Sticky Yorkshire Gingerbread

I wish you could smell our house right now.

No really.

I’ve just baked the first of the season’s gingerbread and the house now smells of cake and spice and general yumminess.

Proper sticky, Yorkshire gingerbread this is. A dark, flavourful, almost chewy cake.

Roll on scratch ‘n’ sniff blogs 🙂

I can’t remember where I got the recipe from. I’d love to say it’s an old family recipe but as my mum once served sweet mince pies with gravy for Sunday lunch I can honestly say a love of baking is not something that previously ran in my family. And as I wrote it down probably about 20 years ago, I can’t even say it comes from Aunty Nigella.

Whatever. It’s very very good. It’s very very easy. It’s Christmas in a cake tin.

Preheat your oven to Gas 3/160C/325F.
Grease and line a 19cm square cake tin.
Beat together 125g softened butter, 125g dark muscovado sugar, 225g plain flour, 200g golden syrup, 4tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda, 150ml milk and 1 large beaten egg. The batter should be well combined but still quite liquid.

Finely chop 100g preserved ginger or 200g crystallised ginger and add to the mix.

(Preserved ginger -I’d love to come over all poetic about its amber hues but I’m afraid the term “calf nuts” springs more readily to mind! (Anyone else read Pioneer Woman?))

Stir well.
Pour into the prepared tin and bake for about 1hr 10mins until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Let the cake cool for a little while then turn out of the tin and peel off the grease proof paper. Use the skewer to poke some small holes in the cake and then drizzle some golden syrup over the top. If you used preserved ginger then the syrup from the jar is a nice alternative to the golden syrup for drizzling.

Eat a large chunk of the cake, just to check the quality, and then wrap the rest in foil and leave to mature for a few days. The warmth of the ginger will really come through if it’s left to mature in this way, and the cake will get stickier and stickier and even more delicious.

Handmade Holidays (pt 2)

December already.

Argh.

How did that happen?

A couple of years ago, when I obviously had a lot more time on my hands than I seem to have nowadays, I became irrationally irritated by the plastic inserts in most commercially produced chocolate advent calendars and decided I would make my own (calendar that is, not the plastic insert).

No need to go into the contradiction involved in then filling the home made calendar with chocolates wrapped in, ahem, disposable, wrappers. No sirree we will not go into that now.

(And I do try to get foil wrapped choccies which are slightly less guilt inducing)

Have you been good this year? Hope so otherwise this will be in your Christmas stocking

Aaaaaaarrrrghhhh

No it’s not the anti-elf. It is in fact Yoda.

Hey I never said embroidery was my strong point.

Hmmm, could be a whole new genre of blog posts… when crafts turn bad

Apart from the embroidery aspect the principle idea behind the calendar is fantastically simple.

You get a large piece of material. You fold the top edge under by a centimetre and then fold it again by about 8 centimetres and sew along the edge to make a sort of channel.
You hem the bottom edge of the large piece of material.
You cut out 24 or 25 (depending on how you like to work the Advent timetable) squares of felt or other robust material. Decorate or embellish them if you wish. Then use fabric paints to write the numbers 1 to 24 (or 25) on the squares. Sew the squares onto the large piece of material in a suitably random fashion.
Insert a piece of dowelling in the channel you created at the top of the piece of material.
Fill the squares with goodies.

This is great because you can adapt the content to your particular ethos. We include a mix of chocolates and small presents.

It is also easily adaptable so you can make it as simple or as complicated as you want.

Apart from now being terrified of the anti-elf, sorry, Yoda, oldest child is a big Star Wars fan so R2D2 makes an appearance

Youngest child is more into cute things so we’re working the whole elf/snowman/pudding/furry creatures aesthetic

Yay, warm fuzzy feelings all round 🙂

Fiction Friday

Oh, ok, it’s not Friday. See, not even into December and already my normal routine is spiralling out of control. However, as Advent is nearly upon us I thought it was time to present another seasonal medley of favourites. So without further ado, here it is, Superlative Saturday. 🙂

Books for Younger Children

A classic. Beautifully illustrated story of a Scandinavian farm’s resident Tomten (a sort of elf/pixie/dwarf creature). Apart from the slightly unnerving idea of this wee creature coming in to the house to gaze at sleeping children, this book helps to illustrate the rhythmic, cyclical nature of the seasons, and to show the importance of caring for animals over the hard winter period.

What’s not to love? Clever references to fairytales, envelopes to open, games and puzzles to play, appalling rhymes to groan over. Fab.

I love Jan Brett’s children’s books. The attention to detail in the illustrations is just superb. Brett has done a whole series of books around the Christmas/winter theme and all of them are worth buying and poring over. A visual treat.

For Slightly Older Children

You may think pop-ups are only for very little children, but that would be before you came across a pop up produced by Robert Sabuda. Think of him as a pop-up artists version of Rob Ryan. Someone who takes the craft to a whole new level. I first came across his work at the Library, where copies of his books had been bought for Fine Art students to study and try and puzzle out how he got his pop-ups to do what they do. I can now spend hours in the comfort of my own home trying to do the same. Erm, with the children of course. Of course

For The Grown-ups

Another classic. A story of a cheerless family’s unremittingly awful Christmas told as an amusing parody. Honest.

I know people who swear their family Christmas resembles the one at Cold Comfort Farm. I think they’re joking.

Confession time now.

At this time of indulgence and excess I do like to wallow in a bucketload of the types of romantic twaddle you would normally cross the street to avoid.
Chris Lit.
Doncha love it?
If you would like to wallow with me I can recommend

Apparently there is a whole sub genre of Amish romance literature out there. Who knew? Anyway, I came across this one on Amazon and had to give it a go.
Friends, it did not disappoint.
There is snow. There are horse driven carriages. There are simple yet beautiful and meaningful Christmas celebrations.
Ok so the story at the heart of it is formulaic, but there are times when it’s nice to relax into a book like it’s a warm bubble bath. And frankly who needs to be challenged by their bath?

Enjoy!

Handmade Holidays

Ok, I’ll admit it. I have watched too much Kirstie Allsopp.

I can feel a rising tide of panic that I haven’t handmade all my Christmas gifts (oh the entertainment I will be denied of looking at the mixed emotions flitting across the recipients face as they try to express joy and delight whilst at the same time frantically trying to work out what the badly knitted thing is).

I have good intentions every year. I can spend hours creating lists, browsing through craft books and magazines, trying to decide the ideal handcrafted goodie for each person. I just don’t quite spend the same amount of time actually creating the things.

What’s that? Displacement activity? You think?

But I am super pleased with myself today because I have (drumroll please). Made some stockings.

I haven’t made anything to go inthe stockings, but it will be the best dressed nothing this side of the North Pole.

They are super easy to make (of course).
You will need:
Scraps of material for the stocking
Material for the lining
Ribbon
Buttons
Newspaper
Cardboard

Method.

Draw a stocking shape on your newspaper and cut it out.
Decide how big you want your patches to be and cut a square of cardboard to the appropriate size.
Cut out enough patches from your scraps to cover the stocking.
Sew the patches together

and then attach the stocking to the back of the patchwork, draw around the stocking shape. Repeat but reverse the stocking.

Pin the two lots of patchwork together, right sides together and matching up the outlines of the stockings. Sew along this outline, leaving the top open.

Cut off any excess material.

Now cut two stocking shapes from the lining material, remembering to reverse the image and also allowing an extra 15-20cm off the top of the stocking -you will fold this over to make the cuff.

Sew the two lining pieces together (right sides together).

Turn the patchwork stocking right side out.

Sew a hem around the top of the lining (the cuff). Leave the lining inside out.

Place the lining inside the patchwork stocking and turn the cuff down so the crease of the turning is flush with the top of the patchwork. Poke your fingers around inside the lining to make sure it all fits inside the patchwork and is lined up properly and not twisted or lumpy.
Now sew around the top of the stocking to give a neat finish and attach the lining and outer together.
Now cut a piece of ribbon, long enough to enable you to use it to hang the stocking on whatever hooky thing you are planning on dangling it off. Double the ribbon over and sew it to the top centre back of the stocking. Sew buttons over the top of the stitch marks

Stir-up Sunday

Today is Stir Up Sunday, the day traditionally when Christmas puddings were made, giving them time to mature ready for the big day.

In our house today it was “stirred-up Sunday”. You know those kinds of days when everyone is out of sorts and irritable? That was us today. It came to a head when oldest child, who fancies his chances at becoming some kind of You Tube movie mogul, flounced into the kitchen, as youngest child and I were battling with the pudding, and shouted “you said you would clean and tidy the kitchen so I can film in here and you haven’t done anything”

To put this in context, I have had one of those weeks where I have spent most of my time trailing around the house tidying and cleaning, only to retrace my steps each time and find something akin to a Tasmanian Devil has been following me and undoing everything I’ve done.

You know that Katie Perry song “Roar”?

That was me that was.

It is a wonder oldest child’s face didn’t melt in the blast.

So we were in a good place to do the happy family “stirring and making a wish” bit that is supposed to go hand in hand with making a Christmas Pudding.

Which is why we didn’t actually start steaming it until 2pm when we’d all calmed down a bit.

Which is why the darned thing is still steaming now, 7 hours later.

And it doesn’t look any different to when it was first put in

What is a Figgy Pudding supposed to look like anyway? I know what supermarket Christmas puddings look like but I’ve never seen a traditional Figgy pudding in the flesh before.

And having recently read Agatha Raisin and the Christmas Crumble I’m a bit scared to stop steaming it in case it poisons someone.

If any of you are curious to try making Figgy Pudding, like all recipes there are numerous variations out there.

The version I’ve gone for involves soaking 175g chopped dried figs, 225g chopped, dried and pitted dates and 90g raisins/currants in 100ml of brandy (though I used Grand Marnier) overnight, then adding 50g self raising flour, 100g suet, 175g breadcrumbs, 2 eggs, 1tsp nutmeg, juice and zest of 1 orange, 1/2 tsp ginger, 2tsp mixed spice and 1 eating apple, grated.

And yes, full hat and scarf ensemble is obligatory, the recipe doesn’t work otherwise. Honest.
Mix together and make a wish as you are doing so.

“I wish my big brother would turn into a…”

Add charms, or sixpences if you like (though don’t forget to warn potential guinea pigs of possible choking/dental hazards). Pour into a greased pudding basin and wrap pudding and basin in a double layer of grease proof paper, then a single layer of tin foil. Tie it into submission with a piece of string.
Find a large pan with a tightly fitting lid, put a small saucer upside down in the bottom, put your pudding basin on top of the saucer and pour boiling water into the pan so it comes halfway up the outside of the basin. Put the lid on.

Of course, the slow cooker I was planning on using as it was just the right size for the pudding basin, became just that bit too small once the basin was encased in its winter coats. None of my pans or casserole dishes were big enough for the job. So I am now steaming the pudding in a wok.

Hey, it’s fusion Ok?

Times for steaming vary. Some books suggest 4 hours, others say 6. As I said, we’re over the 7 hour mark and it looks as blithely uncooked as it did at 2pm.

So perhaps you’d be better of not following the recipe after all. Look on it more as one of those experiments you read about in science textbooks.

Or possibly one of those experiments you see in a Science Fiction B movie.

Christmas crafting

I was talking to one of the cleaners at work today. On Saturday she went to the Christmas market in Birmingham. And she deep breath finishedherchristmasshoppingandthenwenthomeandwrappeditallupandputupherchristmasdecorations.
Including the tree.

I had to say it fast otherwise I might have started sobbing halfway through.

I am in awe of people who are that organized. I thought I was doing well because I bought my Christmas cards in the January sales this year. I have no idea where they are now, but hey, they are in the house somewhere. And in my head, that’s that job done.

So I thought about doing a big Christmas shop and then bringing it all home and wrapping it when the kids are in bed. Then I thought “nah”.

So much more fun to procrastinate and spend the time making stuff instead.

I find one of the nice things about this time of year is the way the house smells warm and inviting with the scent of gingerbread and spices from the Christmas baking hanging heavy in the air. And I like the house to smell like that even if all we have been doing in reality is arguing over the homework or cooking fish for tea.

Scented Christmas Coasters

These are so easy to make, and once you’ve placed a hot cup of coffee (or hot chocolate/mulled wine/insert hot beverage of choice) on top, the scent of the spices is released and you will be enveloped in a warm fug of seasonal goodwill and coziness.

Tempted?

You will need
Coaster sized piece of backing fabric
4 Smaller sized pieces of coordinating fabric
Wadding
Bias tape in a coordinating colour -enough to go all the way around the coaster.
Assorted Christmassy spices.
Cardboard
Pencil

First of all, decide on the size of your coaster and then work out how big your patchwork squares would need to be if that coaster was divided into 4. Draw yourself a template to this size on card and cut it out. Use the template to cut out 4 squares of pretty Christmassy fabric in complementary colours and patterns,

allowing a 2cm seam allowance all round.

Also cut out a piece of fabric for the backing and a piece of batting, these should be the size you want your finished coaster to be.

Sew your 4 smaller squares of fabric together to make 1 larger square

Press the seams open and trim any excess, loose threads etc.
Now make a sandwich with backing fabric (right side down), batting in the middle and patchwork (right side up) on top. Pin the layers together.

Now take some bias binding and pin it around three sides of the coaster. Sew the bias tape in place.

Take some dried spices – I used cloves, a little bit of cinnamon bark (crushed with a pestle and mortar) and some star anise – and place them inside the coaster. Make sure they are well distributed so you don’t get any lumpy bits.

Now sew the last section of bias tape into place, sealing the coaster.

Make yourself a nice cup of coffee (or hot chocolate/mulled wine/hot beverage of choice), place it on the coaster in between sips, and let yourself be enveloped by the smell of Christmas.

Having a pile of Christmas cards to write as you do your sipping is optional.

Five reasons to love this time of year

1. Woolly jumpers. People tend to look at you suspiciously if you wander around in woollies in the middle of August, but nobody accuses you of trying to hide flabby, saggy bits if you wear a woolly in Winter. Even if you are.

2. Christmas music.
Ah come on, you know you like it really.
Who doesn’t get a little frisson of anticipation at the first annual airing of Fairytale of New York?

And Shane McGowan acts as a timely reminder to children to clean their teeth during the season of excess sugar :-).

3. Candles. You can light them in the middle of summer, but somehow it’s not quite the same. Lower the lights, snuggle on the sofa with assorted children and/or other halves. Dream of long winter walks in crisp snow.

Without actually having to go out into the cold.

4. Christmas decoration spotting. We bagged our first one today on the way back from Brownies Fun Day.

A tasteful affair in the middle of Meriden village green (the Christmas tree, not the Brownie fun day which involved lots of small people running around screaming and gradually disappearing under layers of campfire toasted, melted marshmallow. There may still be a few stuck to trees on the campsite (and yes, I do mean the brownies not the marshmallows))

5. Gingerbread latte. Starbucks gingerbread latte is gorgeous, but now there’s that whole tricky ethics question (guilt!). Fortunately, it turns out it’s ridiculously easy to make your own gingerbread syrup to add to coffees at home.

Put 480ml of water, 280g of granulated sugar, 2tsp of ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and 2cm fresh ginger (grated) in a pan and bring to the boil.

Lower the heat and simmer for 15-20 mins.
Strain liquid through a sieve to remove the chunks of ginger.
Decant into a sterilised bottle or jar.

Add to coffee to taste. Top with whipped cream, nutmeg etc.

Sip slowly and feel very smug because you’ve paid tax on all the ingredients.

Realise there is something very wrong with that last statement

And so it begins

Now that Halloween and Bonfire Night are out of the way, it’s time, at last to start planning and prepping, and baking and crafting for Christmas.

Yay.

I like to inflict home baked goods on my nearest and dearest, and this time last year I stumbled upon a recipe for something which had the gloriously red tinged tones to make it look scrumptiously Christmassy, but with a hit of heat to give it a touch of the exotic.

Chilli Jam.

But before you venture, dancing, into the kitchen, to make up a batch in a whirl of domestic goddessness, let me stop you with

A Cautionary Tale

Last year I was , as I have said, delighted to find the recipe for chilli jam. So delighted in fact that I thought I would make a lot of the stuff so I would have plenty of jars to give away to friends and family.

And so I tripled the quantities.

Now I have used chillies before. I have experienced the unpleasantness that comes with distractedly scratching your nose or eyes after chopping a chilli. I know.. But, I sort of forgot. And I sort of had no idea of the effect chopping 400g of chillies would have. So I chopped them. No problem. I washed my hands, made the chilli jam, got on with my life.

Then 2 hours later it began.

First a bit of a tingling in the fingertips. Then a burning.

I washed my hands again. Vigorously.

It didn’t get any better, so I thought I would go to bed and sleep it off.

At 2am I woke with the feeling that someone had plunged both hands in boiling water and then whipped the fingertips with a bunch of nettles.
At 2.05 I was googling “chilli burn” in the hope that someone out there had an amazing antidote
At 2.15 I was sat with one hand in a bowl of mayonnaise, the other in a bowl of yoghurt and with another bowl filled with sloe gin (the only alcohol we had in the house at the time) to alternate with. The idea is that the alcohol breaks down the chilli oil, the yoghurt/mayonnaise is an emollient to neutralise the oil.

I’m not sure that drinking the sloe gin wouldn’t have been more effective

By 2.30 I was ready to drive to A & E and beg the doctors to inject local anaesthetic into my fingertips.

I think it finally began to wear off at about 5am, but not before I’d convinced myself I’d got irreparable nerve damage and third degree chemical burn

But don’t let this put you off. It really is a very good preserve.

Ingredients

240g chillies
1.5kg jam sugar
900ml cider vinegar
1 red pepper
3 cloves garlic
3cm piece of ginger

Deseed the chillies,

put in a processor with the garlic, ginger and the pepper (chop the pepper a bit first if you like). Whizz in the processor until its all finely chopped.

Put the sugar and vinegar in a large pan or jam pan. Heat gently until the sugar is dissolved then add the chilli/pepper mix. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil and keep boiling for about 10 minutes. Decant into sterilised jars.

Leave to mature for at least a month then enjoy with meat, cheese, burgers. Whatever you fancy.

Only Don’t forget the rubber gloves.

The “C” word

It’s in the trees
It’s coming
(Name that song)

Can you feel it? Creeping up the alleyways. A glimpse from the corner of your eye. Sneaking through the windows. Suddenly it’s there. EVERYWHERE you look. Christmas stuff.

Every year I resolve this is the year it will be different. I will be organised. I will hand make presents for everyone. Christmas parcels to foreign lands will be posted in time to arrive for Christmas rather than Easter. Our house will be a haven of crafts, home baking and seasonal goodness on a Waltons like scale.

Every year I am sadly disappointed.

But not this year. Oh no. This year will be the year I conquer Christmas.

But first.

First I NEED a snazzy hand crafted Christmassy notebook in which to note important Christmassy things. Without such a beast my christmas cannot be organised and I will fall at the first hurdle.

And so I give you

My Christmas notebook

A scrap of red and white fabric left over from youngest child’s Christmas quilt (last years winter project), a little bit of red felt, a cheap and boring hardback notebook and a little bit of blanket stitching.

Easy.

If only the same could be said of Christmas…