This is so wierd, I planned to do my festive baking today at the beginning of the week and I got a notification today on Facebook telling me that day 22 of last year’s Blogmas was festive baking too, how wierd. So looks like Dec 22nd is Blogmas baking day! Although this year I have had to post it on the 23rd as I already had a post ready for today, anyway…
I did plan to do these in more than one post but the time has completely got away from me (seriously where has Blogmas gone?!?) and so I’m doing it all in one mega baking blog post.
So, what’s on the menu?
- Mini heart mince pies
- Chocolate orange cupcakes
- Gingerbread men
First up, Mince pies! I made these using a Slimming World recipe, you can check that out here
My little helper!
I went for a heart on top (less festive than a star I know) as I couldn’t find my small star cutter. These still look lovely and the hearts are quite cute.
These went down a treat in class, since these were ready and Slimming World friendly I thought I’d take them to my class that day as we were having our Christmas party. They didn’t last long at all.
Next up, chocolate orange cupcakes!
These were made using a Mary Berry recipe, Queen of baking who else could be better!! Check out the recipe here
I have to admit that I used pre made icing as I didn’t have time (or enough bowls!!) to make this too, thanks Mrs Crocker for saving me π
I used the chocolate orange minis in the grab bags to pop in the middle (a yummy, gooey surprise) and to decorate on top of the cupcakes as these are a better size than the large segments of a full chocolate orange ππ« That’s just my preference but it worked really well.
This cupcake set came from TK Maxx and was only Β£4.99. It comes with cupcake cases of two different designs and four different Christmas cupcake toppers. I love this cute little set! It would also make a lovely gift for any baking fans.
And finally, gingerbread men!
I’ve never made these before (& to be honest my sister did most of the prep for these ones anyway) but these are soooo good and they smelt so Christmassy.
This recipe is again from Queen Mary Bez and I found it on the BBC Good Food site (best site for cooking & baking, failsafe recipes galore!) gingerbread men recipe
These smelt amazing and taste so yummy. From this recipe they are a tasty mix of a shortbread biscuit with a yummy taste of ginger to them. If you wanted to have a stronger flavoured biscuit I’d recommend adding more ginger and the cinnamon to add that spice. I didn’t add the cinnamon to mine as I hate the stuff, yuk.
I really liked how these looked when they were done so I didn’t add any decoration to them but you could pipe on detailing or add sweets for buttons and features if you wanted to.
Noah was such a good little helper and he loved rolling out the doughs and cutting out the gingerbread men (and tasting them at the end too of course)
A fun, festive and yummy way to spend an afternoon. I can’t wait to have a cuppa at work with a gingerbread man and I’m going to serve the cupcakes at our Christmas party tommorrow!
In my beauty advent calender today…
A gorgeous red lipstick! π I love how many different lipsticks you get with this advent, it’s perfect for starting a lipstick collection & since I only really had liquid lipsticks before this has been great for me. I’ve found a new love for creme lipsticks throughout December! I’ll definatly be wearing them more often now.
Here’s a swatch…
You can’t beat a festive red!
It’s Christmas eve eve, 2 days to go! π
Ho Ho Ho
Roseanne π
Roseanne Byford 