diy Christmas / 3

***8 days until Christmas***

What can we say, we absolutely adore this D.I.Y idea for Christmas decorations! It's such a simple and effective way of adding some homemade sparkle to your home! Anyone can get involved and it's a great activity to keep people of all ages entertained this season. 

Method:

1. Collect pinecones during Autumn, it's a good idea to pick up a range of sizes as an assortment will look more appealing. Don't worry if the pinecones are closed as they will soon open up.
2. Remember once you have picked the perfect cones you must 'Bake the Bugs out'. You can do this by putting them in the oven (200c for 30/45 minutes) to get rid of any unwanted pinecone guests, and its also a great way of opening up the closed pinecones. Baking the pinecones adds a warming, wintery smell to the house which beats any candle we own. 
3. Once cooled, your pinecones are ready to decorate! We chose gold glitter paint to add some festive sparkle, but feel free to decorate however you want, whether it be using a multitude of coloured paint or just a sprinkle of glitter its completely up to you!

(Images: Pinterest) 

These pinecones look great scattered along the fireplace, gathered in a bowl on the coffee table or hung on the tree amidst the baubles! We hope you've enjoyed the final post of our D.I.Y Christmas series! We'll be back tomorrow with another blog post as part of our #12daysofchristmas challenge! 

Thanks for reading xo

diy Christmas / 2

***9 days until Christmas***

Tis the season to be very merry and enjoy a cheeky tipple or two! We've been inspired to infuse cranberries and vodka to create a festive and homemade christmas drink to enjoy this season (and to also compete with our granddad's annual damson vodka.) We believe this cranberry vodka will be a great party offering to family and friends over the Christmas period! CHEERS

Ingredients:

(all divided by 2 to make two 500ml bottles)

1L of Smirnoff Vodka

500g of caster sugar

350g of frozen or fresh cranberries

Method:

1. If frozen, leave the cranberries to thaw, wash them and pierce with a fork.

2. Pour the cranberries into the bottles and add sugar with the use of a funnel. It may look like a lot of sugar but it will dissolve!

3. Measure out the required amount of vodka, pour into the bottles on top of the sugar and cranberry goodness.

4. Remember to shake the bottles everyday in order to aid the infusion of the Cranberry flavour. Shake once a day every day for at least two weeks and the sugar should dissolve and be ready to serve and enjoy. (It's worth taking note, the taste get's better the longer you leave the mixture to infuse so leave it for as long as possible.)

5. Before serving, you must drain out the liquid from the bottle (this can be done through a pair of tights) in order to separate the vodka from the leftover mixture.

6. Once all liquid is gathered, present your creation in any way you want to, feel free to add decoration and labels to your bottles to make them as aesthetically pleasing as they are delicious!

Thanks for reading xo

We'll be returning tomorrow with another blog post as part of our #12daysofchristmas series!

diY Christmas

***10 days until Christmas***

We're very excited to share with you the first in our DIY Christmas three part series of blog posts! scrolling through Pinterest and searching for Christmas inspiration we decided our first festive bakes would be these Rudolph the red nose reindeer cupcakes! These beauties are sure to become a new and delicious christmas tradition, and complete with curly wurly antlers, what's not to love?! 

Ingredients: 

175g Self Raising Flour

175g Caster Sugar

2 Large Eggs

175g Softened butter

1 Tsp Baking Powder

Milk Chocolate Chips (as many as you want)

2 Milk chocolate bars

3 Curly Wurly bars

Smarties (pick out the red ones, eat the rest ;)

Method: 

1. Preheat the oven - 200c

2. Begin by adding the sugar and butter together in a bowl and mix away until you're left with a soft and creamy texture.

3. Crack and beat the eggs into the buttery mixture

4. Sieve the flour into the bowl and fold the flour into the mixture 

5. Add in a Tsp of Baking powder to help the cakes rise to their full potential and continue by adding the baking friendly chocolate chips and mix well. (We chose to add milk chocolate, but feel free to replace these with dried cranberries if you're feeling fruity)

6. Ensure that all the ingredients are mixed well and then you are ready to pour the mix into the cupcake cases.

7. Place baking tray in the oven (baking time 10-12 minutes)

8. Ensure the cakes are fully baked with the skewer test, remove from the oven and leave to cool for at least 15 minutes before decorating.

9. TIME TO DECORATE. This is the time to get creative with your little Rudolph masterpieces! We decided to melt milk chocolate and spread this over the top for a delicious base followed by a little red smartie for the nose and chopped curly wurly's for the antlers. 

Feel free to improvise with this recipe, a chocolate sponge with cream and a cherry on top would be equally as delicious and most importantly very Rudolph like! Good luck with baking all your Christmas treats this festive season! We hope this puts you in a festive spirit in the most chocolatey way!

Thanks for reading! xo

Stay tuned for the rest of our #12daysofChristmas series!