The 2 days of Christmas (baking)

It took 2 days, 2 hours per day, 2 calls to Head Chef Lee, 2 trips to the shops, 2 cutters, 2 kitchens and 1 Christmas jumper..but I got there in the end.

I had been thinking that the best thing to have come out of the ‘economic downturn’ is the trend for craft and in particular, that of making your own Christmas presents! Finally making stuff is cool…and I can make presents for people without looking like a cheapskate. So I was very excited to be making Christmas cookies for our clients this year. And although I definitely agree with the others on the whole ‘it wasn’t as easy as it should’ve been’ thing, it was loads of fun, totally put me in the Christmas spirit and has added to my (tiny) baking repertoire.

I hope those of you to have received some of our colourful cookies enjoyed them. And RIP to the 10 x Reindeer that sadly perished in my kitchen in the name of experimentation.

xKirsty



..ok, so I may have had a little help!

sometimes you can't bake it on your own

The recipe said they were 'easy to make'. Lee our OCD CD said they were easy to make. The name itself 'gingerbread' suggests ease, ginger + bread. So why is it that my battalion of gingerbread reindeer & stars took every ounce of pastry cheffing nouce that I have? and why did I end up burning my first batch even though I was sat in front of the oven looking in like an expectant father?

Most of my effort actually went into collaring people into helping so my thanks go to Kirsty & Lee for allowing me to disturb their precious Sundays, my sister for her patience & kitchen and finally my trusted side-kick and sous chef Joseph, who began by being mildly distruptive but ended up being a vital aide, confidente and quality controller.

happy homebaking christmas to one and all!

La la la La…Santa Baking… (To be sang to the tune of ‘Santa Baby’)

All I can say is that the main learning I have taken from this experience is that I am VERY heavy handed! I didn’t realise I would have a full on fight with my Santa cookie cutter – there were many Santa’s without heads, legs and even eyes. However, after a few attempts I got the hang of it (with help from my fairer handed little helper) and I went on to bake 23 successful little fellas + got a great sense of achievement afterwards.

It was epic BUT well worth it, a real healthy (bar the ingredients) exercise for the MWorks office with many competing for who had the best looking, best tasting, best dressed gingerbread biscuits.
Hopefully it will be a nice surprise for our special tasters – you will know who you are.

My icing skills left a lot to be desired but I guess that’s why I am in client services and not creative, besides it’s the thought that counts right?

Joy to the world and all gingerbread eaters.

As Santa likes to say…Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas

Just call me DG - 'Domestic Goddess'!

Never underestimate the infinite amount of fun that can be had with cookie dough, cookie cutters, a little bit of patience and a whole load of icing and cookie decorations!!

Roll on Christmas, for now I am ready!!

The proof is in the hoodie: 5 hours of gingerbread mayhem

Having not baked since I was circa 12 years old (and that was under mum’s close supervision and mainly involved licking the icing bowls) I was slightly unnerved by the MWorks Xmas Challenge. However, I rose to that challenge and after 5 hours of trials and tribulations I was the proud creator of 29 gingerbread snowmen (does that work? A ginger snowman..? Albino..? Reverse-albino? I'm slightly confused.com). Three of the gingerbread men were hand-in-hand with other gingerbread men (go figure what you will) as the first round had resulted in a three’s company, four’s a crowd-type situation within each baking tray, and they’d melded together.

Problems encountered were largely of the ‘much too sticky’ nature and were eventually solved with about 4 kg worth of flour wafted strategically all over the kitchen, as well as into the cutter thingy. It also took a good few profanities before I figured out I had to press LIGHTLY with the cutter and then simply lift it off and pull away the trim around the shape, not add 25 acme anvils’ worth of weight onto it until I cut through to China and then attempt to retrieve the sticky dough from inside the cutter.

All in all, I proved against all odds that contrary to my first impressions I am NOT the worst baker in the world, ever!!

Happy Christmas to one and all….
J

A sign of the times

Balham Woolies this morn :0(

Help Santa keep his job!

I love this, I love this!

Green Santa was originally created by Chief Productions who teamed up with MAKE (part of LOVE Creative) to create a site which educates kids on the climate change issue + encourages them to pledge to do things to help, all in a fun + engaging way. It's based on the premise that Christmas is at risk because global warming is melting Santa's runway preventing him from delivering presents to children.

Children can browse the site to see how global warming is affecting not just Santa, but other characters living in Lapland including Jack Frost, the Snowmen + the wooly mammoths! Children can also make a pledge to help such as turning off the TV when they're not watching it or walking to school + they can even write to Santa himself.

More like this I say!