Saturday 31 December 2011

Candy Cane Sprinkles

It has been sort of an obsession already for years during the holiday season....Candy Canes! I just love Candy Canes!!I collect them in all sorts and shapes, because no Candy Cane is the same.


Unwrapping them can be a little bit of a hassle. I hate it when they break into a few pieces, trying to remove the plastic. Not wanting to waste any of the broken pieces I make sprinkles of them. And besides tasting yummie, they look gorgeous as well!

Just put your broken Candy Cane(s) in the food processor and cut them into little pieces. Don't overblend it, because then you will end up with "sugar" and you want to have the structure and colours ofcours of the gorgeous Candy Canes.
Don't make more then you need, you can't store the sprinkles really well, they get sticky.
Use your sprinkles on your Cupcakes, cookies, cakes or like I did on macarons.


This is already the last post of the year; Wishing you all a very Happy, Healthy and Blessed 2012. Filled with good times spend with your loved ones and lot's of sweetness!

Thank you for stopping by the blog this past year, looking forward to inspiring you in 2012!

Friday 23 December 2011

Winter Spice Cookie

With Christmas almost here, our house is starting to smell delicious! We are doing some serious baking with the family...And ofcourse Christmas Cookies have to be a part of this!
In my last post I mentioned my husbands enormous dislike of ginger; Gingerbreadcookies are out of the question! But it wouldn't be wright not to decorate cookies.
So I came up with these Winter Spice cookies...They are absolutely delicious!! With a cup of coffee, hot chocolate, tea, breakfast, lunch, after dinner...And the good thing about this recipe is; the cookies are wonderful to decorate with icing. The taste of the winterspices combine delicious with icing and after baking they have the wright "shape" to ice them. Not to high, not to flat, beautiful and delicious structure, remain in perfect shape during baking...What are you waiting for? There is still enough time to start baking before Christmas!



Winter Spice Cookies

2 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar (bruine basterdsuiker)
1/2 cup butter
3 tablespoons Winter Spice Mix
1 egg (M)
1/2 cup molasses (schenkstroop)
pinch of salt

Mix the butter and brown sugar together in the bowl of the electric standing mixer, high speed until it's a smooth mixture. Scrape sides of the bowl when needed.

Add Spice mix, pinch of salt, baking powder, egg and molasses and mix until well combined. Again, scrape sides of the bowl when needed.
Then mix in the flour; make sure your dough is firm, not sticky (add more flour if needed).

Wrap your dough in plastic foil and let it rest for half an hour in the fridge. Take your dough out of the fridge after half an hour and let it rest on the counter about two hours before using.

Roll out your dough on a floured working surface, about 0,5 cm thick, and cut out the shapes.
Bake them in a preheated oven (160 degrees Celsius), depending on size and shape, for about 10-14 minutes. After removing the cookies from the oven, place them on a wired rack to cool.

Now you're ready to decorate....or eat :) Enjoy!

Wednesday 21 December 2011

Winter Spice Mix

Christmas is coming close and I'm looking forward to spending time with my family. Enjoying wonderful company of my loved ones and delicious food. The tradition of Gingerbreadhouses is starting to become more populair in Holland. Which I'm happy about because I just love baking and decorating them!
Unfortunately, my dear husband doesn't eat ginger! Really, he hates ginger!! The smell of it, the taste of it, the look of it, try presenting a Gingerbreadhouse in the dinnertable then...
To let him enjoy the sweets as well I came up with my own Winter Spice Mix, filled with delicious sents of gorgeous spices!


This Winter Spice Mix is easy to make and I promise you; you will never use a store bought spice mix again. Make sure you use a good quality of spices. It takes a little time but I like to ground the Nutmeg, Anis and Cardamon myself.


Winter Spice Mix
120 gr. Cinnamon
8 gr. Cardamom
15 gr. Nutmeg
20 gr. Anis

Mix all of the spices together, I use a blender (keep the lid on a minute after mixing!) Make a big batch of the mix and store it in a airtight container in your spice cubboard.

You can use the Winter Spice Mix for a lot of delicious treats; Cake, Cupcakes, for all the Dutch bakers...pepernoten. Or share under the Christmas tree as a present!


To complete your gift, use the download for the cute Christmas labels I made for you...Enjoy!