Christmas Cook-a-thon!!

Good afternoon everyone!

As an English teacher, I have a guilty pleasure in making up words, and cook-a-thon is certainly not in the good old Oxford English Dictionary as far as I know, but it is a word that sums up what has been going on this weekend.

I have been busy cooking treats for giving away as Christmas gifts - I started cooking yesterday at 3pm, and have just finished boxing and bagging up the goodies.  It takes a lot of time, and by the time I have bought the ingredients and packaging Im sure it would be cheaper to buy boxes of chocolates, but I like to think that

a) - my goodies are more yummy than mass produced chocs
b)- all the ingredients are fresh, no artificial flavourings or nonsense of that kind
c) - they are lovely and fresh having been made just a week before they will be eaten
d) - a lot of love and care has been taken with their preparation.

DH says - and I agree with him (for once ha ha!) that people really appreciate something that they wont be able to get anywhere else.

So I thought I would share a few pics of what I have made:

First up we have caramelised nuts

Just a few simple ingredients, and a bit of time and care turn simple peanuts into a gourmet treat!
I make these every year, and the feedback I get from the recipients is excellent! 

Next is a new venture, Springerle biscuits. I saw the recipe in the December copy of Country Living Magazine and just really really wanted to have a go at making some.  This involved a quick order of a Springerle rolling pin from Amazon - it is a work of art in itself.  The reciped is simple but a bit of a faff, but well worth it.  We tried a few of the "factory seconds" i.e. those that cracked a bit when they were lifted off the tray - they are just so delicious.

Here they are all wrapped up in their little bags:

Then I moved on to making the chocolates - this time I went for fudge drizzled with white chocolate, peanut butter cups, dark chocolate truffles and peanut chocolate truffles.  I buy little boxes from our local cake decorating store so that I can present them nicely

You can imagine the lovely smells while all this was happening:

Here are all the goodies together, waiting to be parcelled up and sent to the folks they are intended for

Right, Im off for a nice cuppa!  Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Helenxx