Free Printable Chalkboard Christmas Decorations

I was going to leave my latest make for Monday's Make it Monday post but it's so pretty that I couldn't wait any longer!

These three pictures are the beginning of my Christmas mantle decorations for this year.

If you are on Pinterest then you can't have avoided all the lovely chalkboard art that is around just now.

I quite fancied making a big chalkboard wall somewhere in the house and writing out lots of things to keep us organised, as well as verses and phrases that I love. I would have to practice my chalkboard fonts as well of course.

Until I do though, there are plenty lovely people online who have shared their free printables with us all.

These three were my favourite Christmas ones.

You can find this one here.

You can find this one here.

You can find this one here.

It was so simple to make these and the best thing was that I found the frames in Poundland, so the whole thing cost me £3 plus a little bit of ink from our printer.

I love the frames so much that I think after Christmas I will have to find some non-Christmassy printables and put them in instead!

In other Christmas decor news, we chose our tree tonight! The lights are on and we are leaving the branches to settle overnight before decorating the rest tomorrow.

All together now - 'It's beginning to look a lot like............

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Christmas Biscuits

One of our Christmas traditions is baking Christmas biscuits together.

 

A couple of days ago I had this as the activity in David and Ally's advent activity calendar.

 

Because Ally can't handle anything with raw egg in it I made up a batch of these easy biscuits from Allergy Adventures blog. We adapted them slightly by leaving out the lemon and adding a teaspoon of mixed spice instead.

 

 

 

 

Because there was no egg in them Ally was able to do all the rolling and cutting by himself, and what a great job he did of them too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although he is the only boy with no allergies, David still made a free from biscuit so that everyone could eat them. He used my usual Christmas Biscuit recipe, which you can find here. The boys with egg allergies, as I've mentioned before, are fine to eat egg in biscuits and cakes. They just can't handle raw egg or eat egg on its own. We made these without the stained glass middle bits but we are planning on making a batch of the stained glass ones for the tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David took his job very seriously and can't wait to make another batch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two batches of biscuits were made on Monday.

 

It's now Wednesday and there is nothing in that tin but crumbs!

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Make Your Own Cinnamon Scented Pine Cones

One of our favourite places to go and look at the Christmas decorations is Dobbies Garden Centre. 

Not only do they have so many lovely things to look at, but they also sell those lovely Cinnamon Scented Pine Cones that smell so perfectly Christmassy.

Despite their loveliness, I've never quite been persuaded to buy them as the price tag has always put me off!

This year I stumbled across a tutorial on Pinterest for how to make them yourself at a fraction of the cost so we decided to give them a bash.

All you need is:

 a bundle of pine cones

 an empty spray bottle

 some ziplock bags 

Cinnamon bark essential oil 

Make sure you buy Cinnamon bark essential oil and not the Cinnamon leaf essential oil. The Cinnamon leaf will smell more like Cloves than Cinnamon.

One more thing to note is that you need to give yourself a few weeks to make these as they need time for the scent to infuse on the pine cones.

First thing you will need to do is check if your pine cones need cleaning. Ours were actually OK but if they do need cleaned you can gently wash them in some warm water. Washing in water may make your pine cones close up a bit but they will open up as they dry. Alternatively you could put them on a lined baking tray in a very low oven for around an hour.

Now put a little water in your spray bottle.

Add quite a generous amount of your essential oil to the water. I added at least 60 drops to about 50ml of water.

Put some pine cones in a ziplock bag, making sure you haven't overfilled it so that there is plenty space to zip it closed.

Now scoosh your water/oil spray all over the cones, shaking them around and scooshing some more. And some more!

Every couple of days open your bags up and scoosh in some more of that lovely spray.

If you were in a hurry you could Mod Podge some ground Cinnamon onto your pine cones but this will eventually rub off and make a bit of a mess so the oil infused way seems the better way to go - unless you want to have your cones smelling of Cinnamon by tomorrow!

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Make it Monday - Homemade Mincemeat

At the weekend I got a proper start on my festive baking.

I've already made a few batches of mince pies since the beginning of November using shop bought mincemeat, but it's not until I make up a batch of the homemade stuff that I feel like my Christmas baking has begun.

Why bother making your own mincemeat though? 

Isn't it one more thing to add to the list of things needing done for Christmas?

Well, I don't think so. I'm not suggesting there is anything wrong with ready made mincemeat. Or that there is something superwoman and domestic goddess-y about making your own. I just think this tastes nicer, and feels more homely. And it is so straightforward and easy to make that it isn't burdensome at all.

With all our food allergies it is always good to make something at home too, as you know exactly what you are eating.

The fabulously Christmassy smell as it cooks is an added bonus. A smell so good that it will even get the teenager in your house out of bed earlier than usual on a Saturday morning to see what is cooking!

I first came across a homemade mincemeat recipe in Nigella's How to be a Domestic Goddess and my recipe is one that I have adapted from hers over the years.

You will need:

250g brown sugar

250ml orange juice 

1kg cooking apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped

500g mixed dried fruit

100g glace cherries, washed and roughly chopped

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 lemon - grated rind of it and the juice of half of it

3-4 tablespoons port (optional)

~Put the sugar and orange juice in a pan and heat gently until the sugar is dissolved.

~Add everything else except for the port and let it bubble away on a medium to low heat for around 30 minutes. It should look all soft and mushy when it is ready.

~Let it cool for a little while and then, if you are adding it, add the port and stir it in.

~Put into clean, sterilised jars.

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It's beginning to look a lot like.... - part 2

Last week was another of those blink and you miss it sort of weeks.

 

There were various Christmas things on for the boys and my mum and dad were down for a few days too. My mum was down for a week when Fraser was 3 weeks old but this was the first time my dad was able to meet him. They have 8 grandchildren - all of them boys!

 

I was going to share a few photos of bits and pieces from last week tonight but Calum (11) wanted me to share this instead. He learned how to play his favourite Christmas song in one evening last week. We don't have the music for it so I just taught him how to play a section at a time and he's remembered it since then.

 

I would like to point out that our house is always this calm and tranquil.

 

Really.

 

Ok, well, sometimes!

 

Listen out for Fraser chatting/singing along too. Very cute.

 

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It's beginning to look a lot like.....

 

 

On Saturday these two went out with daddy to choose this year's tree. David (8) chose last year's tree and took his responsibility very seriously. He wanted to choose an equally good one this year. He did in fact choose an even better one. Lovely, full and round.

 

 

 

 

On Saturday evening it was the boys' responsibility to hang the ornaments. They love to rediscover the ornaments each year and reminisce about them.

 

Here is Alasdair hanging his favourite ones....

 

 

 

 

....and here is a close up of them.

 

 

I didn't realise what an investment those Thomas ornaments were when I bought them ten years ago. Back then we just had two boys, aged 3 and 1. I never imagined then that ten years later the ornaments would still be as popular and that we would be blessed with 5 boys.

I see those trains hanging on our tree for quite a few years to come. In fact, even when the boys have all grown too big for Thomas the Tank Engine, I know that I will still be hanging them up to remind me of these days when they were small.

Those kissing reindeers on the right below are one of my personal, non boyish, favourites. I cross stitched them a few years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our tree is a Caring Christmas Tree. I know I have mentioned them before as we get one of these trees every year. The money raised from selling these trees goes towards helping the charity my husband works for help the homeless in many different ways.

 

So whenever we look at our tree, not only do we feel the joys of this time of year but it also serves as a constant reminder to us of those who are less fortunate than us. We are blessed in so many ways and I would never want for any of us to forget that and take it for granted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Christmas Recipes - Chocolate Reindeer Cake {Gluten & Dairy Free}

 

 

Now before I start properly, yes I do realise that this is another chocolate recipe, but (a) it's Christmas, and if you can't indulge at Christmas then when can you? And (b) chocolatey treats are few and far between when you are on an allergy restricted diet!

A lot of children dont like the richness of traditional Christmas Cake and pudding so this is a fun alternative for them. You can make this by using ordinary self raising flour, margarine and milk without altering any quantities if you don't need to cater for allergies.

 

The cake is basically my Old fashioned chocolate cake recipe, which I shared in my very first ever post here, but instead of cooking it in round sandwich tins, cook it in a long rectangular tray-bake tin. It will need slightly longer to cook, although not too much longer.

In a bowl mix:

6oz wheat free self raising flour (I've found Doves Farm to be the best)

2 0z cocoa

In a pan mix:

4oz dairy free margarine

4 oz sugar

4 desert spoons golden syrup

and heat gently until melted.

In a jug measure:

1/4 pint soya or rice or oat milk

and beat in 2 eggs.

~Now add the egg/milk mix to the melted margarine mix and then add all of this to the flour mix.

~Whisk with a balloon whisk until the flour is all mixed in.

~Pour into your greased and lined tin.

~Bake for around 20 mins at 180c.

Make butter icing made by beating together:

4 oz dairy free margarine

10oz icing sugar

2 oz cocoa powder.

You will also need:

2 cinnamon sticks (the antlers)

a pinch of dried cranberries, or a glacier cherry (the nose)

2 dairy-free white chocolate buttons, or a couple of blobs of white icing (the eyes)

Once the cake has cooled it is time to start cutting the shapes. These measurements are very rough. I don't measure them!

Place the cake with the longest sides across the top and bottom. Using a sharp knife cut off a chunk, from top to bottom, of about a quarter for the head, leave 2/4 for the body and cut the final quarter into four slices (across the way) for the legs.

I hope that makes sense!

If you think your cake is thick enough to do so without it crumbling, slice each section through the middle so that you can sandwich them together with some of the chocolate butter icing. If your cake isn't thick enough it won't need this extra layer of icing anyway as it will be covered in the stuff!

Now arrange your pieces on a large plate, or foil covered tray if you don't have a plate large enough, and cover the whole cake with the rest of the chocolate buttercream.

Add the antlers, nose and eyes, using a dot of buttercream on the buttons to make the pupils.

I know he looks too cute to eat but once you have a taste of the chocolate cake you will feel better about it!

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Christmas Recipes - Chocolate Yule Log {Gluten Free & Dairy Free}

 

I've made a chocolate log to have as one of our puddings on Christmas Day every year since I was in 2nd or 3rd year at high school. We learned how to make one in home economics that year and then I made another for Christmas Day. After that it just became the tradition that I would make a chocolate log each Christmas. It wouldn't seem like Christmas dinner without one now!

 

This recipe isn't the one I used way back as a 14 year old (I'm not even going to try and work out how long ago that was!) but is the recipe we use to make one of Calum's favourite cakes - Jam Roly Poly - adapted to make it chocolatey. The step by step photos in this post were taken whilst making the jam version so just imagine that they are chocolate coloured!

 

If you want to make this with 'normal' ingredients it will work fine, just use plain flour rather than self raising. The reason I use self raising in my gluten free version is simply because I prefer the texture it gives over the gluten free plain flour. The plain flour gives a much drier texture, making this too hard to roll.

With wheat flour though you won't have to worry about this, and making it with self raising flour will make too fat a cake, again trickier to roll.

You will need:

4 eggs

4oz sugar

4oz Doves Farm Gluten Free Self Raising Flour

1oz cocoa powder

Some extra sugar for sprinkling

Dairy free chocolate buttercream for filling (or cream if you aren't dairy free)

~Using the whisk attachment on your free standing mixer, beat the eggs and sugar together well until they look really light and creamy.

~While this is mixing you can prepare your Swiss roll tray. Grease it lightly and line with baking parchment/grease proof paper.

~When your eggs and sugar are ready gently fold in the flour and vanilla. Try not to mix it too much or you will flatten the lovely air bubbles you have just beaten in.

~Bake at 200C for about 12-15 minutes only. It is important not to overbake. If you do the cake will be too dry and rolling it won't be so successful!

~The cake is ready when it is lightly golden.

~While the cake is baking, prepare a sheet of baking parchment/grease proof paper slightly larger than the baking tray. Sprinkle it all over with your extra sugar.

~When you take the cake out of the oven, carefully but quickly tip it upside down onto the prepared parchment and sugar. Peel off the baking parchment that was on your cake in the oven.

~Now cover with a clean, damp tea towel and leave to cool down.

~When your cake has cooled, spread your chosen filling all over the cake. Then, starting at one of the short sides, roll up the cake. You can use the baking parchment to help you push and roll.

Because gluten free cakes tend to be a bit more crumbly I don't try to spread any chocolate buttercream over the log like I used to when baking with wheat flour. If you are using wheat flour then do go ahead and cover the log in icing and finish off the decoration with fork markings to make it look like a proper piece of wood!

 

I think the little cracks in the cake make it look quite wood-like anyway, and we just finish our decor off with a good sprinkling of icing sugar snow. And, as you can see in the top photo, last year Calum (11) made a cute little Robin out of sugar paste as a final flourish!

 

 

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Christmas Recipes - Stained Glass Biscuits/Christmas Biscuits

 

I first posted this recipe two years ago but there is no harm in repeating it again as it is, I think, a lovely wee tradition. We also use this recipe, minus the stained glass part, to make up simple Christmas biscuits. We don't bother with any fancy decorating on them, just a sprinkling of icing sugar, as you will see from the photo at the bottom of the post.

 

The recipe I use is adapted from a Nigella Christmas biscuit recipe.

 

To make wheat & dairy free Christmas biscuits you will need:

10oz Doves Farm Wheat Free Self Raising Flour

2tsp mixed spice

1tsp ground cinnamon

3 oz dairy free margarine

3 oz light brown sugar

2tbsp runny honey

1-2 beaten eggs

~Put the flour and spice in a food processor and blitz until mixed.

~Add the butter, then blitz, then add the sugar and blitz again.

~Now add the honey, blitz it in, and slowly add the eggs.. You probably won't need all of the eggs, but you might, so go slowly here, stopping the blitzing when everything comes together as a dough.

~Now roll out your biscuit dough on a floured surface and cut out your shapes then place on greased baking trays.

~Once on the trays cut out a shape in the centre and place a boiled sweet in this centre.

~If your sweet is too big for the hole in the biscuit, just crush it up a little with a pestle and mortar and fill the hole with chunks of sweetie instead.

~You will also need to make little holes at the top of each shape you plan to hang on the tree. Use a skewer or cocktail stick for this.

~Bake at 180C for around 15-20 minutes, after which your biscuits will be golden and the sweets will have melted and filled up the middle.

~Leave to cool on the trays as the stained glass centre will be hot, hot, hot!

~Once cooled you can thread them and hang them up. If you find that the hole has closed up a little in cooking, thread a needle and sew the string through it. Works perfectly!

They look so pretty hanging on the tree with the fairy lights shining behind them.

 

 

And the non-stained glass version.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

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