Sweetie Pie's Top Baking Project Suggestions for Christmas

Last year, I got so busy around Christmas time that I ended up back dating all my Christmas cooking blog posts. I felt rather silly about it, so this year I thought I'd write up a nice list of all the Christmas themed things I've done in years gone by. After all, Sweetie Pie Bakes Stuff is looking at its third year running!

Here is my selection of 15 things to try this Christmas season (mostly gingerbread themed):

1. Traditional Christmas Cake
Moist, rich, dark fruit cake spiked with golden rum and flavoured with aromatic spices and Indian black tea.








2. Gingerbread House: Part I and Part II
Go German style with an ornately decorated gingerbread house. These two posts include the designing, recipe, cooking instructions, and assembly guidelines.








3. Gingerbread Stars (Egg and Wheat Free)
Little eggless gingerbread stars (or any shape you like) decorated with royal icing.




4. Chocolate Dipped Gingerbread Teddies (Wheat Free)
For that extra special gingerbread delight, shape it like a polar bear and dip it in white chocolate; because nothing says Christmas more than eating an tiny version of a giant carnivore.

5. Gluten-, Dairy-, Yeast-, Egg Free Gingerbread

For those who are vegan or intolerant to basically everything used to make gingerbread, here is a version for you.







6. Kołaczki Mince Pies (Wheat Free)
For those of you who like mince pies, but hate the effort of making them traditionally in a muffin tin, these are made in Polish style as little fold-overs.

7. Ginger Ale (No Brewing Required)

I always associate Christmas with a nice glass of ginger ale, and so should you. Have a glass of homemade and particularly fiery ale with your dinner for a proper Christmas experience.







8. Fairy Cakes with Buttercream (Gluten-, Dairy-, and Egg Free)
For those who are vegan or intolerant to basically everything used to make cakes. Vanilla and chocolate cakes topped off with dairy-free buttercream swirls.




9. Vanilla Fondant Fancies (Wheat Free; Dairy Substitute)
Little fluffsome and dainty morsels of sponge cake, filled with buttercream and glazed in glacé icing, if rich dark fruit cake doesn't take your fancy (see what I did there).

10. Ginger Nut Biscuits (Wheat Free)
Sweet and spicy little biscuits made with mixed spices and golden syrup, that can be chewy or crunchy to your liking.

11. Viennese Whirls (Wheat Free)
Melt in the mouth buttery biscuits, like those Danish butter cookies you get from your relatives every year only nicer.







12. Chocolate Truffle Box: Dark Raspberry and Milk Orange
Moulded dark and milk chocolates with a truffle and fruit jam filling.








13. Vanilla Fudge
Rich and creamy homemade fudge that can be flavoured and decorated however you like.

14. Neapolitan Coconut Ice
Traditionally boiled coconut ice with a white, pink, and chocolate layer.

15. Chewy Caramel
Rich, buttery, and tooth destroying caramels, fit for the season.






I hope this list will serve you well over the next few weeks! Be sure to keep an eye on my upcoming 2015 Christmas creations...

Homemade Box of Chocolates = WIN

So, as I mentioned in a previous post, it's my parents' wedding anniversary tomorrow and I decided to embark on a quest to make a selection box of chocolates from scratch. And here she is!!

The selection includes milk chocolate coated:

• Coconut ice (topped with little shreds of coconut)
• Chewy caramel (topped with a sprinkle of coarse salt)
• Creamy fudge (decorated with ridges made with a fork)
• Milk chocolate truffle (ball shaped with a dusting of dark cocoa)
• Praline truffle (ball shaped with pale cocoa dusting)
• Gooey orange fondant (drizzled with orange flavoured white chocolate drizzle)

For my first attempt at something like this, this turned out excellently! I'm so pleased with it, and am very proud of my efforts. Some didn't work, but those didn't go to waste as they were guzzled down by my siblings without any hesitation. It's all learning for next time... and there will be a next time.

I will upload all the recipes and make some photo tutorials for the dipping, and especially the moulded chocolates, which are the ones with orange drizzle. I used a silicone mould for those, in which I cast the melted chocolate. Weirdly enough, the casting technique is one I learnt from my time studying ceramic product design in college; the same principle, it turns out, can be used in chocolaterie.

The only change I would make is that I would spend a little bit more money on good quality chocolate for coating. The stuff I bought was cheap and wasn't tempered properly to start with, so tempering myself was almost impossible. I had to add some solid vegetable fat to make it flow and set nicer; don't worry, it can't be tasted.

I also made the box using a very simple technique.

• Take a piece of A4 card, coloured if you like.
• Using another piece of card cut to a 1½ inch (4 centimeter) width, draw a 1½ inch (3.8 centimeter) margin around all four edges of the card.
• Following the template below as a guide, cut along the red lines and fold along the dotted lines.
• Now, you have an A4 page with four little tabs. Fold up all four sides, folding the little tabs behind the short sides towards the middle. Glue together and allow to dry.

• To make the lid, follow the above instructions but make the margin around the page 1⅓ inches (3.5 centimeters) instead.

And now you have a lovely box to keep you chocolate in! Sit the chocolates in little cupcake cases and arrange inside.

Sweeties Make Great Gifts, Hopefully

As I said in my previous post, next week I have two family events: my parents' thirtieth wedding anniversary and my sister's sixteenth birthday. I love family gatherings and events because it's a chance to get the family all in one place and have fun, but I dislike them due the the expectation of gift-giving.

The reason I dislike gift-giving isn't because I don't like spending money, but I don't like the concept of a contrived event where you are expected to give someone something they most likely don't want or won't use. Why can't you give people presents for no reason at any other time of the year? I also dislike Valentine's Day greatly for this reason: it's just forced and cold. Why can't I give my man-friend a nice present and a have a nice meal with him at any other time of year to celebrate our togetherness like, oh I dunno, our anniversary?

Because of this, I quite like giving people things they can eat as presents, because they're guaranteed to get use out of it or them; and people always like to eat sweeties! So, I'm guaranteed to please by giving someone a selection of sweeties for their birthday, or savouries if they don't like sweeties. I'm thinking maybe for my parents I'll make a selection of chocolate truffles and package them in a box, and for my sister a selection of bon-bons and package them in a jar. It's little effort for maximum result.

A side effect of this idea is that it has reignited my love of sweetie making and sugarcraft. Maybe you'll all be seeing tonnes more sweetie recipes and ideas after this! I may need to get one of these made...