There are so many fun things you can do for the holidays, whether alone or with the whole family. Here are a few things we’ve found along the way that we hope you enjoy!
Give a little gift to your feathered friends by taking an orange peel, pumpkin shell, sea shell, and making a bird feeder! Using natural materials makes it biodegradable and good for the environment. You can fill it with a mixture of seeds, or for an extra tread mix them with some natural peanut butter! Remember not to use seeds for human consumption, they have salt and sometimes other additives that may be harmful to birds.
These may not be for the birds, but they make excellent holiday decorations. Clove Pomander Balls! The short and sweet? Oranges stabbed with cloves. You can be creative and make elaborate designs with the cloves or you can make simple lines. Stab the orange with a toothpick or fork so you’re not breaking off the stem of the clove though! Of course, the more cloves you put in, the stronger the fragrance will be.
Make a Yule Log! This recipe was taken from All That Women Want
175g dark plain chocolate 70% cocoa solids
150ml hot water with 2 tbsp Douwe Egberts Pure Gold coffee dissolved in the water
6 medium eggs, separated
175g golden caster sugar
For the filling:
300ml double cream
2-3tsp caster sugar
1 tsp Douwe Egberts Pure Gold coffee dissolved in 3 tsp hot water
To Decorate:
A little sifted icing sugar
A few fresh raspberries or soft seasonal fruit
1. Grease and line a 38 x 28 cm Swiss roll tin with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4
2. Melt the chocolate with the coffee water in a small heatproof dish over a pan of hot water. Stir until smooth.
3. Whisk up the egg yolks and sugar together with an electric whisk until pale, thick and trebled in volume. Beat in the melted chocolate.
4. In a grease free bowl whisk up the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Stir in a third of the egg white into the chocolate mixture to loosen it. With a spatula gently fold in the egg white until everything is evenly mixed.
5. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until springy to the touch.
6. Cover the cooked roulade with a clean damp cloth and leave until cold. Once cold cover with cling film and leave for 6 hours. Meanwhile, whisk the cream with the sugar and coffee until the cream just holds its shape. Don’t over whisk.
7. Lightly dust a large sheet of parchment paper with sifted icing sugar. Remove the cling film and turn out on to the sugared paper. Trim the edges of the roulade and spoon and spread over the cream mixture and roll it up starting from the long side on. Use the sugared paper to help you.
It will form cracks don’t worry. Decorate with raspberries if liked.
A fun treat for kids is mini trees! This recipe was found on Betty Crockers Webpage.
6 cups Honey Nut Cheerios® cereal
6 tablespoons butter or margarine
4 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
green gel food color
red cinnamon decors or sliced gumdrops
1 Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper.
2 Pour the cereal into a 4-quart bowl. Set the bowl aside.
3 Place the butter and marshmallows in a 3-quart saucepan. Heat over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is smooth. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
4 Stir in the food color until the mixture is evenly colored. Pour the marshmallow mixture over the cereal and stir until the cereal is evenly coated.
sheet.
6 Press the candies into the trees to decorate. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Store the trees in a loosely covered container.
Erica’s Sweet Tooth has given us an adorable treat this year of Brownies and Strawberries in Christmas Tree form!
Your favorite brownie recipe, halved
Batch of pipeable frosting (cream cheese frosting is amazing)
24 small-medium strawberries
Yellow fondant or star-shaped sprinkles
Small ball shaped candy decorations
Disco dust (if you have it)
1 Bake your brownies in greased mini-muffin tins filled up 3/4 of the way. You’re going to have to shorten the baking time a bit, so just keep your eyes on them as they bake — they’re done when a cake tester comes out clean.
2 Ask the brownies are baking and cooling, put together your frosting and dye it green.
3 Once baked and cooled, secure the strawberries to the brownies with a dab of frosting
4 Put frosting in a piping bag fit with a small star tip, and cover the entire strawberry by starting at the strawberry, applying a bit of pressure, and pulling away gently to a nice point.
5 Decorate!
For an easy, healthy, snack before dinner; grab some vegetables and some ranch dressing and shape it like a Christmas Tree! It’s quick, simple, and sure to please! You can be as simple or as complex as you like.
