Chryssy Mess decides if you Can’t Beat’m Join ‘m but she couldn’t quite manage it.
All recipes have been renamed to celebrate the joy of Christmas. Don’t worry, these recipes are super easy, so you can still fit them into you busy schedule even if Christmas is tomorrow.
Also as part of Chryssy’s endeavour to join ‘em, we have included some Christmas craft ideas. It is still not too late to do Christmas crafts. I know you probably have a million things to do before the holidays arrive, but you should definitely make some time to do Christmas crafts.
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please note that most of the recipes have Christmas slogans as titles, instead of their really homey names.
Absolutely Wicked Wisemen slice
125 gms butter or half a cup ( who on earth would try and squash butter into a cup to measure it?) Try cutting a 250gm block in half!
100 gms or half a cup sugar
1 tbsp cocoa
1 tbs golden syrup
200 gm (1 cup) of plain gluten free flour
40 g (half a cup) of coconut
One teaspoon of wards baking powder ( this is gluten free)
Did you know that your other baking powder has flour in it, to fatten it up?
chocolate icing is apparently optional but a must.
Preheat your new Neff Oven to 180
Place butter, sugar, cocoa and golden syrup in a saucepan or in a bowl for the microwave. Now melt it stirring as you go but do not boil it like I did. ( It sizzled a bit whilst I fussed around doing other things and it ended up coagulating and separating and when I put it into the tray it looked like a small bit of soft slice in a swamp of butter. But it tasted like manna from the Gods)
You have successfully melted it, so now remove from the stove and add the flour, coconut and baking powder. Press it into the slice tin. (I found this very difficult because the best way to do it was with my fingers and the mixture was hot and kept burning me.)
Bake for ten minutes. ( A real winner if you are trying to make something for the kid’s lunches at 7.30 in the morning.)
Ice when cool, or hot if you are in a hurry.
Personalised Santa Sacks
(What Rosie learnt at school)
makes twelve
12 patty pans
grated carrot
grated zucchini or chopped capsicum
one onion cut finely
garlic if you like
2 medium potatoes (peeled and sliced into twelve slices altogether)
a quarter cup of milk
cheese for the top if you like
4 eggs
Preheat oven
fry onion transparent and then fry the other veggies except the potato
Arrange the slices over a plate and place in the microwave for three minutes.
Place the eggs and milk in a bowl and whisk with a fork
Spray the patty pans with canola spray
place a slice of potato in the bottom of each one.
Divide the fried veggies into the patty pans.
Lastly add the milk and egg mixture
Put some cheese on now or later.
bake for twenty minutes.
Santa rolling in the Snow.
(or Tasmanian Jelly Cakes)
make up some jelly and put it in the fridge.
Go out into the garden and have about three pots of tea, a glass of wine and three conversations with various pets before returning to make the sponge. The jelly should be not quite set, so that you can dip the sponge cakes into the jelly and roll them in coconut.
Sponge (this recipe would make about 18 cupcakes or two sponges)
3/4 cup of real cornflour
1 tsp baking powder
3 eggs separated
1 pinch salt
half a cup sugar
raspberry or strawberry jelly
whipped cream.
Sift flour and salt
beat egg whites till stiff
beat in the yolks
Beat in the sugar until the mixture goes meringue like and you can see figure eights. (this must be some dream or hallucination of the original recipe author because I never see figure eights. I give up but my sponge still turns out and the sun rises the next day)
fold in dry ingredients
place in patty pans
180 degrees Celsius for 20 mins. (13 mins in my oven)( have you noticed how I’ve gone over to Celsius without a single thought for my old friend Fahrenheit or anybody else)
When cool dip each patty cake in jelly with one hand and with the other hand roll in coconut. Place in a container and with baking paper to separate layers, in the fridge to set. Slice each cake almost in half and slap in some whipped cream. Refrigerate and guard closely from Uncle Zane. Sometimes when no-one is around he will steal the lot and race off to the West Coast with them.
Spread Holiday Cheer Postcards
of Authentic reindeer in Avoca
Well this idea came from Leigh and it was a good’n.
She made the gluten-free mudcake mixture and then threw in a cup and a half of frozen raspberries. It was quite heavenly and we all clucked about it. The painters next door thought that Helen’s ceramic chickens had come to life.
Christmas tarts are never easy.
There is no recipe for this.
Here is the Fourth Estate Christmas Cheer Poetry winner. Although Ms. Epps is the lone submitter winning by default Slice (delicious!)
1 cup gluten free. Sr.. flour
1 cup coconut
three quarters of a cup of castor sugar
2 eggs lightly beaten
110 grams melted butter
1 1/2 cups of Gluten-free icing sugar
lemon juice from a lemon
more coconut if you want it on top.
preheat oven to 180
baking paper in tray
Mix all ingredients in a bowl and put into the slice tin.
bake for about 25 mins till slightly browned
cool in tin for 10 mins before icing.
sprinkle more coconut on the top and chop into squares.
If "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts, wouldn't it be a Merry Christmas? says Don Meredith
(chocolate brownies that are easy to make but still taste good
this recipe works with gluten free or plain flour)
3/4 cup plain flour
3/4 cup self raising flour
2/3 cup of cocoa
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
/13 cup of chopped walnuts
220 g of vanilla yoghurt
60 ml or 1.4 cup olive oil
4 egg whites
2 tsp vanilla essence
icing sugar to dust.
preheat oven to 180
line a lamington tin with aluminium foil
sift flours and cocoa into bowl Stir in sugar and walnuts. Make a well in the centre. Whisk yoghurt, oil, egg whites and vanilla together in a small bowl and then pour into dry ingredients. Mix lightly and quickly and then pour into the pan and smooth the surface. bang into the oven for 30 minutes
Cool for 15 mins then remove foil and chop into squares.
dust if you want to
You might be overwhelmed with baking Christmas cookies, but you do it anyway because it really is fun and is a central part of your holidays every year.
Remember making macaroni masterpieces as a child. You would take a paper plate and glue various shapes of dry pasta to it to create a work of art. Well, for this project you are going to replicate that craft project of your childhood, but first you are going to paint the pasta in Christmas colours.
Christmas Decoration Dough
Materials
-1 cup cornstarch
-2 cups baking soda
-1 1/4 cups cold water
-acrylic paints
Make It!
Combine the cornstarch and baking soda in a medium sized pan. Gradually add water, mixing until the combination is smooth (it will have a strange texture, but that's okay). Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until you wind up with what looks like a pot of mashed potatoes.
Scoop the clay onto a plate and cover it with a damp towel to let it cool. Once you can handle it, knead it until smooth. Now it's ready to form! Shape the dough as you would clay. IMPORTANT: if you're planning to make Christmas tree decorations, you'll need to gouge a hole near the top of the ornament BEFORE you let it dry.
Let it harden completely, then paint it with acrylic paints. You may want to use a clear acrylic glaze to give it that shiny appearance. String a ribbon through the hole (you remembered to make it, right?) and hang your Christmas tree decorations on your tree!
Kris Kringle would ring his bell and give out cakes and nuts to small children, but if they misbehaved they would receive a spanking with his rod reciting Pam’s friand recipe - Hazelnut, Orange and Raspberry
This recipe can be made in friand bakeware/tins, one cup muffin pans or mini bundt/shaped pans. Basically the cooking time is for pans that are one cup size. You can make this recipe with wheat flour or with your favourite gluten-free flour or blended flour. If cooking gluten-free there is no need to add xanthan or guar gums to the flour mix. I've made these gluten-free and nobody can taste the difference! Makes 12 cakes/friands You can make your own hazelnut meal by processing hazelnuts until a fine texture is obtained You can try variations by using almond meal and other fruits -just use your imagination!
180 g melted butter, cooled
80 g plain flour or gluten free flour
190 g icing sugar (also known as confectioners sugar, ensure gluten-free if required)
150 g ground hazelnut meal (also known as hazelnut flour) (I used almond meal)
2 teaspoons finely grated orange rind (I use either one large orange or two small oranges)
5 egg whites, room temperature
80 g frozen raspberries, thawed and mashed (I used more like 150g)Poke 3 whole raspberries in the top of each friend before baking.
1 teaspoon icing sugar, for dusting
Directions
Preheat oven to 180ºC or 160°C if using a fan-forced oven.
Sift the flour and icing sugar into a mixing bowl. Then add the hazelnut meal and the orange rind. Mix.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg until lightly frothy.
Add the egg whites to the flour blend and stir to combine.
Fold in the melted butter and raspberries and stir well to combine.
Spoon mix into bakeware, filling each 2/3 full. Makes 12 friands.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until done. Mine usually take 20 minutes using a fan-forced oven.
Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
Dust with more icing sugar to serve or serve with cream and berries.
Looking for a Xmas Gift? Buy a
Gift Now and Receive a Cashback! Mushroom and zuchini fritters
200g mushrooms - thinly sliced
2 medium zucchini, grated
2 tblspns chopped continental parsley
2 eggs separated - retain yolk and whites
salt and pepper to taste
2/3 cup SR flour – can use gluten free
200g tzatziki (or natural yogurt if you prefer)
oil for frying
100 g smoked salmon, shredded
Combine mushrooms, zucchini, 1 tblsp parsley, egg yokes and salt and pepper.
Stir in flour and 2
tblspns tzatziki mix till well combined.
Beat egg whites till soft peaks form. Add one-third into mushroom mix till
just combined. Gently
fold in remaining egg whites.
Pour 1 cm toil into a large frying pan and heat over medium heat. Spoon 2
heaped tblsps of fritter mix into oil and slightly flatten. Cook fritters in batches for 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden brown and cooked through. Drain on paper towel.
Stir remaining parsley through the remaining tzatziki.
Serve fritter topped with tzatziki mix and smoked salmon
These fritters reheat well in the microwave or oven and retain part of their
original 'crunchiness'
Enjoy
Best wishes,
One crying child, two unfed Aunties, Three full garbage bags, four sinkloads of dishes and a Warm potato salad for you.
Ingredients (serves 4)
• 4 desiree potatoes, peeled, cut into 2cm cubes
• 1 cup (150g) fresh or frozen peas
• 2 sticks celery, trimmed and sliced
• 1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil
• 1/4 cup (60ml) lemon juice
• Salt & freshly ground pepper
• 1 tbs fresh parsley, chopped
Method
1. Cook potatoes in boiling water adding peas in the last 5 minutes
of cooking or until they are tender. drain.
2. Place potatoes, peas and celery into a serving bowl.
3. In a small bowl whisk together olive oil and lemon juice.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Pour dressing over potatoes, peas and celery and gently combine.
Sprinkle with parsley and toss through. Serve warm.
Pick up a roll of Christmas ribbon to stitch along the edges of a red or green table cloth for an instant dose of holiday cheer and a place to put your Tennis Orange Cake
2 whole oranges – into microwave bag, seal, 5 minutes on high, cool slightly, then puree.
250g blanch almonds - crushed
5 eggs /
1 cup sugar / Gently mix then add orange puree and crushed almonds.
1 teaspoon baking powder / Fold in gently.
Line springform pan with paper. Bake 180° for 55 minutes or until cooked.
I call it ‘tennis’ cake cos I first tasted it at a tennis club lunch.
Enjoy - Lea
Hope you can use these. XOXOXOXOXO Lea
I’m dreaming of a White Christmas Paper plaster
with every plaster mould I make.
Well the deal is that you need to put a first coat of your mould at least 1cm thick of normal plaster because that is smooth and you need a smooth surface. But the second layer could be paper plaster which makes the mould very light and not so huge and chunky. Less plaster equals more moula in your pocket too.
So make up some normal plaster with this ratio.
water 1 part by weight
plaster 1.3 parts by weight
tricky! so if you weigh some water and it is about 100gms ( or measure it because mls equals grams with water - did you know that?) Then add 130 gms of plaster.
or 500 gms water and 650 plaster powder.
or 1000 gms/ mls water add 1300 gms of plaster.
Do the first coat with normal mix then add paper to the second coat.
Then mix in toilet paper adding it and scrunching it in with your hand five squares at a time until the plaster begins to thicken like porridge, then slop it on. Later sand off the edges with a tool or rub it on the cement path.
I would set up a few items to make moulds of at once if I were you, then it doesn’t matter if you make too much plaster. Moulds can be prepared with soft soap, or vaseline so that the plaster pops back off them.
Baked Ricotta
Rosemary’s recipe (deb’s recipe) ( I never had Jamie Oliver’s)
Put the ricotta on a tray
sprinkle salt on top
bake 150 - 160 F in a slow oven for up to five hours. But turn it after 3 hours and sprinkle salt on the other side.
The aim is to harden it and make the outside a feint brown.
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