- First up, was The Pink Whisk's Christmas Pudding Fudge. This was my first time making fudge using a sugar thermometer (I've previously made fudge that utilised a load of peanut butter/nutella to set it, much easier!) so I'm crossing my fingers until it's ready to cut that it's worked! So far so good though...
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| I really hope this has worked!! |
- Next was Maria's Spiced Nuts with Cranberries and Coconut. I was so pleased when I saw this recipe yesterday - I'd known that one of the things I'd wanted to make was some kind of roasted nut, but I hadn't settled on a recipe yet so this was perfect timing! I've already completed and taste-tested these (of course!) and I'm pleased to report that they are delicious! Thanks Maria! :)
- On Wednesday I also made some chocolate covered pretzels - I just melted some dark chocolate and gave the pretzels a chocolate bath, before sticking a couple of peanut m&ms on. These were a trial run and also to give to my Grandparents yesterday, as they have gone away for Christmas.
These tasted great, but I'm not sure I'll make anymore today. Even straight from the fridge, they were super melty - lots of messy fingers probably not a good idea for Christmas Day!
- Progress pic - the spiced nuts in jars will be "prettied up" with the with ribbon, card to make labels etc that Liam has just brought back from town. The fudge is still setting, and at the back are the flavoured vodkas - Christmas Pudding, Toffee (just a bag of werther's original toffees dissolved in 1 litre of vodka) and Raspberry flavours.
- Finally (for now), there was this...
aka peanut butter heaven - How Sweet It Is' Crispy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Truffles. The recipe says it makes 50-60 truffles, I made 40. No one ever said I was elegant!
These are currently chilling in the fridge, next step will be covering them in melted chocolate, mmmm! The peanut butter 'dough' tastes divine so I can't wait to try these once finished!
Still on the list:
- Brownies (which I'll make tomorrow as the fudge is currently in my brownie pan)
- Cookies (which I'm tempted to "stuff" with chopped up Mars bar or something)
Clearly I decided to make the more interesting things first - cookies and brownies are things I always make, but some of my family (and Liam) aren't keen on things with nuts/dried fruit etc, so I thought I better make a couple of more simple things too!
Any other suggestions of things for me to make?? Have you done any baking/homemade food gifts for Christmas? I think I've probably made enough, but I'm having fun!! :-D Liam is looking after the children (well, Toby is asleep at the moment) so it is so nice to have some time in the kitchen that isn't just about getting food on the table as quickly as possible!
I think you deserve a sit-down after all of that!
ReplyDeleteI love reading your xmas food and baking posts - because we never celebrate it, it's almost like looking in to a different culture's traditions if that doesn't seem too weird...okay, it does :P
Some wonderful festive treats there, though.
xxx
Shew you are baking up a storm for sure. All I managed to do today was make it to and from Tesco whiteout killing anyone ;-)
ReplyDeleteYay I was really looking forward to seeing what you made- that fudge looks just like when I made it (and it is yummy) so I bet yours will be lovely too. Glad the nuts went well. Love the idea of the pretzels. I was tempted by making some honeycomb and covering it in chocolate, but think I might wait until next week now. I am going to make some white chocolate peppermint "bark" as I bought some peppermint candy canes last night. :)
ReplyDeleteWow, you have some lucky friends that's all I can say! They all look delicious!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jess, I did take things a bit easier this afternoon!! I really enjoyed doing all the baking though, it's just the washing up afterwards I hate! I know what you mean about different cultures - I loved reading all the American blogs about Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteLara - urgh, rather you than me on the Tesco front - well done for making it out alive!
Maria - white chocolate peppermint bark sounds delish, hope it's turned out well! That was half on my list, but I don't think I'll have time now - still got to make the "safe" options of brownies and cookies for the "less adventurous" eaters and I think then I will have more than enough treats! Maybe I'll make some bark for New Years or Toby's birthday instead :)
Laura - thanks! It's so nice to have an excuse to bake lots of different things, and then be able to give most away (whilst still keeping some for us of course!) - normally we have to stick to one thing at a time so treats don't go off before we have time to finish them. This is much more interesting! :)