Candy cane cookies

I recently came across a recipe for candy cane cookies and I just had to try it. I am so glad I did because they are awesome! If you could scoop up Christmas and put it in a cookie, this is what it would be!
For the icing, instead of sprinkling the crushed candy canes on top, I added a drop or two of peppermint essence into the icing and drizzled it over as I thought the cookies were pretty enough without sprinkling more candy canes on top and the peppermint essence added the mint flavour in a nice fresh zingy way. Plus it leaves more candy canes to make more cookies with :)

Candy Cane Snowballs

• 3 c. powdered/icing sugar, divided
• 1 1/4 c butter, softened
• 2 t. vanilla
• 1 egg
• 3 c. flour
• 1 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• 3/4 c. finely crushed candy canes, divided
• 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 2-3 T. milk

1. In a mixing bowl, beat 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar and butter until fluffy. Add vanilla and egg and beat until combined.
2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Stir to combine. Slowly add to mixing bowl, beating until combined, about 1 minute. Stir 1/2 cup finely crushed candy canes in by hand.
3. Roll dough into small balls using just under a teaspoon of dough. Rolls balls through granulated sugar to coat and place on baking sheet. Bake at 350f/180c degrees for 10-12 minutes. Cool.
4. While the cookies bake, stir together remaining 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar with 2-3 T. of milk. Add just enough milk to form a thick glaze. Drizzle over cooled cookies and top with remaining crushed candy canes. Or instead of topping with crushed candy canes, add a drop or two of peppermint essence in with the milk, stir into the sugar until well combined and then drizzle over cookies.

Thanks for stopping by:)

Christmas fudge

Good morning blogging friends. There isn't anything necessarily Christmasy about this fudge, but that said, I have been making it every year for Christmas for a long time now.

My mother loves fudge so as a stocking filler I started making this for her and now it's just a given that she will get a jar full. Put in a pretty jar or placed in some cellophane bags (there's lots of different sizes on Amazon) tied with a bow, it  makes the perfect gift. This Rachel Allen recipe is my favourite.

Fudge

1x375g tin of condensed milk
100g butter
450g caster sugar

Place the condensed milk, butter and sugar in a saucepan. Stir and bring to a boil. Boil for about 10 minutes, stirring all the time, until it reaches a soft ball stage. To test for this, put 1/2 a teaspoonfull of the fudge into a bowl of cold water, it should be firm but malleable.
Remove from heat and sit the bottom of the pan in a sink/bowl  of cold water that comes 2-3 cm up the outside of the pan. Stir until the fudge cools and goes thick and grainy.
Scrape out the contents into a 8x8 inch tin. Flatten out the fudge until its about 1/2 - 3/4 inch thick. Let cool and cut into squares.
 If you would like to add some flavouring to your fudge such as vanilla, peppermint, coffee etc. you can add a drop or two in at the start. I usually just leave it plain.

I would love to hear if you have a favourite Christmas treat that you like to make. Thanks for stopping by :)

Mini ornament wreaths

Good afternoon everyone! Today I played along with a Handmade holiday blog hop on Amanda's blog and a handmade gifts challenge on Annabelle stamps. I made some mini wreaths that I was inspired to make by some I came across on Pinterest. I used some old curtain rings and some ribbon and bling from my stash. The were really easy to do. The wreaths that inspired me are at the end of this post and here is a link to the blog.

These are my two and they were so easy I'm definitely going to make more!

Source: smilelikeyoumeanit.net via Jessica on Pinterest

My friend Adele has a really awesome woven ribbon stocking tutorial on her blog that you really should check out!

Thanks for stopping by! :)

A Christmas window display...

Good morning all! Happy 1st of December! Christmas is nearly here!

I thought today, I would show you the Christmas window display I did for my hubby's store. It's my first time doing a window display but I think I'm quite happy with how it turned out :) I love window displays, especially Christmas one's so it was quite an honour being able to add to the Christmas spirit in the town.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you all have a great day!