Tag: christmas

Cinnamon stars

there was supposed to be a delightful smell of cinnamon floating through the house as they cooked, well I had the most gruesome of colds and couldn’t smell a thing,

A few years ago I was intrigued by something I saw in a magazine, cinnamon stars which look like gingerbread but are made of apple sauce and ground cinnamon, and were said to smell wonderfully and last for years.(NB, These are decorative only, not for eating) What an excellent idea I thought, but no recipe. Recently on Pinterest I found a number of pins which gave instructions so I decided to have go.

.all you need to make cinnamon stars
A cup of apple sauce liquidised to make sure there were no lumps in it.
A cup and a half of ground cinnamon and extra to use for rolling out
Mix together to form a dough, roll out to a quarter inch thick
Cut with shaped cutters of your choice, I bought some star cutters specially.
(and then found the ones I had worked better)I think the mixture I had wasn’t dry enough, and so the shapes were a little ragged round the edges, a drier mixture might have produced a crisper edge.
Use a skewer to make a hanging hole in each one, or two if you want to string them on a ribbon like a garland.
Bake for an hour at 180c or the lowest gas setting.

cinnamon stars
Now comes the disappointing bit, there was supposed to be a delightful smell of cinnamon floating through the house as they cooked, well I had the most gruesome of colds and couldn’t smell a thing, but then neither could anyone else. When they were cooked they looked rather mottled and cracked, not like gingerbread at all, and they don’t smell of much either. I will take a nail file to the edges in the hope of improving the finish, and if I think it’s worth it I’ll string them on ribbon for a garland to go on the tree, next year.
If you fancy having a go yourself, have plenty of cinnamon to hand to make sure you achieve the right consistency, and to make sure the edges are crisp. If you don’t have star cutters, hearts or any Christmas shape would work , or gingerbread man perhaps.

Craft for Christmas

I love the smell of clove oranges and always make some for Christmas, and put them by my chair so that I can enjoy the fragrance, heaven!

In the run up to Christmas, I always think I will have time to be creative and make gifts rather than buying them, Pinterest has a lot to answer for!
I also thought that I would have time to blog what I have made, then Christmas arrived, work went viral, home life was hectic and the cold virus crept up to bite me too. I didn’t finish the present wrapping till 22.20 on Christmas Eve, and the cards got posted on the last posting day. So let me tell you what I did manage to achieve.

Limoncello ready to be bottled and given
nearly ready

The Limoncello (see a still life with lemons) was filtered and bottled, I tried the coffee filters but it didn’t work very well, so I used a double layer of muslin in a sieve over a funnel, which worked much better. It made a litre and a half of Limoncello. The 500ml bottles were cordial bottles that I have put aside once empty specifically for the purpose. I kept one bottle for myself, gave one to my sister, and put the rest in a beautiful Victorian cut glass decanter I found at an antiques fair in the summer and gave it to my Mum.

There’s something very evocative of Christmas in the smell of spices, I love the smell of clove oranges and always make some for Christmas, and put them by my chair so that I can enjoy the fragrance, heaven! If you want them to last you should wrap them in paper and put them in a warm dry place till they have dried, and then they won’t go mouldy, but if you do they look desiccated and not nearly so pretty. I prefer my clove oranges to have a short but pretty lifespan.
all you need to make a clove orange
They are so easy to make, just take an orange, a cocktail stick, some ribbon and some cloves. I tie the ribbon on first giving me four quarters to fill, and allowing the cloves to be placed to keep the ribbon in place. Use a cocktail stick to make a hole to push the clove into, if you try to use the clove to make the hole you will find the bud of the clove will be crushed by your finger as you push it in, and it will fall off leaving just the stem behind.

making clove oranges for Christmas

They make nice little stocking gifts wrapped in cellophane, but you’d need to make them the night before they are given to be sure they are given in perfect condition.

a little bit of Christmas
smells wonderful, tastes better.

And so happy Christmas Mum.

A still life with lemons

“ When life gives you lemons make lemonade”

We all know the old saying “ When life gives you lemons make lemonade” although I prefer “when life gives you lemons reach for salt and Tequila” either way I seem to be getting more than my fair share of lemons lately, so I decided to get my own back by turning a few lemons into Limoncello.

Still life with lemons

Here’s my still life with lemons, one litre bottle of budget Vodka, 500grams sugar, 6 unwaxed lemons, and a large screw top jar.


First thinly peel the lemons being extra careful not to take any white pith off as this is bitter.


Then squeeze the lemons.

only two weeks to go.

Put the sugar in a pan with 200 ml of boiling water and simmer till dissolved, add the peel, bring to the boil and simmer for 15mins, then add the lemon juice, bring back to the boil and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Allow to cool for 15 minutes so you don’t damage the glass jar when you decant it. Finally pour into the jar, add the Vodka, and screw on the lid. Gently shake the jar every two days for two weeks.
Strain the liqueur into bottles, (a coffee filter in a funnel works best if you have one), add a little peel for decorative effect and label. Serve chilled as an after dinner treat.