Posts by The Pink Whisk:
Day 5 – Cookies in a Jar
December 5th, 2012
Day 5 of The Pink Whisk Christmas and these make, yet another, lovely gift! Who could resist? I’ve even rounded up some gorgeous jar labels and tags for you from the oh so fabulous Michelle Lancaster of Wink Design x
Day 4 – Gingerbread Sleighs & Giant Men!
December 4th, 2012
Two different projects for Day 4 of The Pink Whisk 12 Days of Christmas – Giant Gingerbread Men and Sleigh’s too – all using a fab Gingerbread Dough
Time to get cracking! Read the rest of this entry “
Giant Gingerbread Man
December 4th, 2012
So how about a Giant Gingerbread Man? These seem to be everywhere this Christmas and with a price tag of £5-6.00 I thought for Day 4 of The Pink Whisk Christmas we’d make our own! Read the rest of this entry “
Gingerbread Sleighs
December 4th, 2012
A Gingerbread Sleigh – filled with a Chocolate Father Christmas and Snowballs!
My plan was to make these for the boys for Christmas, but having made only 2 and there being 3 of them these are off to the school Christmas fair instead! Read the rest of this entry “
Gingerbread
December 4th, 2012
Gingerbread dough is always lots of fun – whether you want to make biscuits, men or even a Gingerbread house then a good dough recipe is the place to start. The resting of the dough and chilling is an important step for the very best in gingery spiced flavoured biscuits so try not to miss it out if you can.
Ingredients:
75g soft brown sugar
40g golden syrup
20g black treacle
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
110g butter
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
225g plain flour
In a pan place the sugar, butter, syrup, treacle and spices. Heat them over a gentle heat whilst stirring until the butter melts and it’s mixed together nicely.
Take it off the heat and add in the flour and bicarbonate of soda and stir it up well into a soft dough.
Place the whole lot in a plastic bag, let it cool to room temperature and then bob it in the fridge for 2 hours to chill.
When you’re ready to use it, take it out of the fridge, it will be hard and crumbly. Working with a portion at a time knead it with your hands on the worksurface until it is smooth and pliable.
Roll it out on a lightly floured worksurface, or between 2 sheets of baking paper and cut out your biscuits.
Preheat the oven to 170c (fan)/190c/Gas Mark 5.
Place the biscuits on a well greased or lined baking tray and bake in the oven for 8 minutes until lightly golden around the edges. Allow to cool on the tray for five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Ruth Clemens, Baker Extraordinaire
Day 3 – Salted Caramels
December 3rd, 2012
Day 3 of The Pink Whisk 12 Days of Christmas and today it’s Salted Caramels – the perfect gift for someone special (or indeed you – I won’t tell anyone you made them!)
Ingredients:
175ml double cream
135g caster sugar
85g golden syrup Read the rest of this entry “
Day 2 – Elf Cookie Lollies
December 2nd, 2012
Day 2 of The Pink Whisk 12 Days of Christmas and this year, Father Christmas is being joined by some little helpers – Elf Cookie Lollies!
You will need:
1 x batch of Vanilla Sugar Cookie Dough recipe here rolled out to a depth of 4-5mm between 2 sheets of baking paper and chilled until firm. Read the rest of this entry “
Day 1 – Christmas Cake Decorating
December 1st, 2012Hurrah! Today is the 1st December so it can mean only one thing – the start of The Pink Whisk 12 Days of Christmas. If you weren’t here last year then it’s one Christmas recipe each day for the first 12 days of December (then I collapse in a heap).
Kicking off today is Christmas Cake Decorating.
So you need some ideas? Let me help you out!
Click on the links to take you to each project.
Not a fan of the whole marzipan and icing shebang? Why not go for a luxury glazed fruit top?
Now for the rest of the ideas – all the following cakes start off marzipanned and covered with white sugarpaste you can see how here.
Santa, Rudolph and Cheeky Elf Cake
Christmas Baubles Cake Read the rest of this entry “
Santa, Rudolph and Cheeky Elf Cake
December 1st, 2012
A cute character Christmas cake which everyone will love
(and it’s simpler than you might think!)
You will need:
1 x 8″ Christmas Cake, marzipanned and iced See here for the how to
10″ Cake card
Ribbon for trimming around the base of the cake
Sugarpaste; white, flesh, red, green, brown and dark brown.
All the colours can be bought ready coloured or can be coloured yourself at home using gel paste colours Read the rest of this entry “
Glazed Fruit Christmas Cake
December 1st, 2012
A much simpler affair for your Christmas Cake – great if you’re not mad on marzipan and icing!
The glaze contains brandy which means you can prep your cake well in advance and nothing untoward will happen to the fruits. If you’re making an alcohol free cake then just use the warmed apricot jam on it’s own. You will though have to top your cake at the last minute (upto a week before) as it won’t keep as well.
Ingredients:
40g whole blanched almonds
25g pecans
60g dried apricots
55g glace cherries
90g candied peel – use the whole large pieces, not the diced stuff in a tub, it tastes brilliant (Waitrose sell Sundora in boxes)
35g dates
25g dried cranberries
20g crystallised ginger
3 tbsps apricot jam
2 tbsps brandy
1 x 8″ Christmas Cake
First up place the nuts in a dry frying pan, heat them over a gentle heat, tossing them around regularly to toast them lightly. Read the rest of this entry “
