I appear to have been gripped by a frenzy of festive baking now that advent is upon us. I know, I know, it doesn’t take much to get me excited about baking, but Christmas is a pretty good excuse! As well as the usual plethora of mince pies I’ve also been searching for the perfect festive cupcake, starting with these appropriately named ’Christmas cupcakes’ from How to be a Domestic Goddess. Nigella describes them as somewhere between chocolate and gingerbread, and they certainly are sweet, dark, dense and totally scrummy.
Nigella’s Christmas Cupcakes
1. In a large bowl, mix 150g plain flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda, 1 tsp ground mixed spice and a pinch of salt.
2. In another bowl, cream 100g unsalted butter and 160g dark brown sugar with an electric mixer (beware: if the butter isn’t soft to begin with this will end up all over you and your kitchen!). One at a time, add 2 large eggs, mixing well after each edition, and then beat in a third of the flour mixture alternated with a third of 3 tbsp sour cream until it is all used up.
3. Put 125ml boiling water, 75g dark chocolate, broken into pieces, and 1 tsp instant coffee in a pan and heat gently, just until the chocolate’s melted. Fold this into the cake batter, but don’t overbeat. The mixture will be very thin, but don’t worry about that; just pour carefully into 12 muffin cases in a muffin tin (I find it easier to transfer the mixture into a jug so I can manage this without making a total mess!).
4. Bake the muffins for about 20 mins at 200°c/gas mark 6 until cooked through but still dense and damp. Once cool ice with some nice lemony flavoured icing and make sure you have one or two before everyone else gobbles them up!
Nigella of course suggests you decorate them with some fussy fondant holly leaves and cranberry berries, but I really can’t be bothered with that when there are nice spiced chocolate muffins underneath waiting to be eaten!
Goodness me, the second Sunday of advent is upon us already! Hope your festive preparations are coming along nicely. Mine are vaguely overwhelming but rather exciting. I do love this time of year!
Here is another beautiful advent calendar for you. Every year I want to make one of my own, and every year I leave it too late to get excited about it and then have to focus on crafting Christmas gifts instead. Maybe next year will be the one!
I love the rustic look of this gorgeous advent calendar, the mix of fabrics and the slightly higgledy piggledy way it’s been put together. Also, if you pop over to the original post there is a lovely description of the story behind the calendar and the choice of fabrics.
Sigh. Maybe next year.
Sorry it’s been a quiet week on the blog front – the festive frenzying has well and truly begun. Mainly because I’ve been insisting on doing lots of festive baking even though it’s only the first week of December, and I keep going out to the cinema (this week I saw The Informant! and Nativity!, both of which were a little odd but very funny, and also strangely end with an exclamation mark). I have however found time to make these rather delightful little peppermint cream snowballs at Mr M’s request, and they are so sweet I just had to find the time to share them with you!
Peppermint cream snowballs (makes about 30 dinky little ones)
1. Beat 1 egg white until frothy but not stiff. Sieve 400g icing sugar into the egg white and mix.
2. Add a few drops of peppermint essence or oil and knead the mixture into a firm, mouldable paste.
3. Whisk another egg white until frothy. Roll the mixture into small balls, dip each ball into the extra egg white and then into 100g desiccated coconut.
4. Place the peppermint creams on to baking parchment and leave in a warm place for a couple of hours to dry before presenting them to your husband with a smile!
Advent is upon us! The anticipation and excitement is mounting by the minute! I have spent the evening making a mountain of mince pies for my work Christmas do on Friday so am really too tired to blog properly, but I couldn’t resist sharing these pretty advent candles, and this fabulously beautiful advent calendar.
Isn’t it stunning? And so clever – the number of buttons on each pocket correspond with the date (as in, one button for December 1st, 2 buttons for December 2nd). One of these years I will get round to making my own fabric advent calendar. You should perhaps expect a few more pretty advent calendar posts, there is certainly a lot of inspiration on flickr!
Today’s souper offering is this potato, leek and stilton soup, loosely based on this recipe. It’s nice, hearty and wholesome (I missed out the cream) and handy for using up a huge block of stilton that your husband has bought on special offer! It wasn’t exactly ground breaking, but it was tasty and comforting. I do like a good bowl of soup to warm up a chilly winter day!
Searching for a chocolate chip cookie recipe online is a minefield! There is a lot of debate about what makes the perfect cookie: thin and crispy or soft and chewy or chunky and crunchy … the list goes on. I fancied making some choc chip cookies this week so after doing a bit of research (and being thoroughly bamboozled by some of the recipes I found – soured cream in a cookie??) I plumped for this fairly basic looking one, and it turned out pretty well! Not perfect, but not bad either. Anyway, must dash, I’ve got a cup of tea and a cookie waiting for me …
That clever cookie Cath Kidston has teamed up with Marie Curie Cancer Care to produce these fabulous Christmas cards! Now, I am quite picky about my Christmas cards; they have to be from a charity, there has to be a picture of Jesus, and there is preferably a Bible verse printed inside. They also have to be fun and pretty! So these don’t quite fit the bill, but they are so pretty I couldn’t resist sharing them with you.
(Not all of my posts for the next month are going to be about Christmas stuff, I promise!)
Red cups are back! I know, I know, they’ve been back for ages, but I had my first gingerbread latte of the season today so am feeling suitably festive. It’s like Christmas in a cup! And this year Starbucks even have these dinky little Christmas tree decorations (or ‘holiday ornaments’, in Starbucks speak) which I am completely in love with. Aren’t they adorable?
Another of today’s festive finds is this gorgeous Christmas card from Oxfam. Isn’t it stunning?
I’ve also been loving this exciting array of advent calendars in the free Tesco magazine (yes, the same magazine from which I got that soup recipe; I do love a free magazine!). Aren’t they fun?
I’m not sure why I’m asking so many questions today. Perhaps I’m trying to coax you into the festive spirit with me!
Remember that little bear and taggy ball I made for Anna when she was born? Well, now you can make your own with these fabulous new kits from Cupcakes for Clara. After teasing us all week with sneaky peeks on her blog, the new product range has finally been launched and is available here. Aren’t they adorable?
You can make your own finger puppets, cupcake keyring, robin or kitten fattie or nice festive christmas pudding; they only problem might be choosing your favourite! If you’re not very handy with a needle and thread yourself, the kits are so beautifully packaged they would make a lovely gift for a crafty friend!
This weeks offering comes via the free Tesco magazine but is not quite as thrifty as such humble origins suggest, as peppers aren’t the cheapest of vegetables. It is very yummy though, and also pretty healthy, so I would highly recommend it!
Roasted red pepper and chilli soup (serves 4-6)
1. Half, core and deseed 6 red peppers and 2 red chillies and place in a roasting tin with a halved but not peeled garlic bulb. Roast for 15 minutes at 200°c.
2. Half 6 tomatoes, add to the roasting tin and cook for a further 10-15 minutes until the peppers are charred on the outside.
3. Once the vegetables have cooled enough for you to handle them, skin the peppers and chillies and put the flesh in a blender. Skin and deseed the tomatoes, putting the flesh in the blender and the seeds in a sieve. Collect the tomatoes juice from the seeds and add to the blender.
4. Squeeze the flesh out of the garlic cloves and put in the blender along with 1 tbsp olive oil and 450ml vegetable stock. Blend until smooth and reheat to serve, if required.
I served mine with a drizzle of olive oil on the top, although the recipe does suggest topping with pesto or a few seeds. It is quite sweet but is very delicate and delicious!
