Hello. 91 days until Christmas. I'm starting to feel the push to get things made.
I really should be working on ornaments to share with my family. That will come soon enough.
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Eggnog Latte Loaf
Partner coffee and chocolate in a tasty quick loaf reminiscent of coffee
shop sweets.
shop sweets.
Makes 1 loaf (24 slices)
Bread:
1 1/2 cups Gold Medal all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup eggnog or half-and-half
2 teaspoons
baking powder
2 teaspoons instant coffee granules or crystals
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 egg yolks
2 ounces unsweetened
baking
chocolate, melted, cooled
1 1/2 cups Gold Medal all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup eggnog or half-and-half
2 teaspoons
baking powder
2 teaspoons instant coffee granules or crystals
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 egg yolks
2 ounces unsweetened
baking
chocolate, melted, cooled
Latte Glaze:
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules or crystals
1 tablespoon hot water
1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules or crystals
1 tablespoon hot water
1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons butter or margarine, softened
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottom only of 9 x 5-inch
loaf pan
with shortening or cooking spray; lightly flour.
loaf pan
with shortening or cooking spray; lightly flour.
2. In large bowl, beat all bread ingredients with electric mixer on medium
speed about 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly, until blended. Beat on
high
speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan.
speed about 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly, until blended. Beat on
high
speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan.
3. Bake 1 hour 5 minutes to 1 hour 10 minutes or until toothpick inserted in
center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan to cooling rack.
Cool completely, about 1 hour.
center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan to cooling rack.
Cool completely, about 1 hour.
4. Dissolve instant coffee in hot water. In small bowl, mix coffee, powdered
sugar and butter until smooth. If necessary, stir in a few drops of hot
water
until thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle glaze over loaf. To store, wrap in
plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 1 week. Enjoy.
sugar and butter until smooth. If necessary, stir in a few drops of hot
water
until thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle glaze over loaf. To store, wrap in
plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 1 week. Enjoy.
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Eggnog Scones
1 cup commercial eggnog
1 egg, beaten
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons
baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons shortening
1 handful raisins
1 egg, beaten
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons
baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons shortening
1 handful raisins
Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
Combine eggnog and beaten egg; set aside.
In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt,
sugar,
nutmeg and cinnamon. Mix well.
sugar,
nutmeg and cinnamon. Mix well.
Cut in butter and shortening. Add eggnog mixture to dry ingredients and
stir. Stir in raisins.
stir. Stir in raisins.
For cut scones: Turn dough out onto floured surface and roll dough out. Cut
into biscuit-size rounds or other shape.
into biscuit-size rounds or other shape.
For drop scones: Drop by rounded tablespoonful onto
cookie sheet.
cookie sheet.
Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 15 minutes or until light golden brown.
Enjoy.
Enjoy.
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Silver bells, silver bells
It's Christmas time in the city
Ring-a-ling, hear them ring
Soon it will be Christmas day
City sidewalks, busy sidewalks
Dressed in holiday style
In the air there's a feeling of Christmas
Children laughing, people passing
Meeting smile after smile
And on every street corner you'll hear
Silver bells, silver bells
It's Christmas time in the city
Ring-a-ling, hear them ring
Soon it will be Christmas day
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Robin tutorial...(and a giveaway!)
Right, here we go, as voted for in the christmas tutorial poll, a little 'how to' for a christmas robin. You will need -
background fabric of your choice (I used a red spotty print)
circle of brown fabric, 5cm diameter (mine is from a felted jumper)
circle of background felt in a colour of your choice (I used yellow), 5cm diameter
circle of felt for backing in a colour of your choice (I used green), 9cm diameter
red felt
brown felt
small white bead
green, red, and dark brown embroidery thread (I used pearl cotton 8)
a small amount of stuffing
sewing needle
scissors
embroidery hoop (optional)
16cm of ribbon or a blank greetings card for displaying
(print out the templates so the piece of paper they are drawn on is 10cm across)
Place your chosen background fabric in the embroidery hoop (or you can just hold it in your hand if you prefer), position the smaller circle of felt centrally, and attach with a ring of running stitch in green embroidery thread.
Place your chosen background fabric in the embroidery hoop (or you can just hold it in your hand if you prefer), position the smaller circle of felt centrally, and attach with a ring of running stitch in green embroidery thread.
Next, take the brown fabric circle, and sew running stitch all the way around, about 0.5cm in from the edge, place a little stuffing in the centre, and pull the thread to gather it into a ball, secure with a few stitches.
With the brown thread still attached, sew the ball shape into position centrally to your base. Next, cut the red breast shape from the red felt, and place on the left hand side of the ball (widest part of the template goes towards the top), sew on with random straight stitches in the red embroidery thread.
Cut the tail feathers, wing and beak from the brown felt. Attach the tail using the brown thread and a few stitches at the base, positioning them with the shorter one above the longer one, continue to add the wing and folded over beak. Then embroider two legs for your robin. The next bit is a little tricky, still using the brown thread, after you have completed the legs, bring the needle through the robins body to the position you want the eye. Thread on the bead, pushing it all the way down to the base, then before sewing the needle back through the bead, wrap the thread around the needle 3 times so essentially what you are doing is anchoring the bead with a french knot. Be careful when going through the knot and bead not to pull too hard and pull the knot through the hole, what you want is the knot to sit above the hole. If it does pull through, if your bead hole is bigger than mine is, then just make your french knot larger by wrapping the thread round more times.
Now you are ready to add some wording in red if you want to...,
and finish off by cutting down your backing fabric to a 9cm diameter circle. Place this on top of the remaining circle of felt which is the same size and join the 2 together with blanket stitch round the edge in green. You can either attach a loop of ribbon to the top of your robin and make a christmas decoration, or stick it on to the front of a greetings card, it's up to you!
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Things to do at Christmas time, Go to an ice skating rink, even if you can't skate. Encourage someone on the ice.
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The Yule Log.com is a World Wide Web tribute to an annual televised celebration of the Christmas spirit.
The concept of the televised Yule Log is a tradition that originally began in 1966 by New York City's own WPIX-TV.
The concept of the televised Yule Log is a tradition that originally began in 1966 by New York City's own WPIX-TV.
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