It’s less than a month to Christmas, and I hope our readers are not overwhelmed with the stresses of the season. I love the season of Christmas, as friends and family get together. Coming from an Italian background, Christmas lunch is a feast, a celebration of the joy of family. When I think of Christmas, […]
As Christmas draws near again, I have the pleasure of re-visiting my Christmas cook books, including Nigella Lawson’s Nigella Christmas. In an attempt to spread my (admittedly premature) Christmas cheer, I’ve chosen to make these Christmas Morning Muffins, which Nigella recommends as a lighter way to celebrate Christmas morning. Frankly, there aren’t many mornings in […]
After receiving Nigella Lawson’s Nigella Christmas as a Christmas gift this past year, I was browsing excitedly through it, imagining all the things I’d be making for Christmas 2015. A quick chat with Mel revealed that she owned the same book (no surprises there!). Mel mentioned to me that there was an excellent cookie recipe in […]
It just isn’t Christmas in our house without gingerbread. This year I am using Stephanie Alexander’s reliably delicious recipe again to create gingerbread Christmas ornaments for my tree and also as gifts for friends. Although I haven’t decorated them yet, I will do that at a more leisurely pace over this weekend. To make the […]
Having recently celebrated an Oktoberfest dinner at home with friends, I needed something traditionally German to end our meals, but nothing as hugely filling as the Black Forest Cake, which is the German cake to end all cakes. Although these are traditionally Christmas cookies (and Marian Keyes tells a charming tale of receiving a 20cm […]
I came across this recipe in the Woolworths’ Fresh magazine Christmas edition and had seen the stained-glass idea in past years. I decided to give it a whirl for something different, road-testing these for potential gifts. I’m glad I did a test run because I know I won’t be using the shortbread recipe again. The […]
This recipe comes from Stephanie Alexander’s The Cook’s Companion. While I have a favourite gingerbread recipe that I have used for years to make trees and houses, I wanted to try out this one. Gingerbread is, for me, a basic baking recipe and a good measure of a cookbook. This dough was incredibly easy to […]
Now, I don’t personally know Ena, but I can tell you that she makes a mean gingerbread cake. The name, like the recipe, comes from the Frugal Feeding blog, and he states “This is a favourite recipe of Katherine’s grandmother, Ena, who lives in Sunderland [England]; though I think the recipe was originally taken from […]
A Tale of Two Kitchens 