Reindeer Shortbread

My mum gifted me some reindeer cookie cutters which inspired me to make these cute (and delicious) shortbread!

You will need:

225g unsalted butter

110g caster sugar

225g plain flour

110g cornflour

Pinch of salt

100g chocolate

Red ball sprinkles

Icing sugar, to dust

Begin by lining two baking trays with baking parchment and preheat your oven to 170℃. Then, cream together the sugar and butter in a large bowl, until light and fluffy. Sift both the flour and cornflour into the bowl and the salt. Mix it all together until a dough is formed, you may need to add a dash of milk if your mixture is too dry. 

When a dough has formed, let it chill and stiffen in the fridge for 30 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to a cm thickness and cut out your reindeer and place them on your prepared baking trays. Then bake your shortbread for 20 minutes, until they are gold on the edges. Once baked, let them cool completely before you decorate them.

Moving onto decorating the biscuits, melt your chocolate in a bowl over a bowl of boiling water. Now dip the feet of each reindeer into the chocolate to look like hooves. For the red noses, dab a small amount of chocolate onto the red balls and stick them to the biscuits and lastly, dust some icing sugar over the top to finish. Voila! You now have these yummy and adorable reindeer shortbreads that are perfect for Christmas!

Thank you so much for reading and tag my instagram or facebook page in any pictures of your shortbread. Merry Christmas!

Gingerbread House Decorating

Every Christmas I love to decorate a gingerbread house. I bought a lot from Asda and followed the instructions on how to bake the gingerbread biscuits to build my house.

Make sure that after you have baked your biscuits, you leave them to completely cool before you begin to decorate and put the structure together.

Then with the icing, included in the kit, decorate each panel, this will be a lot easier than decorating them once the house is put together. Otherwise, your house will fall apart!

I decorated the roof panels first,  I piped tiles along each one and it is so simple to do. With holly sprinkles that I found at Asda, I stuck them along the tiles to add a festive touch. Then to make it look as though it had snowed, I sprinkled some white glittery sprinkles (from Asda) all over the panel and it added a finishing Christmassy look!

For the front of the house, I piped a small door and some wavy lines, then stuck a large snowflake at the top (from Asda) and added some small red balls from the holly sprinkles to add more colour.

On the back of the house, I simply stuck some candy canes at each side, piped a window and stuck a little Santa in the window.

Then I cut a larger hole in the piping bag the icing came in, and began to structure together the gingerbread house on a cake board.

To create some Christmas scenery on the board, I piped a little walkway to the front door and used jelly beans as pebbles along it. I then stuck down some little snowmen and trees to finish it off!

Thank you for reading and make sure you comment below pictures of your gingerbread house. Merry Christmas!

Gingerbread Hot Chocolate Recipe

This gingerbread hot chocolate tastes like Christmas in a cup and is so easy to make!

You will need:

A microwaveable mug

Your favourite hot chocolate mix

Milk

Monin Gingerbread Syrup

Marshmallows (optional)

Whipped Cream (optional)

Cocoa Powder, to dust

Begin by mixing about 3 - 4 teaspoons of you favourite hot chocolate powder with milk in your mug, until it is fully combined. Then place it into the microwave and heat at one minute intervals until it is completely hot. Then, stir in a tea spoon of the gingerbread syrup and top with whipped cream, marshmallows and dust with cocoa powder. Voila! Your festive drink is ready to enjoy in no time at all.

Thank you all for reading and let me know if you are enjoying my Beyond Christmas series. Also, tag me in any photos of your Christmas bakes from my recipes, Merry Christmas!

Mince Pie Recipe

Every Christmas Eve, myself and my mum always bake mince pies for us to all eat whilst watching our favourite Christmas films.

You will need:

A 12-hole cupcake tray

Ready made shortcrust pastry

350g Mince Meat

A splash of Milk

Icing Sugar, to dust

As I am always baking lots of things on Christmas Eve, I use ready made pastry to save time. However, feel free to make your own from scratch.

Begin by preheating the oven to 200℃/400℉/Gas mark 6. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 4 mm. Then, with a fluted round pastry utter, cut 12 circles that are large enough to fill the holes of in the cupcake tray. After firmly pressing the pastry into each hole, fill each one with a heaped teaspoon of mince meat. Using a smaller round cutter, cut out 12 lids for each pie. Secure the lids to the pies by brushing milk on the inside of each lid. Then, place in the oven to bake for 20 minutes, until they are golden brown. Once baked, transfer your pies to a wire rack and let them cool, then dust with icing sugar and enjoy!

I love how rustic and homemade these mince pies look and they definitely taste best with a glass of milk whilst watching Xmas films.

Thank you for reading and I hope you are enjoying my Beyond Christmas series!

Gingerbread Recipe

 These gingerbread biscuits taste amazing and are perfect for the festive season.

You will need:

For the Biscuits - 

300g Plain Flour, extra for rolling out the dough

1 teaspoon of Bicarbonate of Soda

2 1/2 teaspoons of Ground Ginger

1/2 teaspoon of Ground Cinnamon

125g Unsalted Butter

100g Soft Light Brown Sugar

3 tablespoons of Golden Syrup

For the Royal Icing - 

225g Icing Sugar

1 Egg White

Cold Water

Firstly, preheat the oven to 180℃/ Gas mark 4, and line 2 baking sheets with grease proof paper. Then in a large bowl, combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices. Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a pan on a low hear, stiring until all the sugar dissolves. Combine the dry and melted ingredients together until a stiff dough is formed. Lightly flour a clean surface and roll out the dough to a 5mm thickness. With a cookie cutter of your choice, I used stars from Lakeland, cut your dough into shapes and place on the prepared baking sheets. Bake the biscuits for 12 minutes, or until lightly golden. Leave them to cool completely on a wire rack. 

For the icing, whisk together the icing sugar and egg white, adding cold water gradually until you reach your desired consistency. Once all the biscuits are cooled, decorate them however you like with the icing, you can also use sprinkles if you wish but I just wanted to keep mine simple.

I hope you're enjoying my Beyond Christmas series. Please comment below and suggestions for posts and tag me with a picture of your gingerbread biscuits!

Pumpkin Spice Biscuits Recipe

Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Lattes are everyone's favourite in the Autumn season, so I thought pumpkin spice biscuits would go perfectly with one. These soft biscuits full of spice and warmth are so irresistible you'll be baking another batch before you've finished the first round!

What you'll need:

 For the biscuits-

100g Softened Butter

60g Golden Syrup

150g Light Brown Sugar

250g Plain Flour

1 Egg

1 tsp Mixed Spice

1 tsp Ground Ginger

Half a tsp Bicarbonate of Soda 

2 Baking Sheets Lined with Baking Parchment

For decoration-

500g Icing Sugar

80ml Water

Orange Food Colouring

Green Food Colouring

Begin by preheating your oven to 180 Celsius (350F). Beat together the butter, sugar, syrup and egg in a large bowl. Then mix in the flour, spices and bicarbonate of soda, until it forms a stiff dough. If the dough seems too sticky then add more flour. Now, leave the dough to rest for 30 minutes. Sprinkle a clean surface with plain flour and role out the dough into a large rectangle at about 3mm thick. Cut out as many biscuits as you can using a cookie cutter of whatever shape you like, I used a pumpkin shaped one from Asda. Then arrange them, with slight room in between each one, on the prepared baking sheets. Continue to gather the dough and repeat this step until you have cut out as many biscuits as you can. Place the trays into the heated oven and allow to bake for 8-10 minutes, until firm and golden.

Time to decorate! Split the icing sugar and water into two bowls and mix until smooth. Add the food colouring to each bowl until you reach your desired colour, then place the icing into piping bags. Cover each biscuit with orange icing and allow to set before piping a stem and leaves with the green icing.

 Now you can enjoy your pumpkin spice biscuits whilst cuddling up with a hot drink and blanket on the couch!

Thank you for reading, stay tuned for more posts coming soon.