bluey's christmas craft share!

[Guest bluey]

yo kiddies!!

since i dont have much moolah this christmas (yeah i said moolah..) i've been making presents tonight!! ^__^ i've made some home-made orange and cinnamon soap, and some dark and white chocolate biscuit sweets!! i think when they're done they'll make awesome little presents!! so i thought i'd share the methods here with y'all! maybe you'd like to try it too!

 

cinnamon and orange soap

you will need:

2 bars of plain unscented soap (tesco - 3 bars for 16p!! bargain)

4 tbsp vanilla oil

6 tbsp cinnamon

6 tbsp olive oil

orange rind

brown sugar

a cheese grater

a big microwavable mixing bowl

a square plastic bowl/mold for the soap to set in

 

1. grate your bars of soap into the bowl and microwave the flakes on full power for about 2 mins, checking and stirring it regularly with a metal spoon until it's softish (it wont melt completely!)

 

2. once your soap is nice and soft, mix in the olive oil and microwave the mixture for another minute or so..

 

3. mix in the vanilla, cinnamon, and orange rind (i used the small side of the cheese grater to get the rind off of 3 big oranges.. you can put as many as you like in ^_^)

 

4. just before the mixture gets too hard to scoop into the square bowl add the sugar (so it doesn't dissolve with the heat ~ makes the soap nice and exfoliatey..) then put the mixture into the square bowl, pack it down nice and flat, and leave it to cool for a while.

 

5. now shove it in the fridge and wait 5 days. (it'll be nice and solid!)

 

6. once it's ready - bang the solid square of soap out onto a chopping board and break/cut it into slabs. tadaah! soap! you hippy! you made soap!

 

i've nicked some flower bags from the supermarket (those clear plastic patterned bags they leave by the bunches of flowers...) which i'll cut up and use to wrap the soap ready to give as presents ^__^ hopefully it'll look pretty neat! i'm also going to make little present tags out of tiny brown envelopes, in which i will put the ingredients of the soap (for all those sensitive types - in case they try to sue me O_O I'VE SEEN ENOUGH JUDGE JUDY!)

i'ma post pictures once they're done

 

dark and light chocolate biscuit sweets

 

you will need:

200g dark chocolate

100g white chocolate

6 x digestive buiscuits

a plastic mixy bowl

 

1. melt the dark chocolate in the mixy bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. once it's melted take it off the heat and let it cool for a couple of mins..

 

2. smoosh up the biscuits in a plastic bag and mix them into the chocolate. you dont have to completely smoosh the digestives - if you leave a few little chunks it'll be yummy ^_^

 

3. the reason you let the chocolate cool a bit was so that when you mix in the chunks of white chocolate you broke up, they wont completely melt and your sweets will have white chunks in when you cut them up! YUM!

 

4. spoon the mixture into a square bowl lined with clingfilm (so it'll be easier to get it all out when it's set!) leave to cool for a while, then shove them in the fridge overnight to set!

 

5. once set, break or cut into little square pieces.

 

i'm going to make some little origami boxes lined with greaseproof paper for these.. maybe add some ribbon - so basically i'ma rip off thorntons

 

 

anyway! i hope these are of some interest to someone here : ) i'll be making snowman cookies tomorrow if anyone's interested in that recipe ... ?

if you have some cool crafty ideas for the skint/tight among us this christmas - please share!!! ^____^

 

merry christmas

[tapedeck]

Show me the snowman cookies! Show me the snowman cookies!

 

Can't wait. Some nice recipes there and a much better idea than just buying something and saying "here". It's much nicer to make someone something

 

Great idea

[My Buttons are Magic!]

White Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake

Ingredients

 

(base)

8oz Ginger Biscuits ( or digestives)

2oz butter

 

(topping)

2 x 200g tub Philadelphia

2oz caster sugar

Rind of 1 lemon (optional)

1tbsp lemon juice (optional)

1 Carton double cream

10oz white chocolate

400g frozen raspberries

 

1.Crush the ginger biscuits and melt butter. Add melted butter to the ginger biscuits and mix. Press into tin – put in fridge till topping is made

2. Beat Philadelphia cheese, sugar and the lemon juice and ring together with an electric mixer

3. Melt white chocolate and add to cheese mixture beating with a wooden spoon as you do

4. Whip the cream and fold in with the raspberries. Spread on biscuit base and chill for 4 hours - then serve and enjoy

[tapedeck]

I'm still waiting for these snowman cookies. it's my cookery night in on Wednesday if possible

[Dyson]

Can we get pictures of these when done please?!

[martinist]

I'm still waiting for these snowman cookies. it's my cookery night in on Wednesday if possible

 

 

Snowman Cookies ^_^

 

What you'll need:

 

1 slab of Cadbury's Milk Chocolate

1 bag STARBURST Fruit Chews

1 bag of M&M’S chocolate (don't use the peanut ones)

1 cup prepared vanilla frosting

1/3 cup flour

1 18-oz. roll refrigerated cookie dough

Non-stick cookie sheet

 

What to do:

 

1. Knead the cookie dough with the flour until smooth.

 

2. Roll the dough into three sets of differently-sized balls. Roll eighteen balls of each size: 1-1/4-inch, 1-inch and 3/4-inch.

 

3. On a non-stick cookie sheet, place one of each size ball together, descending in size, just like a snowman.

 

4. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Remove and cool completely.

 

5. To decorate: Spread the top of each snowman cookie with approximately a tablespoon of vanilla frosting.

 

6. For the eyes, nose and buttons: Dot the frosting with M&M’S

 

7. For the scarf: Soften 18 STARBURST Fruit Chews and roll each color into a thin strip. Then, using the tip of a sharp knife, cut the strips into 1/2 x 3-inch rectangles. Wrap one strip around each snowman cookie for the scarf.

 

8. For the hat: Cut 9 pieces of Milk Chocolate in half. Using frosting, attach the chocolate piece to the top of each snowman cookie for the hat. Dot the top with an M&M.

[Guest bluey]

snowman cookies

 

this is a reeeally simple recipe ~ i'ma try yours, martinist! they sound great!!

 

ingredients!

for the cookies

150g butter

150g caster sugar

1 egg

250g plain flour

(you can also add some cinnamon if you like ~ about 4tbsp to the dough once it's all mixed should do the trick ^_^)

for the icing

150g icing sugar

a little warm water to mix

 

(preheat the oven to gas mark 5~)

1. mix the butter and caster sugar together in a bowl to make a paste. resist eating this stuff. its tempting!! ^_^

2. mix in the egg, then add the flour a little at a time and mix that all up into a nice dough~

3. spread a little flour onto the work surface and roll out the dough

4. cut out your little men!! then put them onto a non-stick baking tray (i find if i squeeze the sides of the cutter when i cut, the shape will stay in the cutter, and i can just tap it out onto the tray - that keeps it's shape - otherwise all my little men lok like they're either waving or kicking something ^_^

5. if you're doing cinnamon, sprinkle a little extra cinnamon on top of the uncooked biscuits ~

6. bake the little bastards for about 15-20 mins till they're nice and brown and biscuit like. once they're done leave them to cool on a rack.

 

7. add a little warm water to your icing sugar and mix, mix mix! you might want to add some food colouring but i left it white - because... well, snowmen! once the biscuits are cool, spread the icing onto the biscuits - then pop them in the fridge to set the icing. i left my cookies in the fridge over night... that did the trick!

8. once the icing is set, put them into a tin and give them to someone as a christmas present ^_^ (or eat them all yourself!*)

 

*that being the reason i have no pictures of them... eheh...

[thirtynine.]

White Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake

So getting made.

[My Buttons are Magic!]

So getting made.

 

PICTURES when you make it

 

im making it on christmas day - ill post pics myself

[Coolness Bears]

Mmmn this thread is making me hungrier than i already am!

 

Might whip myself up some Snowman Cookies, they sound delicious.

 

The cheesecake may also tempt me.

[Slaggis]

I have to try those Snowman Cookies! They sound seriously YUM!

[Guest bluey]

snowmen cookies:

 

yummy! next batch: adding cinnamon to the biscuit mix.

 

cinnamon and orange soap:

 

 

they look like flapjack. i want to eat them. actually, aside from the SOAP i added, they WOULD be edible ^___^

i wrapped them in flower-bags that i nicked from tesco... i'm really pleased with how they look!! ^_____^

[Dyson]

You stole them from my workplace?!