SWISS CHRISTMAS VANILLA BISCUITS:

These are extremely popular biscuits in our household at Christmas time after having made them year after year for visitors over the festive season. This year we have a wonderful new cutter (which my husband managed to find in a little shop in Germany whilst attending a conference there recently). It cleverly enables you to change the central part of the cutter to make a variety of different shapes, but you can use any small cutter or round cutter for the central part of the biscuit.

Swiss Christmas vanilla biscuit basic recipe:

250g butter

500g flour

200g sugar

1 pinch salt

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

½ packet vanilla sugar

Lemon rind

METHOD:

1.      Cream butter and add sugar bit by bit and vanilla sugar, salt and egg and beat for 10 minutes.

2.      Sieve in flour. Make into a dough.

3.      Put in fridge for at least an hour or two.

 

 

 

 

 

Cut out cookies (one top and one bottom for each biscuit).Cut out a small shape from the centre of the top of the cookie so that you can see the jam in the middle. Bake the biscuits for about 10-15 minutes at 160 degrees celsius.


Brush the bottom of each biscuit with a little jam (don't place the jam too close to the edges of the biscuit or it will spill out) and then place the top of the biscuit on top. Dust with icing sugar, glace icing and decorate if desired.

 

Decorate and enjoy!

 

Gingerbread house

MAKING YOUR OWN GINGERBREAD HOUSE:

 

 

In our house it has always been traditional to have a ginger-bread house. My husband typically makes the gingerbread as is customary in Switzerland and Germany at this time of the year. It is wonderful fun to get the children involved in the making of the gingerbread and to ice their own little house- a good way to keep them occupied during the holidays. So here is our gingerbread recipe and step-by-step instructions on making a gingerbread house this Christmas.

Gingerbread recipe:

100 grams butter

250g liquid honey

125grams soft brown sugar

2 teaspoons mixed spice

1 teaspoon cinnamon or ginger

10mls lemon juice, freshly squeezed (optional)

METHOD:

Combine the above ingredients in a saucepan and warm whilst stirring constantly. Continue to stir until the sugar has just dissolved. Allow this mixture to cool. Then pour the melted ingredients into an electric mixer (paddle attachment)* and add:-

1 egg

àMix into the liquid ingredients and then add:

500g sifted flour

7.5mls baking powder

2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted

 

àKnead the dough until it is smooth. Rest in the fridge for a couple of days (or at least 24 hours).

 

Cut out desired shapes from the gingerbread dough and bake at 180°c for 12-15 minutes (or longer depending on the size of the cookies and your oven)

[Make a template for your house using some cardboard. You will need two matching pieces for the front and back of the house, 2 sides, 2 roof pieces and 4 pieces to assemble the chimney.]

Use royal icing to assemble the house and to decorate the gingerbread house.

 

 

 

Today is the day- after several requests to start blogging and share my recipes and ideas and after my initial reluctance to do so, I have finally decided to take the plunge (with some help from my brother who is far more clued up about computers than I am)!! I am going to share with you how to pipe a rose-swirl (something I am so often asked about).

For this you will need:
a piping bag filled with your favourite buttercream icing
a large closed star nozzle

Step one:
For a rose swirl you will start piping in the centre of the cupcake and work your way outward.




Start by holding the piping bag vertically above the cupcake and squeeze the icing out firmly and confidently (when you hesitate the icing will break). Press as though you are making a star.

Step two:

Next continue to pipe around this central part of the rose, swirling your hand and the icing bag around and around until you have covered the surface of the cupcake.

Step three:

Stop at the outside edge of the cupcake.

and there you have it, a roseswirl cupcake