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Spiced bikkies recipe

This recipe will probably be available soon on the taste.com.au website. But I'll put it here now because it's GOOD! It's from the Dec/Jan issue of Delicious magazine.

Spiced Bikkies (AKA edible decorations)

2 1/4cups plain flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp mixed ground baking spices (I used a combination of mostly ginger, then nutmeg and cinnamon)
1tsp pepper
pinch of salt
120g unsalted butter
120g dark muscovado or molasses sugar or dark brown sugar
2 eggs
3tbs honey

1cup flour (or more) extra for cutting.

It's probably easiest to process this in a food processor.
Combine flour, baking powder, spices, S&P.
Add butter and sugar and mix until smooth.
Combine the eggs and honey separately. With the processor going, add the egg mixture slowly - just enough to bind the mix and not necessarily all of it. Divide the mixture into 2 or 3 balls and wrap them in plastic then refridgerate. Chill them for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 160 celcius. Line your trays with baking paper.

On a floured surface roll out one of the dough balls. Sprinkle extra flour over the surface as required to stop it from sticking. Roll it out to about 5mm thick and use your prettiest cookie cutters to make shapes. Keep re-rolling the dough as needed to cut more shapes. I had to keep using more extra flour to stop it from sticking. If there's a small amount left at the end, nobody will think badly of you if you eat it raw. Personally, I made a disc and cooked it because my will power is amazing. Also, I got my fix from the beaters and bowl...

If you want to make hanging decorations, use a plastic drinking straw to cut a small hole in the top of your shape. When they bake, the bikkies expand and some of the holes may close over. Also, make sure you leave a bit of space in between in biscuit on the tray.

Cook for about 15 to 20 minutes. They'll have risen and should be a little browned around the edge. Take them off the tray to cool. They'll be a bit soft at first. Eat one before it goes hard. Then eat another one after it's cooled down a bit. Eat the ones that were a bit wonky or the hole filled over on. Noone will know.

You can also ice these with royal icing and pretty sparkles. I didn't. It makes about 40 - but this depends on the size of your cutter shape!

ho ho jingle jangle

Thanks for your comments and thoughts about my hair-dorama's. I decided to delete those 2 posts, because I really don't want negative posts here, and I really really didn't want to see myself each time I looked at my blog! (I don't post very often, so I forget what I've done...)

I am finished with swapping this year! YAY! This is what I sent to Silvia for the Christmas Kaleido-swap. Silvia has 4 cats and is a huge cat fan!



Yesterday I received the mini christmas card swap from Anne. Anne made me a sweet little stationery set. The swing tags are great! So are the envelopes!! I have never been so successful making my own, but Anne has the technique down pat. Can you tell from this photo?


My lovely friend Annette surprised me the other day with these 2 little embroidered ornaments. Aren't they fantastic! I love the colours and the beading.


I've been spending the last couple of days cooking and getting ready for Christmas. Here's this years rocky road - I put silver balls on top to make it look more festive. This is wrapped and ready to take to my sister's tonight. I posted the recipe last year.


I've also made my normal Christmas cake too. Not photos this time - they look remarkably similar to last year!

I've tried a new recipe today. It's spiced biscuits or gingerbread, I suppose. The recipe is from this months (i.e. Dec 07/Jan 08) Delicious magazine. I may be inspired to share the recipe soon - but not today.

I can vouch that they're very tasty indeed.

doing something crafty

WOW - first day of holidays for me and the house is a pigsty with buttons all over the loungeroom floor; the glue gun is out in the kitchen; the dining room table is covered in paper, stamps, xacto knife, and WIP's waiting for the sewing machine to make an entrance and crochet cotton and hooks dumped at every comfy seat around the house.

Sheesh - I have to tidy it all up tonight because we have a cleaner coming through the house tomorrow! It does, of course, take longer to tidy the house than to clean it. Well, once I've been having fun it does. I DO believe it's worth it - hubby isn't convinced. (Hubby doesn't have a very high rating care factor either).

I've been busy making sets of 4 crocheted coasters in christmas colours. They'll be on their way to new homes tomorrow. (This has been my work in progress over the last week - not just today BTW. I've made 3 sets so far.)



Today I have been making cute little vintage button and buckle brooches. I can't decide which one/s to keep for myself. hmmm. They are also for gifts. The colours didn't come out too good in the photo. Maybe because of the dull stormy weather that's happening here in Sydney.


Oh. My. Goodness. Kajsa sent me this bundle of goodies in a little ornament swap I was doing. It was supposed to be only an ornament! But heck - take a look at the fantastic ornament!!! I LOVE Kajsa's things, and this really blew me away.


I'm hoping to finish off lots of projects over the next 2 weeks, which should mean actually posting on this blog - something I've been pretty bad at this year.

Oh yeah, and I really want a bundle of colours of this. I can feel a blanket coming on next winter....

tough love and swaps

Wow - swaps are happening all over the place and the number of people joining in seems to be increasing. I love my swaps - that's for sure. It's quite a commitment for me usually (just in terms of postage, not to mention finding the perfect stuff according to my partners likes and dislikes) as there aren't that many Aussie swappers. I actually prefer receiving a parcel from somewhere else in the world. The coolest things arrive that you'd never find here.

It's also quite a commitment for anyone partnered up with me too - they'll also be landed with a potentially expensive parcel to send. Sometimes you just don't realise how heavy something is until you get to the counter at the post office and the damage is done.... (goodbye $45 on the last box I sent - $35 is pretty standard these days). I find that all up, I'm looking at spending around $50 to $70.

What I'm leading up to, is that there's been a bit of discussion about swap etiquette and ethics, that I have found really interesting and important. Ellia (green bean baby) wrote a post about the dark side of swapping, and Mary Ann (follow your bliss) has also let go and vented her frustrations on her latest swap issues.

They both describe some pretty terrible swap scenarios - some of which I can relate to, some which seem almost funny. I gave up swaps on swapbot a long time ago because of the frequency with which I didn't receive from partners (and got verbally abused when I posted a poor rating to one such swapper after waiting more than a month after the swap date and never got anything - there was nothing on the way - give me a break).

I now join in swaps organised in Flickr and sometimes swaps organised directly through blogs.

I only join swaps organised by people I trust - through their blogs, their flickr and previous swap experiences.

I prefer direct swaps - that way at least you can create a dialogue and relationship with the person you're swapping with. Also, if you don't hear from them it's probably easier to re-match you with another person.

I don't like being partnered with people who don't have a thorough flickr profile or many photos available to view. I get a bit cautious when I can't see much of a swap history (everyone starts somewhere, but if they claim to have participated in many swaps, where are the photos?)

I agree that if you are agreeing to participate in a swap, you are basically signing a contract to deliver certain things. Here's my understanding of 'the rules'.

Read and follow the guidelines carefully and consider this before signing up.

Make contact with your partner as quickly as possible. Exchange addresses and read their blog/view their flickr etc and find out as much as you can about them to get a good idea about what they would like to receive. Sometimes I find this tricky as they have different interests and likes, but that's also what makes it a challenge!

Keep in touch with your partner, so they know you are interested and let them know if your situation changes or you'll be late etc.

Take photos of the parcel you are sending before you package it all up. Should anything happen to it, you'll at least have a record for your own history (or swap CV as MaryAnn has called it).

(sent to Jo last year)

Wrap the items like presents so it's more fun for your partner to open everything bit by bit.

(on it's way to Silvia right NOW!)


Include a little note to your partner (sometimes I forget this - oops).

Email your partner when the parcel is on it's way. It's really fun to come home each day knowing something may have arrived!

Email your partner as soon as the box they sent has arrived! Even if you're not able to take photos straight away (I always seem to open boxes in the evening and don't have time to take photos until the weekend).

Take photos of everything you received and post them onto Flickr and your blog - the sooner the better. Again, time is so important in this situation and also a killer for me sometimes.

(received from Sara last year)

Also post to the swap forum etc as required by the swap organiser to acknowledge you have sent/received/posted photos, etc.

That's it! So simple - and yet so difficult to achieve sometimes. It's true - things happen, but if it's likely you're going to be too stretched to follow through - don't join in! There's always other swaps going when things aren't so busy. I wish I could have joined more swaps this year, but I wanted to do a good job, so I limited myself to the ones I knew I could do.

I don't think I've ranted much before on here. The girls have obviously got me worked up! Anyway, this is just what I think. It would be nice to know if anyone agrees or disagrees, or can throw anything new into the pot! I've almost finished swapping for 2007 and am looking forward to more in 2008.

serious swap goodness

I've been so very lucky recently with the swaps I've participated in. I have been very slack, however, at posting the wonderful stuff here on my blog. If you look at my flickr photos at all - you'll see everything there. I've been finding it so difficult to get my act together posting here as well.

So - my apologies to my wonderful swap partners who've been incredibly thoughtful and generous.

Starting from the most distant swap I haven't posted...

The September Kaleidoswap theme was "back to school" and I was partnered with the organiser Isabelle. I received the most amazing box full of great things - sweets, notebooks, pens, perfumes, games. I absolutely love everything. Isabelle really took notice of all the things I like and dislike and everything was great. I think she has a real talent for choosing gifts for her partners!



I had posted the wrapped parcel of the things I sent her, so here it all is now before I wrapped it. I also tried to make sure I put things together that Isabelle would really enjoy.



Here's a close up of the sterling silver and czech glass beaded earrings I made for her. They seem to go perfectly with one of her favourite necklaces! Perfect!


The next swap I received recently was in the Sweetpea "Something Old/Something New" swap. I was matched up with Julie (aka sewitsforyou). Julie has a shop in Etsy which you must check out too.



The teatowel Julie embroidered for me is so perfect - to the extent that the teapot is eating a DONUT! Wow - I didn't realise my 'Homer'ness' was so evident on the internet...And the buttons are just beautiful! And the embroidery patterns are so cool - in fact I'll be starting a tshirt project today if I get the time.

Here is what I sent to Julie. I must admit that time was an issue for me and I didn't get the time to make something for Julie to post with this. However, I did find the cutest Japanese print fabric, and over did the chocolates to (hopefully) make up for it a bit.


The final swap I am posting today is the "Vintage Christmas Stocking Swap" organised by the wonderful Jo and MaryAnn. Unlike the swaps above, this isn't a direct swap. I was sent a parcel from Beth, who has a really beautiful blog and shop on Etsy.

I was completely in love with the beautiful handcrafted gifts I received from Beth. The style of vintage Beth made for me was (again) just perfect! The Christmas Angel is adorable - and my grandmother was very impressed with her. Here's a photo of all the good stuff.


The stocking is just beautiful.


Here's a peep inside. The fabric lining the stocking is very cool. I wish it was easier to see it/show it!


And finally, the beautiful corsage. I can't wait to wear it! I've decided to wear it to all the Christmas parties and Christmas drinks I go to as well as on Christmas Day.


I have sent my Christmas stocking and goodies off to Cheryl nearly 2 weeks ago. So far it doesn't seem to have arrived. Of course I hate the waiting part - I hope it gets there soon and all OK! Once I've got her confirmation it's there, I'll post photos I took.

Happy Season Swapping everyone!

lemon slice'n it up

I've made this recipe twice in one week now. Mmm. It's good. Nice lemony tang. First time I overcooked it a little (the time I give should be right now), but keep an eye on it as it browns quickly. I also added loads of shredded coconut to the topping on the first batch which was really nice too.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line a 18cm x 28cm lamington pan. Lining it means you can lift the whole thing out to slice it after it's cooked.

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup icing sugar
150g melted butter
Combine these together and press the mixture into the pan. Bake for 15 minutes.

400g sweetened condensed milk (low fat version works great)
1 egg
1 medium to large lemon - rind and juice
2 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp baking powder

Mix together sweetened condensed milk and egg, then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well until combined. Return to the oven and bake for about 20 minutes (watch it) or until the topping is set.

Allow to cool in pan. Refrigerate. Cut into squares and sprinkle with icing sugar before serving.