That Christmas Feeling - Spice Biscuits!

I am slowly getting into the Christmas spirit this year. Watching Nigel Slater on the TV last night, who has to be my favourite TV chef for his calmness and sheer gorgeousness of what he cooks, I suddenly knew I had to make some Christmas spice biscuits!

So I trundled off to Sainsbury's this morning which wasn't half as busy as I thought it would be (just wait for next weekend!) to buy the ingredients and cookie cutters I needed. I had to make do with hearts as the snowflake cutters were all gone.

I used Nigel Slater's recipe (see below) and ended up with three baking sheets of biscuits in different heart sizes.

 I decorated them with cinnamon icing in a ....let's call it "abstract" fashion with artistic industrial size blobs for added interest....... more is definitely more where I come from :D

They taste delicious (I've eaten three so far) and make your house smell beautiful!

The Recipe

70g butter

80g light muscovado sugar

2 tbsp treacle

250g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger (I put in two)

1 egg yolk

3 - 4 tsp milk

1. Cream butter and sugar

2. Beat in treacle and egg yolk

3. Add flour, spices and baking powder which have been sifted and mixed thoroughly beforehand

4. Add milk until dough resembles pastry and knead gently

5. Roll out thinly, cut out shapes and spread out on baking sheets

6. Cook at Gas Mark 4/350F/180C for approx 12 - 14 mins

7. Cool and decorate with water icing

A Little Etsy Love

                                                                     

                                                       

Thank you to Nancy of A Little Etsy Love for featuring my Etsy shop on the blog yesterday

And remember it's still 10% off everything in my shop til end of Dec 2012!

  
  

 

Finished! My Second Silver Jewellery Course Project

Here's the finished silver pendant I made as the second project for the silver jewellery evening class course I'm on. The "brief" for want of a better word, was amulets and charms. I didn't really know what an amulet was - I thought it was something you put things in - it's something you wear like a talisman to protect you from danger and bad luck so like a good luck charm really!

I loved the finger shape of an amulet I saw on a Jewish jewellery website so decided to go with that to start with. I also wanted to add texture with skeleton leaves and pierce out a shape as I haven't done any piercing before. I managed to break 3 saw blades piercing out the heart!

I melted some sterling silver to form balls then hammered and stamped them and soldered them above the heart. Then it was a case of filing and sanding, using the triangle file to add the cut in bits at the bottom and making and soldering a jump ring for hanging. I finished off by oxidizing it (of course!)

I'll be honest, the finished pendant is nothing like the original idea and design I drew apart from the shape and the pierced heart! It kind of evolved as I saw the shape and actual size of it as I was making it. The texturing is a bit uneven, the heart is off centre - it's definitely organic and a little bit quaint :D

I was the first one to finish - a couple of people on the course haven't even started their's yet (three weeks into the project!) and are still at the planning stage so for the next few weeks I can play and make what I like :D