I have to confess that I went home (as in Sydney) for Christmas but not before I basically made a mess on the kitchen and tried to build some Gingerbread Houses. As it happened, I vowed I'd never do it again because it literally took all day to build three houses. I remember getting so frustrated that nothing would dry and that the walls would keep falling off.

My oven is about the size of a microwave here. Just imagine how many batches of gingerbread I had to bake. Cookies and just a no no here! Way too time consuming!

Every year, I move into December with this feeling of trepidation. There is this tangible knowledge that the days until Christmas are numbered (not that they weren't before but there is now this sense of urgency) and with everything else happening around, time is so precious and short.

Fruit cake, gingerbread and christmas hampers!!! I look forward to planning, packaging, building and gifting these edible gifts every year but not so much the work that goes on in between... heheh! ;) Have I ever mentioned I'm a lazy baker? And as usual, I overestimate the amount of time I have and the number of hours that I (don't) need to sleep!

So this year, with my calendar completely overrun, working until midnight several nights per week doing my "real" job, a few social catch ups since coming home, normal orders and everything else that goes on in life, I managed to come up with most of the things I'd planned...There's always next year to do all the things you didn't right (new year's resolution?)?

So I came up with about 8 gingerbread houses, 12 hampers, a few hundred cookies, biscotti, gingerbread people / reindeer (or tribemen) and santas, shortbread, blueberry jam and salted caramel jars. 

However, my absolute favourite this year was my pavlova tree!!! It was sooo pretty and delicious and quintessentially Australian... everyone loved it! Who knew egg whites and sugar could be so much fun...

And I am sooo relieved that that's Christmas baking done (mostly!) for another year!

So proud of our selection this year. We made Christmas Hampers!

Homemade jam

Biscotti

Sugar cookies

Belgium biscuits

Gingerbread men

Fruit cake

nomnomnom...

I love the Christmas Cake decorations this year. Navy and White (taking a leaf from the cupcakes!) is so striking and effective. I like the tree and reindeer the most.

I enjoyed packaging these the most. The more you put in the hamper, the better it looks!

Twice baked biscotti. Perfect for tea on Christmas day... or any other day for that matter!

I tried to be really really organised this year. Planning lots in October for the December season. Mostly because judging from the past three years, I know how hectic it gets. How little time I end up with and on top of a quarter-end (year-end) month... planning was a necessity.

Funnily enough, I've already been to 3 or 4 Christmas parties and it is only the second week of December. So I thought I'd share what I've been doing to date. And I will need to post as I go because there's lots and lots and lots more!!! On top of the regular orders...

Sugar cookies: Snowflakes, snowmen & angels. These was painfully slow to make. The cutters I had were from Nordic ware but they were just so fiddly because of all the small arms and heads and legs. It was a really warm day too so each angel and snowmen made me increasingly frustrated!!!

 

I made a ton of houses last year that it was like my own city. This year... I decided to have make a few because I have other plans. And they are cute as I reckon! They've all got names on them unfortunately so get in early next year if you'd like one!

Took one to my friend's house for their annual christmas party bbq (I cannot believe that 12 people can consume so MUCH FOOD). Anyways, it was a total winner and everyone loved it. Yay!!! I've actually never deconstructed a gingerbread house myself so it was lots of fun. And I love gifting.

Had am amazing day in the kitchen and thanks for our helped Donna today for her awesome contribution to decorating all our Christmas cookies today!

Made this yummy looking mummy and baby sized white chocolate and lemon mousse baked cheesecake with scorched meringue. Looks good, tastes good, smells good and made for sharing.

This afternoon was time to get stuck into more Christmas baking.

We finished our second batch of Belgium Cookies, made Passionfruit Shortbread, Sugar Cookies, Gingerbread boys and girls and...

THESE AWESOME GINGERBREAD HOUSES!!! ... A WHOLE CITY/TOWN/VILLAGE of them!

So much fun to make, bake and build and build and build. There are surprises in these too. Can't wait to gift them and share the love! Each house has their own sleigh and welcoming Tiny Teddy too.

And we even had some spare minutes to come up with these genius cookie christmas puddings. Again with surprises inside!

It was something along the lines of 37 degrees outside.

It wasn't much better in the kitchen... reaching 32 on the thermometer, furthest away from the oven!!!

We sweated through a whole day of baking for charity and whilst there were some downs (re: macarons don't work in extremely hot, humid conditions), we were able to get there in the end!

Caramel Slice
Brownies
Lamingtons
Gingerbread People
Anzacs
Macarons

Loads and loads of goodies to sell which should make a nice little donation towards Vision Rescue!

Check out my helpers / packagers in action!

It was hard work - something that we have never done before i.e., baking in extreme weather conditions. And whilst some things didn't go to plan, thankfully most things did. With a little help from "this is what I prepared earlier" (and also, "this is what I will do after you have all left"), we got there!

100+ gingerbread people (all different in some way, some already broken before eaten) and enough sugar loaded tea time treats to last someone a good while. 

Gingerbread requires a long list of ingredients and is a bit fiddly to make due to the time it takes but the outcome is well worth it. You can substitute molasses for golden syrup or corn syrup if it is available.

Ingredients:
6 C flour
500 g butter
1 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1 C brown sugar
1 C molasses
4 t ground ginger
4 t ground cinnamon
1 1/2 t ground cloves or nutmeg
2 eggs
pinch salt

Method:
1. Beat butter and sugar until well combined.
2. Sift in dry ingredients.
3. Beat in molasses and eggs.
4. Knead into dough and cover with cling wrap.
5. Refrigerate for a minimum of 60 minutes.
6. Divide dough into smaller portions and keep unused portions in fridge until needed.
7. Roll out dough until 10mm thick on a lightly floured surface.
8. Cut into shapes.
9. Place on cookie sheet and chilld for a further 10-15 minutes.
10. Bake in a preheated oven at 160 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until firm.
11. Cool before decorating.