CHRISTMAS RECIPES
Spiced Kinderglühwein punch, a wintry German tradition
Every year from late November to early January, Germans enjoy having some warm Glühwein! It's such a festive drink, and there would be no holiday season without it. So, since moving to Germany, we have joined in the tradition, and love making our own Glühwein at home during the colder months. It is a little ...
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CHRISTMAS RECIPES
Spiced Christmas Cookies - the perfect advent bake!
These slightly spiced Christmas cookies are a family favourite over advent in our house and they are so much fun to make with the children - particularly when it comes to rolling them into balls or coating in the icing sugar! The delicate spices and buttery richness transports me to a Christmas market covered in ...
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CHRISTMAS RECIPES
The best Swedish gingerbread recipe and a handy shortcut!
Gingerbread baking is an activity we all truly look forward to in our house. Every family needs a good gingerbread recipe, and if you ask me, this is the very best. Passed down along generations of Swedish grandmothers to mothers to daughters and granddaughters, until it finally ended up with my friend, who shared it ...
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FOOD
Sunshine in a Jar -- Make your own Marmalade!
This is the very best way to cheer up a grey day. It truly is sunshine in a jar, and any marmalade maker will tell you that homemade marmalade is sooo much better than anything store bought. So I thought this was our year to give it a try. I will not sell this as ...
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RECIPES
Cookie Recipe and Holiday Entertaining Tip!
We love cookies over the Christmas holidays, as you may have read earlier this month with our Twisted Candy Cane cookie. A winner indeed! But today I wanted to share a good 'staple' cookie, that can easily be enjoyed as an after school treat without the sugar crash. It is my reliable Cranberry Raisin Oatmeal ...
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CHRISTMAS RECIPES
Bee's plant-based gingerbread cookie cottage DIY
If you fancy some festive DIY, but need a recipe and set of instructions that are failsafe, then I've got just the project for you! This little gingerbread cottage measures around 1ocm cubed, so its a dinky, cute manageable size...albeit one that could just about be snaffled in one go... Over the years, I've made ...
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CHRISTMAS RECIPES
A lighter, zingier, festive fruit cake
Hello baking friends, Deep dark, boozy traditional fruitcakes are not my cup of tea...and if you feel the same, then this recipe is just for you! Its a lighter, zingier, fresher take on a traditional Christmas-style fruit cake, and it factors in lots of dried tropical fruits, like pineapple, papaya, finds, apricots and cherries, for ...
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CHRISTMAS RECIPES
Twisted Candy Cane Sugar Cookies
These candy cane sugar cookies are so very easy! And you don't need special cutters, or lots of time to make them. We made them last year when my mom was visiting, and they were really fun for kids (and adults) of all ages. You could even add a bit of mint flavour to ...
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BREAKFAST RECIPES
My new favourite: Scandinavian Cinnamon Rolls
This past Easter weekend, we had friends from Finland staying with us in our home. They have four kids, so that made 9 kids in one small house for six whole days! You can imagine how much fun was had!! On Easter morning, I woke early with the realisation I had forgotten to make the ...
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RECIPES
Snowy Lime Cookies -- so pretty!
It has been snowing a lot in many parts of the globe, but here in London we are longing for a winter wonderland moment to happen. Ok, we may be the only ones waiting, and we know the snow had been relentless in much of the US this winter, but that should not stop anyone ...
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RECIPES
Barberry Bundt Cake
I found this recipe for a Barberry Cake in our local organic supermarket’s monthly magazine and it turned out great but not only that – I later learned that the main ingredient, dried barberries, are also extremely healthy! They contain berbeerine, which has been used for its medicinal properties for a long time. The ...
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CHRISTMAS RECIPES
Some yummy seasonal cookies
We love baking during the Christmas season and these two cookie recipes we make every year. Speculaas (just like pepernoten) are very specific to December as we relate them to Sinterklaas, but where pepernoten really only hit the scene when the Saint is in town, we like to enjoy speculaas the rest of the year as ...
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RECIPES
The perfect Masala Chai
When we were in Chile last December, our surf instructor, Ismael Herreros, got us all hooked on chai tea. He prepared a thermos of chai each morning and brought it along for our afternoon surf classes. When we would emerge from the frigid cold waters after our surf lesson, Ismael would unscrew the lid of ...
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BOOKS
Gingerbread Wonderland by Mima Sinclair
We've had such a cosy winter holiday spending our days with the fire lit, reading books and baking in the kitchen. We've made our favourite chocolate brownies, delicious soups and even roasted chestnuts on the fire - delicious! We also made gingerbread (for the first time ever). Helena was gifted Gingerbread Wonderland for her birthday and we really enjoyed ...
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CHRISTMAS RECIPES
Christmas recipes from the archives
We're going through flour, eggs and butter at an impressive rate here in our house right now. There are just so many yummy treats to make (and lots of little helpers around the house to help lick the spoons clean!). Here are some of our favourite Christmas treats from the archives... My mom's Butterhorns (cinnamon ...
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CHRISTMAS RECIPES
Kristina Kringle
My sister has just arrived to spend the holidays with us and we are all so excited!! Her arrival really marked the start of the holiday season for us, and also the start of the Christmas cookie baking frenzy! We decided to start with a dessert our mum used to make every Christmas called Kristina ...
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CHRISTMAS RECIPES
A giant cookie!
Crystal, one of our readers, sent us this beautiful image of a giant cookie she made with her 2 children a few weeks ago. It's a lemon poppy shortcake that was carved before baking, and the photo was used for their Christmas cards this year. What a great idea! Crystal was so sweet to write ...
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CHRISTMAS CRAFTS
Making pomanders
As a child, my mum and I made pomanders out of oranges and cloves every year for Christmas. I love that smell, so spicy and Christmassy, so last weekend I put my kids to work. It kept them focussed and busy for quite some time! It's such an easy and lovely project, great for all ...
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CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS
Lemon Curd
Back in the Summer (doesn't it feel an age ago?) we had a BBQ party and I used lemons in vases as decorations. The day after, as my head pounded, I looked at the 40 lemons and remembered a friend of mine mentioning she had a good recipe for lemon-curd. I do love a preserve ...
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CHRISTMAS RECIPES
Sugar Cookies
It's funny how I can really hate the cold, dark winters in London but not be so bothered by them when I am home for the holidays, all cozied up next to a fire! I love sitting around in my pajamas, listening to Christmas music and watching the rain splash against the windows (I'm in rainy ...
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