Christmas Baking part one...

 Good afternoon everyone, hope all is going well in preparation for the holidays.

I have been baking today, with a couple of my kids helping as well which has been

a) - a lot of fun, so nice to spend time with them now work and school have finished for a bit
b) - really helpful, they are super cooks and take a lot of care with their cooking!

First of all, I must show you my lucky bargain from Laura Ashley yesterday, for some reason these were on sale - they were out of their shrink-wrap but in perfect condition...and so I thought "those kids are going to make a real effort with the baking.  Lets get something chic to put the goodies in - something more interesting than old celebrations tubs!!"

So here we have it, a trio of Scandinavian-inspired tubs:

Here we have a yummy batch of mince pies.  I made my own mincemeat from a Hairy Bikers recipe - you can find it here.  I use orange juice instead of alcohol, and a veggie suet which is readily available in supermarkets:

It doesnt look much does it - but it is absolutely delicious.  These little beauties are brimming with lovely mincemeatiness and made by my daughter.  We will drift a blizzard of icing sugar over them just before serving...

Then we went on to make veggie sausage rolls, my son is the acknowledged expert in making these

These are so delicious!  We absolutely love them.

Going back to the start of this post, I have really got into Scandinavian inspired themes this last couple of months.  I bought this lovely book as a little treat to myself just recently:

It is a lovely collection of recipes and general eye candy.  A most enjoyable read.

Well, Im off to get on with more craftiness - cant say anything more as the recipients may well be reading this ;)

Helenxx