One thread you’ll notice if you read here long is that I am consistently completing tasks at the last minute. I loathe being late, but I can’t say I manage to get things done weeks in advance. As usual I needed a last minute Holiday recipe and ummm… Well last year I recommended my chocolate dipped pretzels, which, would have been wonderful IF I had reviewed my recipe. Yeah, I burned chocolate… again.
Since this happens a lot I have a fall back recipe. I think the recipe originally started with one I found in a magazine, but I have tweaked it until it makes a nice moist semi-sweet cake that looks like this:
You can bake in a large bunt pan, but I like to bake them in mini-loaf pans and give them as small gifts. As cakes go this one seems to rise well, not stick, and are predictably tasty. Best part they make a great breakfast treat if there are any left over :).
Recipe
Dry ingredients:
2 & 3/4 cup Flour
1 tsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Ginger
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
For additional spice you can also add 1 tsp nutmeg.
Creamy ingredients:
1 & 1/4 cup Shortening
1/4 cup Packed brown sugar
1/4 cup White sugar
2 Eggs
1 cup Molasses
Liquid:
1 cup Water
Directions:
Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. In a separate bowl use a hand or stand mixer to whip the shortening until fluffy. Then fully cream in the brown and white sugar. Once completely whipped mix in the eggs and molasses. Then mix the dry and liquid into the creamy ingredients.
It works best to alternate 1/3 dry with 1/3 water. Just mix until everything is incorporated. Try not to over mix.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes for small loaf pans or 50 minutes for single cakes. I spray the pans with non-stick cooking spray. I tried traditional greasing with flour but had it stick a few times. Let it cool at 15 minutes and turn out to finish cooling after that.
For Added Sweetness
It is easy to make a simple lemon glaze to pour across the top.
1 cup Powdered Sugar
2 tbsp Lemon Juice
Optional candied ginger for garnish.
Mix the sugar with vanilla and lemon juice. If watery add more sugar and if still dry add water until liquid enough to pour. Pour over the cakes and top with crystallized ginger. Let dry to form a hard glaze then wrap cakes to keep moist.
My Christmas tree coordinates with the adjoining Snowy Woodland Mantel. However, I had to add a little more shimmer as you can see here.
Perhaps you have noted the diminutive size of this particular tree. Make no mistake, we carefully selected our special tree. We might have been the ONLY people out looking for our own perfect “tiny” tree. Certainly Lowe’s or Home Depot has expanded their tree selection to include some live tabletops in the last few years, but if you really want that elusive size above table-top but below 6 feet you are going to have to seek out a small grower.
Luckily for us we live in the land of tree farms. Neither Patrick nor I had visited one since our childhood, but we had someone mention a good one to visit and we set out in the early morning to gather ourselves the perfect tree. And oh what fun! I’m not sure I can ever go back to the supermarket tree.
Does anything say holidays like cutting your own tree on a crisp misty morning?
The morning consisted of visiting Santa (with better results), eating candy canes, and drinking hot cider and chocolate. Boyd Mountain Tree Farm offered activities for the kids (free), Santa photos (free), and refreshments (free). Seems they really just wanted to sell you a tree, garland, or wreaths. How refreshing! We wandered the mountain, picked one and they cut, baled, and loaded your tree. You can of course saw that puppy yourself if you want, but we weren’t feeling that rustic.
McClain was enamored with his first candy cane. Patrick and I were amazed by the tree baler that ties them right up.
Upon getting it home Patrick loaded it up in the tree stand and McClain and I decorated. We used just silver, white, and the crystal ornaments I made (tutorial here). Without a real tree-topper in the right colors (or the right size) I improvised and cut a snowflake topper out of metallic paper. I thought it went nice with the mantel snowflakes.
I can’t believe I got my two year old to listen when I said be gentle with the ornaments! To bad he ignores every other command.Details of the store-bought and hand-made ornaments.
Best part about the tree? When McClain points at it in the evenings and says “Light! Light!” We switch it on and he adds “Ahhhh!” I see our Christmas traditions already being created!
“Ahhh!”
Well this pretty much completes my tour of Christmas. If you would like to see the rest of the holiday decorations then check these out.
In 2010 we insanely agreed to be part of a charity tour of homes. If we never have to do that level of decorating again it will be to soon. Instead I kept my decorations simple and my tour more virtual in 2011. Hope you Enjoy!
Welcome to our humble abode bungalow. Right now we are a family of three, though Willis 2.0 will make us a family of four early in 2012. That should put any questions to rest about whether my belly is a baby bump or if I have been over sampling Patrick’s homebrew.
Head right past my handmade evergreen wreath (with dollar store bow) and lit lanterns which hopefully add a little cheer as you scurry past out of the cold. For some added spirit our gargoyles got some much needed winter-weather gear to keep them warm.
Come in! Pass by our unusual stocking display and warm up at our holiday mantel with accompanying local, farm-fresh mini tree. You can learn more about about the farm and see this tree (not shown) on Wednesday, December 14th.
I would offer you dinner, but I’m not a fan of cooking… Now baking I can get behind! Try some home-made gingerbread cake
and enjoy the dining room. We’ll fill these place settings with some sort of awesome take-out in a few minutes.
What?! You wanted real food? Well then, do what Patrick and I do: Mooch off my parents. They are great cooks and can really throw a party!
or hit up Santa Claus. I heard he sets a great table, but McClain wasn’t in the mood to find out this year.
Anyway, thanks for stopping by! Come by next week to talk about New Years, because frankly we are already sick of these Christmas decorations and ready to focus on 2012.
Oh and in case you didn’t figure it out, all those links lead to detailed posts about each of the stops on the tour.
I created a naturalistic looking crystal from borax without a lot of cost or time to decorate my tree. Follow this simple recipe to make these beautiful crystal ornaments overnight.
Crystal ornaments made with borax in less than 24 hours.
Supplies
(TBSP or 1/4 cup measure not shown)
Borax (Found with the laundry detergent)
Large glass jar, or steal borrow your husband’s pint glass
Straw, dowel, piece of wire, bamboo skewer basically something to attach across the top of the glass
Paper coated florist wire (or cotton string)
Hot Water (not the kind you get in)
Miscellaneous items to crystallize
You’re looking at a total of $7 for borax and some wire. Not bad since this would give you over 25 four to five inch ornaments. Even more if you wanted to make smaller ones.
Step 1: Assemble your ornament frame
Warning vague instructions ahead entitled: “How to make a frame for your crystals to grow on” or “I can’t tell you how to be creative.”
I tried a variety of materials and basically anything that will soak up a little water works as a fine frame for the crystals. Cotton string, paper, even synthetic fibers worked well. I ended up liking the coated floral wire because it allowed me to bend all kinds of shapes, was light weight, and made a nice hook for the tree. As a bonus I had some laying around. I also became pretty partial to these shiny pom-poms. They add a little sparkle through the crystal, make a nice round shape and I hadn’t figured out a craft to use them with before now.
Basically go wild. You can see here I shoved some wire through the pom-poms, bent a wonky snowflake, and made a spiral. This part is really up to your imagination. BTW, this is a very kid friendly project as well so let them have a go at making some shapes, just have an adult supervise or mix the borax solution.
Step 2: Suspend Your Shapes
You really don’t want to know how many pint glasses we have.
If you use wire then just bend it around the straw. Fibers and cotton thread can easily be tied into a small loop that will slide off the straw making a perfect place for an ornament hook.
Important note: make sure the ornament frames are suspended in the middle of the glass without touching the sides. Crystals will also grow on the inside of the glass and you don’t want the ornament to attach itself to the bottom. We are making ornaments not stalagmites.
Step 3: Mix The Solution
Okay this is a SUPER-Technical recipe. (insert sarcasm here)
Not complete till it is clear!
Mix one cup of water with 1/4 cup borax. Heat the water and stir till it is clear. (As a side note pint glasses take a little less than 2 cups of solution)
Equivalent is 8 ounces of water to 2 ounces of borax.
Couple of notes: Trust me, if you put a little more or a little less you are still going to end up with crystals. Just try to get around 3 tbsp of borax per cup minimum. I used fairly hard tap water so obviously it takes a lot to mess this recipe up. I heated the water on the stove-top and the microwave. The only difference I could see was making sure the solution was fully dissolved. The cloudier the solution then smaller crystals formed. Which, is not necessarily a bad thing, I just happened to want big chunky crystals for my project.
Step 4: The Hard Part; Waiting!
Pour the solution in the glass. DO NOT POUR BOILING LIQUID IN A COLD GLASS! I never got my solution that hot but if you do you are asking for a mess. Let the solution cool otherwise it could shatter the glass.
Go for a clearer solution. Do as I say not as I do.
Crystals will start to form in a couple of hours. For best results leave it overnight. I experimented and left my ornaments for different times. After about 24 hours there really wasn’t much more growth. The only way to get a lot more crystals to grow is to dip it in fresh solution, which, I never found necessary (and I am lazy). When done, just pull them out and dry on a towel. They are pretty sturdy so no need to fret about being super gentle when drying.
The End Result
Natural Crystal Ornaments
Clean Up
Don’t let your husband yourself freak out when you find a bunch of crystals stuck to his pint glasses the glass. Just pour a little warm water in and they come right out of the bottom. In fact, you can even take these crystals and once dry scatter them like glitter.
Other Options
As I stated at the beginning I tried a variety of solutions. I also made Alum crystals and Sugar Crystals. Okay… I tried to make sugar crystals (rock candy) and ended up making some crystals and mostly mold. The alum crystals were quite pretty but when I figured the cost it just didn’t make sense. Both the amount of alum and sugar needed made the cost quite high and for a result that was worse or equal to the borax crystals. Beyond that, the borax crystallized in less than 24 hours making it fast to make a bunch of ornaments. I wanted clear-white crystals so I didn’t try it, but I bet you could color them with food coloring mixed in the solution.
Want to see more holiday crafts? Click on the following:
If asked to think of the best party hosts I know I would, without hesitation name, my parents. They annually have one big party a year. Often the times change, Spring party… International Flavors Dinner… Birthday BBQ…So, when I was asked to co-host this years traditional Christmas party I was flattered.
Honestly, they did 90% of the work and I wanted to share how lovely it turned out. Per the usual, I started chatting with friends and forget to take pictures so let us take a look at some I remembered to get before the 40ish guests arrived.
As usual my mother won’t give herself credit, but I know that the little details are what makes her parties stand out. For example the above decorations incorporated brown, green, and gold. She utilized pine cones to hand-make the mantel garland and turned more pine cones upside down and topped with stars to make tiny trees. Vintage reindeer pranced among the greenery and gold angelica accents found on the tree and garland. Certainly guests had lots of decor to look around at as the party got underway.
And oh the food!
It isn’t enough for the food to taste good it has to look great as well. Cheeseballs shaped like presents, veggie trays in the form of Christmas trees, and fresh gingerbread cakes were just the tip of the iceberg. Warm soups, tangy chicken bites, and various other dishes rounded out the “winter comfort” buffet. Have I mentioned my father’s sausage rolls or champagne punch? All I can say is no one left hungry or thirsty!
Their hosting always shares three similar attributes: Great food/drinks, interesting decor, and most importantly hosts who attend to the guests needs while mingling and keeping the conversation going. Perhaps one day I’ll manage all three as easily as they do.
