Gift wrapping

When you make your own presents how its' presented and how it looks is important. There's no point in spending your time on baking/making something delicious and then giving it to someone in a ice cream tub. (Yes I do wash up and reuse ice cream tubs to store baking/food in, it's a family tradition, blame my mum, sorry mum if you're reading this!) 

So I've come up with a few ways you can present your gifts without spending a fortune. 

Paper bags - Traditional brown paper bags are always good and you can pick them up so easily on eBay. Or if you're feeling a bit adventurous why not get a candy striped bag, pick a festive colour like red or green. Decorate with a pretty tag, bow or with a star cookie/salt dough (salt dough tutorial coming Friday!) 

Old fashioned - Good old brown paper and string! Make a tag out of brown paper too and secure it with a mini peg!

Cellophane bags - Also found on eBay and perfect for pretty things like truffles. Secure with ribbon. 

Tags - Make your own tags, Homemade with love, Eat by and telling people what's in their food is always a good idea. Use alphabet stamps to spell it out. Also found on eBay.

So that's it. Get creative. Why not bundle all these lovely edible gifts up into one big hamper?

Christmas Candy Cane Cookies Recipe!

I found this recipe in the back of a Jamie Oliver magazine I brought and had to try it out! I'm not a massive fan of chocolate and mint together but these went down a hit with my family. You could always wrap some up as a last minute Christmas present. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

175g Soft brown sugar

110g Butter

1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda

150g Plain flour

25g Cocoa powder

120g of Chocolate, melted.

200g of Chocolate, chopped.

2 Candy canes, smashed.

Preheat oven 170ºC/ Gas 3

1. Beat together the brown sugar and butter until pale and creamy.

2. Sift in the bicarbonate of soda, plain flour and cocoa.

3. Add the chopped chocolate to the bowl and stir, then stir in the melted.

4. Spoon the mixture onto a baking tray lined with baking parchment, leaving space for the cookies to spread.

5. Bake in the oven for 8-9 minutes.

6. After 8-9 minutes take the cookies out of the oven and sprinkle chunks of the smashed candy cane over the cookies.

7. Then re-bake for 3-4 minutes until the edges are firm.

8. Eat warm or cool and save for later.

And there you go a quick and easy Christmas baking recipe!

As always let me know if you make these and I love to see pictures!

♥