Merry Christmas!

A few photo's from Christmas eve. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Brownie Bites.

So here it is. The last Christmas food post. But no worries, I've planned a few New Years recipes. I think I've saved the best till last. These little bites are so good. The perfect mix of chocolate brownie and Christmas spice. Topped with white chocolate and holly berries. Perfect. These will be great to hand round after the big Christmas lunch.

Adapted from Good Housekeeping.

175g (6oz) butter

125g (4oz) dark chocolate, roughly chopped

1½ tbsp vanilla extract

250g (9oz) light brown soft sugar

2 medium eggs

100g (3½oz) plain flour

1tsp ground cinnamon

1tsp mixed spice

100g white chocolate, melted

edible holly berries, sprinkles, stars

Preheat oven to 180ºC (160ºC fan) mark 4. Line a 20.5cm (8in) square tin with baking parchment. 

In a pan, gently heat butter, chocolate and vanilla until melted.

Take pan off the heat and leave to cool slightly.

 Mix in the sugar, followed by the eggs (the mixture will become smooth and glossy as you mix it). 

Sift over flour and spices and stir everything together. Scrape mixture into the tin and bake for 30min until a crust forms. Cool completely in the tin.

Lift the brownie out of the tin and cut into bitesize squares. Arrange bites on a wire rack set over a baking tray or board.

Cover the tops of the brownie with melted white chocolate and decorate with sprinkles. Leave to set.

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?

The Craft Company!

Back in May before all the stress of moving house I was kindly sent some products to review from The Craft Company. I picked out some pieces that I wanted to use and picked a few bits that would come in handy for the house.

The dog chocolate mould is my favourite and I can't wait to make some chocolates with it! I also picked out some candy melts so I can try my hand at cake pops.

The website is really easy to use and the prices of the products are amazing! I will definitely be using them again!

Take a look here!

♥