Christmas Food - ideas

Hi All,

With Christmas only a stones throw away my girlfriends and i are in planning mode

I just wanted to share the cutest cookies idea for Christmas.... could also get the kids involved too

http://buddingbaketress.blogspot.com/20 ... l?spref=fb

Have you got any Fav's you like to share?

They are just adorable!! Not sure if I have ever seen chocolate covered mini pretzels here before, but I haven't actually looked for them! I might attempt them!! They're gorgeous!!

I made these last year:



Chocolate candy cane hearts. They are soooo easy, and look great. Basically two mini candy canes laid on baking paper in the shape of a heart, filled with melted chocolate and added sprinkles or cashous. I found the recipe here:

http://mylife-myloves.blogspot.com/2009 ... earts.html

I've already started making some this year for the school Christmas stall....and probably teachers presents!

I am also going to make red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing and decorate them 'Christmassy' ...at some stage! Should turn out similar to these (Image is not mine, found it on flickr):



http://www.flickr.com/photos/bettenoir87/

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!

OH YAY STORMY I FOUND ANOTHER CHRISTMAS BAKING FANATIC!

I could just about scoff those cupcakes .... cleaver you!

With regards to the chocolates covered pretzels, you could always buy the mini's and dip them yourself leaving them on baking paper to dry??

that blog is pretty amazing. did you see the marshmellow and choc chip biscuit recipe../ slice thing. YUM

I make gingerbread houses. About 10 cms x 10 cms big. I get 17 out of my batch of gingerbread mix
teachers/ neighbours/ mates get them.
Most years we double the recipe so the kids get to make their own (well put them together, cos I make the sides and roof etc)

will try and find a pic. SOOOO easy, and everyone thinks I am soooo clever. Takes me 2 hrs to make 17. So not that long. Leave over night to set the icing and wrap in cellophane the next morning.

kids gingerbread houses...and a video of them

View My Video

mine are much prettier!!!



they look much bigger once cellophaned. You could put lollies inside the house, I did one year, then realised it wasnt really needed as no one eats them...they say they are too good to eat.

WHAT?! people, enjoy them.........

this video will make you laugh...stressed mother of 5, trying to stop the kids 'eating' their gingerbread houses,

while they assemble them

View My Video

anyway, that is my 'thing' at christmas, over to some other ideas.

This is what I'm planning to bake for Christmas:

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2011/11/mo ... el-slater/

Moist Chocolate-Beet Cake

Kiwi would love to know how you make 17 in 2 hours!!

Ive made these the last few years

http://m.bakerella.com/mix-things-up/ with Xmas m&m's. So cute but the houses are even cuter!

Nom,nom,nom! I'm in the process of making hampers of homemade goodies for Christmas at the moment!

I've done some "Cookie in a Jar" mixes, homemade coffee liquer and I have two different cookie doughs in the freezer to slice & bake a day or two before Christmas....I'll also add some bite size slices and I've already baked individual Christmas cakes.

These look yum, will try them for christmas. Thanks for sharing.

I can only make my houses alone...no distractions
Roll, cut, cook 5 mins, cool, assemble, ice, lollies...done!

I'm very impressed by the things you girls are making. I'm not so talented with the baking part of Christmas!! I'm good at the spending money part

With my lack of talent in the kitchen, I always have to 'keep it simple stupid'. I buy a packet of chocolate royals, cover the top bit in white chocolate, then add a jaffa and cut up mint leave lolly on top. They are so easy and like great!!! I know I'm not sharing anything new, just easy!!!

Kiwi: Gingerbread houses: 17 in 2 hours It would take me all day to do 1!!!!

Rocket ship, I didn't know that! So new to

me

lschultz, that choc cake looks a bit yum! Did you see that caramel slice on the "baking thread" yummmmmm going to do that too.

And remember my houses are really small...10cms high, I worked out one year (cos I have 2 hrs to think!) one takes me 2 mins to roll and cut the pattern out of the dough. Ha ha
5 mins to cook

Then a bit longer to assemble, but I usually have the music going and the phone off and I am focused

If anyone wants me to post them the pattern over with the recipe I use just pm me your addy

Just made these...really good considering no eggs, hardly any butter, and no creaming etc
http://recipefinder.msn.co.nz/article.aspx?id=729552. Too easy!

Christmas them up a bit with some choc chunks pushed into the biscuit while on a 'greased' tray
They stick otherwise

I only used 3/4cup sugar

Lunch is set:

Roast Pork - BBQ
Turkey & Potatoes- Weber
Parsnips, Pumpkins, Carrots, Sweet Potatoes - Oven
Cold Ham - unless you want it warm then
Steamed Beans.
Gravy

Also going to have a crack at those cookies in the OP but can't find choc pretzels anywhere so I'm making pretzel shaped chocolates as antlers.

Then after being a good boy and not over doing it I'll get hungry and go off on the usual pizza hunt like the last 3-4 years.

i tried those cookies (you mean the m&m ones?)
wasnt as excited by them as I had hoped I was. They looked so delish. but they didnt spread on the tray, half way through I had to push them with a fork..or they would have been round balls.

i was a bit dissappointed, choc bits and m&ms, how could they fail!! let me know what you think? if you were underwhelmed

Well, inspired by this thread, the non cooking me, decided to give the non cooking ideas a go.

So compliments of stormy (thank you) I made these this morning.


I put one in a bag and gave them to all the kids at playgroup today (final playgroup for the year). The photo looks a bit messy but they did look cute.



They were a huge hit with the kids (the mums were impressed by how cute they looked but maybe not so impressed by their hyperactive children after the sugar rush!!!) Even though they were very cute and easy to make, I made a very huge mistake!! I bought candy canes in wrappers - it took me 1 and 1/2hours to unwrap them all and then about 3 minutes to melt chocolate and fill them up. My kids enjoyed putting the 100s and 1000s on top.

I also did the christmas m&m cookies (not cooked them but made them up into a pretty jar like the cowboy cookies). I got a slightly shorter and wider jar than the pictures shown on website which was better because it was easier to fill. Unfortunately, I was running so late that I ran out the door forgetting to take a photo. I have 4 friends with them so I will get feedback at some stage as to how they tasted but it was really cute with Christmas material on top. I was thinking it would be a cheap present but it wasn't really that cheap in the end. By the time I paid for all the ingredients which included christmas m&m's which of course are more expensive than regular m&m's, pecans, jars, material & ribbon. Anyway, didn't worry me, it was a lot of fun.

I bought the wrapped candy canes too!
I only made 3 though...so only took 1 broken one and 15 mins
can you buy them unwrapped?
I hope so cos they really looked good (I used white buttons)

I wrapped the 3 in sellophane and greased up to the guy who gives us good rates at the grand chancellor in auckland (we went there on a school trip last week)

should be getting cheap rates for another year!!

Oh Kiwi, I don't think that you can buy them without the wrappers..... but oh, I wish you could..... it would save so many hours....... and a few wrinkle lines from stress

So I got a friend to send a couple of photos.
Here are a couple of photos from my 'cookie jars' ......

Well done, Rocketship!!

Ive made sooo many this year I've lost count. I made them for the school Christmas stal and they were a huge hit, that we decided to make HEAPS more for the school carols night and sell them there too. I'll have to take some pics later. I don't think you can get them unwrapped, otherwise they would end up a sticky mess with all the moisture in the air. The one's from the Reject shop or Big W are pretty easy to unwrap, just cut the end with scissors!

I'm about to ice and decorate 26 red velvet cupcakes. I'll post a photo later at some stage! And yesterday I made an ordinary chocolate royal into a plum pudding!

Keep those cooking ideas happening!!!

rocketship, those jars are gorgeous!!