, December 17, 2010

{12 Days of Christmas ::: Day 5 - Advent Calendars}

Well, Almost ever family home has something like this in some form or another. The advent calendar forms the important role (particularly for kids) of the countdown. I am going to embark on making one for next year and I am looking for inspiration. Here are a few ideas I came up with. If you have one, I'd love to see what you came up with :)

Lauren x






Martha Stewart




Thursday, December 16, 2010

{12 Days of Christmas ::: Day 4} Baileys Fudge

(recipe via taste.com.au)


Two years ago, I made this Baileys fudge and they were VERY popular!!! I have had requests for it again. Once the fudge set, I used a small (bite-sized) star shaped cookie cutter to cut out and arranged on a plate in a pyramid/ chritmas tree shape. This makes a wonderful gift and anyone would love to unwrap these.

Ingredients

Melted butter, to grease
1 x 395g can sweetened condensed milk
100g butter, cubed
255g (1 1/4 cups) brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tbs glucose syrup
150g good-quality dark chocolate, finely chopped
60ml (1/4 cup) Baileys Original Irish Cream liqueur

Method

  1. Brush a 20cm (base measurement) square cake pan with melted butter to lightly grease. Line base and 2 opposite sides with non-stick baking paper, allowing it to overhang.

  2. Combine the condensed milk, butter, sugar and glucose syrup in a medium heavy-based saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat for 3 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring constantly, for 10-15 minutes or until mixture thickens, turns a caramel colour and leaves the side of pan. Remove from heat.

  3. Add the chocolate and liqueur, and stir until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Pour into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Set aside for 1 hour to cool. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 1 hour or until firm.

  4. Remove fudge from pan, using the paper to help lift the fudge. Use a sharp knife to cut fudge into 16 equal portions.


Enjoy;
Lauren x

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

{12 Days of Christmas ::: Day 3} Gift Wrapping

Well, at christmas time there are so many gifts going from hosue to hosue and person to person, I thought it would be cool to dedicate a post to the wrapping process. Personally I love spending some extra time thinking of cool ways to wrap presents and the idea of re-using stuff from around the house and recyling it is even more of a fun chalenge.

Think 'outside the box' (pun not intended lol) and try incorporating some of these ideas into your wrapping this year to make it different and fun. Fabric scraps, herbs, pinecones, flowers, lace and ribbon off cuts, buttons, old costume jewellery, newspaper, brown paper, twine, leaves, old or odd christmas baubles, inks, paints, stamps, paper scraps etc.....


I also found some tips on wrapping gifts. Sometimes it can seem a little daunting to some people, so I wanted to post a few tips that might help take the stress out of it. Personally though, I love wrapping and would have a whole room dedicated to it if I could (thats in my DREAM house lol). Get creative and I would love to hear your ideas too. In the mean time, here is some eye candy for inspiration :)

Enjoy;
Lauren x













Monday, December 13, 2010

{12 Days of Christmas ::: Day 2} Vintage Christmas Tree Craft and Book Wreath}

Vintage Christmas Tree Craft
Today is a craft I wanted to share that I found over at "The Country Chic Cottage". I am just
loving this idea how she has recycled by turning old sewing patterns (which you may have lying around or can find at an Op Shop for next to nothing) into a gorgeous looking decoration. I love this idea, and she even recycled the foam she used for the core from styrofoam she found 'in the attic y'all' hahaha ;)



Book Wreath
I just loved this blog when I found it - her motto? "Creating a beautiful home, one glue gun burn at a time". I then found an idea very similar to the tree above, but so beautiful. As she says, Librarians and booklovers please avert your eyes hahaha.

What a beautiful and cheap way to create something so gorgeous! Hop over ans visit her to see more details.





Enjoy;

Lauren x

Sunday, December 12, 2010

{12 Days of Christmas ::: Day 1} Almond& Rosewater Shortbread and a Guava Mocktail

Well, I have had a hectic few weeks in my little world. Not much crafting or cooking or anything like that as I have finally settled into our new house. I love the kitchen and it is such a feature, will have to share a pic soon.

But now that I have found my power cord to my lap top, I am now free to start sharing some festive inspiration as we all approach my favourite time of year - the very busy season of Christmas.
We have 12 days till Christmas so, here is DAY ONE. I thought I would share 2 yummy festive treats for my first post back after the move. The first of these treats is what I Christened my new oven and my new Kitchen Aid with and it is simple and delicious ;)
Almond and Rosewater Shortbread I loved this (and so did my girlfriends I had over for a craft night recently). I also had all ingredients except for the rice flour on hand in the pantry, so adding that to my shopping list for $1.30 meant this was very economical. I doubled the batch it was so delcious. This would also make a wonderful gift for school teachers, just bag or box up nicley and done!



Oil spray to grease tray or baking paper
180g soft butter

125g (3/4 cup) icing sugar mixture, sifted

1 x 100g pkt almond meal

115g (3/4 cup) plain flour

45g (1/4 cup) white rice flour

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 tbs rosewater essence
About 3/4 cup icing sugar mixture, extra, to dust
(i didn't need that much, but use how much you like here).

Method
  1. Preheat oven to 160°C.

  2. Spay 2 baking trays with oil to lightly grease or lay with baking paper.

  3. Use an electric beater to beat together the butter and icing sugar mixture in a bowl until pale and creamy.

  4. Add the almond meal and sift over the flours and ground cloves. Stir until well combined.

  5. Use your hands to roll heaped tablespoonsful of mixture into 8cm long logs. Roll them into a ball first and then roll the logs so the ends are nice and rounded. Shape into crescents and place on prepared trays. THe mixture does spread so make sure to leave a few cm between them. I did try a few different designs (hearts, logs and crescents) but the mixture doesn't hold shape very well do do hearts, but the logs and crescents worked well.

  6. Bake in preheated oven, for 20 minutes or until cooked through and light golden. Remove from oven.

  7. Lightly brush shortbreads with rosewater essence and set aside on trays for 30 minutes to cool and firm.

  8. Dust shortbreads with extra icing sugar.

  9. Set aside for a further 30 minutes or until completely cool.



Guava, passionfruit and lime mocktail
I love this drink, as you can have all ingredients on hand and they last for a while in pantry which means you can shop ahead of time for this one too. It's a delcious and festive drink that adds something special.For an extra nice touch, pre-chill champagne or martini glasses in the fridge and serve in them as your guests arrive :)



Fresh limes cut into small wedges
1 tin of passionfruit (or fresh if in season)
1 bottle of Guava nectar
1 bottle of soda water
Ice
Strawberries and mint leaves to serve (if desired)

1. Put ice cubes into glass
2. Squeeze lime wedge into glass and put the whole wedge into the glass

3. Put a teaspoon of passionfuit pulp in glass
4. Pour Guava nectar into glass till about 1/3 full

5. Top up with soda water

6. Push a fresh strawberry onto side of glass to garnish if desired.
7. If you want a minty touch to it, just rip a mint leave in half (to realease aroma) and place in glass.

Enjoy;
Lauren x

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