A very jammy Christmas

I think I have already mentioned my plans to bake for as many gifts as I can this year. With a week until Christmas, I really have to get moving.

We are doing a type of Secret Santa this year with my husband's family. This post is kinda breaking the surprise (if he or the family reads this post), but one of my people is my Grandfather-in-law. He's a vegetarian and quite hard to buy for (don't worry, was not planning on getting him a chunk of meat, just thought I'd throw that piece of trivia in there). Last year I made him some chocolate sauces and they were a winner. So this year I decided to try jam. At the markets yesterday there were boxes of delicious looking cherries. I hate maraschino cherries or anything cherry flavoured, but I love a juicy, fresh cherry. They are perfectly in season at Christmas, so by default, are the traditional Christmas fruit. So when deciding on a jam flavour, how could I pass up cherry?

A zest for life

Did you know lemons are high in vitamin C and help prevent scurvy? Or that during the European Renaissance, fashionable ladies used lemon juice as a way to redden their lips? I'm not much of a fan of the taste of lemons, so I was unsure of what to write in this post. To keep things interesting, I found some lemon facts. So, to continue, did you know lemon juice is about 5% citric acid and lemons have a pH of 2 to 3. Also, lemonade may have originated from medieval Egypt. Interesting.

The reason I'm writing about lemons is I was recently asked by a friend to make some cupcakes. As always, I made my chocolate cupcakes but wanted to make a second flavour, something a bit lighter for those who don't share my sweet tooth. Lemon it was. To my surprise, the cupcakes were delicious. The use of the lemon zest in the icing instead of the juice gave it an amazing freshness, a zing, something I wasn't expecting. So, here it is, my lemon cupcakes for even the lemon haters amongst us.

An angel for the top of the Christmas tree

I love Christmas. I love singing Christmas carols (to myself as I am incredible tone deaf!), I love Christmas food, I love buying presents for people and I love the festive feeling that is in the air. 

Growing up, Christmas was always a big affair full of tradition. We always put the Christmas tree up on the 1st December with carols playing in the background and my sister breaking at least one ornament (age did not stop this tradition). My Mum sat back and watched until it was time to put the angel on the top of the tree - that was her job. I have so many wonderful memories of those years that I want to incorporate some of them into my own family so my son can enjoy them he grows up. My family always used a fake tree, however my husband's family used a live tree. More often than not it would be a massive branch that they found somewhere in a park (or one year, just on the side of the road). My husband has always said he wanted us to have a real tree, so this year, we do. It's not huge, but something that can grow and take on a shape of it's own.

An abundance of raspberries

At the markets yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to see fresh raspberries. What was even more exciting though was the sign under them reading: 3 punnets for $5. Now, how can you pass up an offer like that?

There are so many things you can do with raspberries. I contemplated raspberry stuffed profiteroles, white chocolate and raspberry cake, raspberry jam, or something simple like a raspberry smoothy (very likely will also do this one). In the end though, I decided the best match for raspberries was chocolate. So, this weekend we are enjoying some choc-raspberry brownies. Let me hear you say "Mmmmmmmm".

The Christmas baking starts with something simple

I've been doing a bit of research into delicious baked items that I can give as Christmas gifts. Last year was the first year I did this and had a great response. Those people I always find it hard to buy for, I found easy to bake for. So this year I'm extending the baking gifts list. As Christmas in Brisbane is always sweltering (and generally rains for those interested), I don't want to bake anything to heavy. For my 92 year old Grandma I'm planning on baking an assortment of cookies. So today I started testing some recipes. I need to work on my royal icing, but the cookie and icing taste nice. If you feel like some easy recipes to try, have a go at this one. ENJOY!

Rhubarb - So that's what it tastes like

Two weeks ago I bought my first bunch of rhubarb at the markets. Unfortunately, my motivation for baking has been lacking the past two weeks, so the rhubarb sat on my kitchen bench until it needed to be thrown out. This weekend at the markets, I noticed rhubarb was only $1 a bunch, so I decided to try again.

I have never baked with rhubarb, actually, I have never tasted rhubarb, so I scrolled the web for a recipe that would ease me into this fruit (yes, a fruit). After too long looking through search results, I realised I could type "rhubarb" into foodgawker and wha-lah, an idea. And so, here we have my first attempt at rhubarb: Rhubarb Swirl Cupcakes.

Some impromptu baking

This morning I was running around the house, trying to get my son ready for day care and myself ready for work. I was half way through making his lunch when I realised I had no afternoon tea for him. I grabbed an armful of ingredients from the cupboard and whipped up some chocolate cookies. I didn't have enough chocolate for the cookies, so I used some left over freddos from our trick-or-treating stock, so these biscuits are a mix of dark and milk chocolate. I am yet to actual taste them, as was in such a hurry that I forgot to pack myself a biscuit, but I am looking forward to crunching on one (some) tonight. Fresh from the oven, they looked the perfect combination of chewy and crunchy.

ENJOY