Fold in the Flour ...

We took the Christmas decorations down today. As usual, the house feels bare, and a little bleak. It is strange to think that the next time they will go back up, Sam will be over 2 and will probably have an inkling into what is going on, and will have his first, excited, Christmas. Santa will probably visit, after having taken a break over the last few years. We'll need to leave a little something out for him, of course. Poor Santa - I happen to have it on very good authority - can get a little bit fed up of mince pie after mince pie at every house, which is what we have left out for him before. So when he visits in 2013, he may have a bit of a change.  This recipe is actually the last of my festive baking, and was supposed to be an entry for 'Forever Nigella' , the blogging challenge organised by Sarah of Maison Cupcake , and for which December's theme was Christmas (and was hosted by Laura Loves Cakes ). But Christmas turned ...

Growing up, one of my family's Christmas traditions was making sausage rolls and mince pies every Christmas Eve. It was really the one and only time I ever saw my mum do any baking, and truth be told, she hated it. My nan was the real baker in our house, but on Christmas Eve my mum would put her foot down and would have her time in the kitchen. In a way, it enhanced her feeling of martyrdom, as she would often be up until the wee small hours, making just one more batch of mince pies. I would have been in bed ages before, trying to sleep but starry-eyed with excitement as this ritual of baking truly marked that it was Christmas Eve, and I knew it would not be long before Santa was on on his way. As I grew older, I was able to join in, and so with two of us in the kitchen, the ritual was completed by a respectable time. You could almost hear my mum's sigh of relief. Gradually, each year, I got to take on more and more of the process. Until eventually, around the age of 1...

So, in other news today, Susie has published yet another gingerbread post ... Yes, gingerbread, again. I know. I'm sorry. But it is that time of year. And besides, I think I told you that I love the stuff ... Anyway, you may recall my recent Snowy Gingerbread Cottage post, in which I told you all about the humongous amount of gingerbread dough I made from a BBC Good Food recipe ? I said that I had made an army of gingerbread men, and this is where they turned up. As incredibly cute (even if I say so myself) cupcake toppers dipped in dark chocolate! Sadly, I can't take the credit for this fab idea, as I first noticed it on a Sweetapolita post last year. But it stuck in my head and I thought that when I had an opportune time, I would give it a go. And Oh My, they are delicious! Even on their own. But on top of Gingerbread Cupcakes with Ginger Buttercream? Now you're talking my kind of winter warmer. The cupcakes are easy to make, and I have adapted ...

The weather these last few days has been truly frightful. As I had some time on my hands - and absolutely no inclination to venture out anywhere - it gave me the chance to do some baking. With Christmas fast approaching ( is it really a month to Christmas Eve?) I also wanted to have another go at making gingerbread. And this time with the objective of trying my hand at a Gingerbread Cottage for the first time. A couple of months ago, I bought a Gingerbread House Cookie Cutter set from Wilkinsons, as I thought it might make it a little easier to manage. The set includes cutters for the walls, ends and roof sides, with some additional ones for angels, stars, trees, gingerbread men etc. I suspect it's like many that you can get on the high street. The cutters are a little flimsy - particularly the larger ones - but while this is definitely not an heirloom set, they did the job for me. The gingerbread recipe I used is in the current edition of the BBC Good Food Magazine,...

I've never made a Christmas cake before. It's one of those things that has always seemed easier to buy ready made, rather than have to buy lots of separate ingredients, and then invest time in the preparation and cooking, with leftover packets lurking on the shelves for months to come. Given that although I love fruitcake, I am the only one in the house to do so, it's always been a faff too far. This year though, I was tempted by the Mary Berry cake kit in Tesco. Particularly as it was then half price at £5 (since reduced even further - I've now seen it at £1!). Today I finally got to the baking stage. Now the first thing to say is that I have since found a number of posts on the web that refer to this cake - with mixed reactions. One particular discussion on netmums became pretty heated! Anyway, I thought it might be helpful to record my experience.  The kit comes with most of the ingredients included, and you just have to supplement it with some fr...