Advent day 19: Pinecone christmas trees

You can just paint them, glitter them, or glue on pompoms and pipe cleaners,

what ever you decide, pinecones are simple and pretty decorations.

Advent day 18: Watch a holiday film

List of free to watch online Christmas programs

Octonauts and the great Christmas rescue

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH8NesMv4eI

Frosty's Winter Wonderland

http://stagevu.com/video/tdgjyvinogbs

Rudolph the Red Nosed reindeer

http://stagevu.com/video/pcggxnxmtljj

The Santa Clause

http://stagevu.com/video/mxsbqphbnlyx

Elf

http://www.iwannawatch.ch/2011/04/elf-2003/

For those not on my list check out this website's much more comprehensive list:

http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/christmas/articles/64/title/watch-101-classic-christmas-videos-online

Advent day 17: Sugar cookies and sprinkles

Cookies in shapes

cooled, then iced,

make afternoons pass

cheerfully

with lots of sprinkles, and jelly beans, and gum drops, and smarties, and sugar snowflakes....

Belated Advent day 16: Snowman muffin tin

Because ours was painted by Hatchling no4,.... after the girls and I had spent hours on it,... but before I had a chance to take a photo, I will post a photo of the ones we had copied.

Ours looked a lot like this, but with red backgrounds, and now they are like this but coloured in with a black sharpie. (sorry girls, we'll try again next year.)

Belated Advent day 15: Christmas crackers

Instead of buying crackers filled with cheap little odds and ends, we are making ours this year.

And as they tend to be pulled at dinner we are filling them with nice chocolates instead of cheap toys, and the children have cut their own tissue paper hats. We have the Humphrey's holiday joke book and have written our own jokes on paper.

We bought the snaps from ebay for 38p for 10. And printed the colour in cracker design onto thick card from online.

Next year I think I'd like to print out origami patterns to put in each one, and cut tissue paper squares, but that will keep for this year.

Happy first birthday!

Advent days 15, and 16, I will post tomorrow along side day 17, sorry, life it happens. 

Today, though, is all about my baby, because today, he is one.

To our kissable cheeked hatchling, last year you were, and always will be the best Christmas present we could ever wish for. 

You bring us so much joy, and your sisters and brother ask me everyday to have one more just like you.

Because you smile so genuinely, and squeeze us back when we hug you, and you talk endlessly in that soft little voice.

Your favourite book is The Snail and the Whale, and you love playing trains with your big brother.

We love you so much.

Happy Birthday little man.

Advent day 14: Filling the cookie jar

Today, we made a simple cookie dough base and turned it into different kinds of cookie. Minimum effort, maximum effect. 

We made a sugar cookie base, and turned one quarter of the dough chocolate by substituting the flour for cocoa, and rolling it flat.

Then hatchling no2 smashed up some candy canes with a rolling pin, and we mixed those into another quarter of the dough.

We laid the candy cane dough over the chocolate dough, and rolled it into a log. Sliced it, and baked it in the oven for 12 minutes. It tastes far better than it looks.

This is a cookie after about 4 minutes out of the oven. These cookies come out soft and squidgy, and then firm up to be soft and chewy.

Then we took another quarter of the dough, and cut it up with cookie cutters.

The remaining hatchlings took their turns to bash up hard boiled sweets.

They put the smashed up candy in the centre of their cookies,

 and we baked them for about 10 minutes.

they came out looking like this,

and are almost see through. (maybe we used a bit more than we needed...)

Then we baked up the middles in little star shapes and filled them with chocolate gnache.

And we still have one quarter of the dough left to roll out for the hatchlings to cut up and decorate with sprinkles tomorrow.

Our base sugar cookie recipe

1 cup softened butter

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

3 cups of flour

Divide into quarters and place in the fridge for an hour ahead of rolling out.

This makes about 60 cookies.

Advent day 13: Angel tree toppers

http://spoonful.com/sites/default/files/angel-tree-topper-printable-1109.pdf

Advent day 12: Gingerbread house

I am so pleased with this year's gingerbread house, as we baked it ourselves. I have always been nervous about this and certain it would all fall spectacularly to pieces, but ta - da, It worked! 

The secret seems to be in the icing. I had no idea what to use, and researching it lead me to find the advice is to use 2 egg whites, and 500g of icing sugar. We tried this, and not only does it work, but it is so quick drying and tough that I think it may actually be quite difficult to eat.

The gingerbread recipe was really quite simple too.

We put 250g of butter in a pan on low heat and spooned in 8 tbs of golden syrup.

Then we added 1 cup of dark brown sugar.

We add 1 tsp cinnamon and 3 tsp ground ginger.

Then we sifted in 4 1/2 cups of plain flour and 2 tsp of bicarb of soda. 

We then baked it at 180/350 for about 25 minutes.

and then let it cool.

I'm really pleased about this cost wise. I normally buy a kit for £12 -15 and this came to £4.38. Not bad and it really was easy to do.

Advent day 11: Coconut Snowman cake

The girls have a party today and everyone must bring something, so they are taking this snowman.

My girls are now worrying that everyone will bring snowmen. 

Girls, eh!

Coconut cake 

1/2 cup softened butter

3 eggs

2/3 cup sugar

100ml milk

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

the zest of a lime

1/2 cup coconut

1 1/3 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1. Beat the 5 ingredients together, then mix in the remaining ingredients.

2. Bake in a pre - heated 180/ 350 oven for 18 - 25 minutes depending on your oven and cake tin size.

We doubled the recipe to make two 'snowballs' and the decorated with cream cheese frosting and topped with coconut.