The Sugar Bar

Have I ever told you about that little voice in my head? We’ve all got at least one of those, now and again. And now, this isn’t the voice that tells me to flip on Cartoon Network and indulge in a whole afternoon (about 5hours) of Ben 10. Gee, did I just let that out on the world wide web? Bummer. Nah. It’s the other voice that spazes out, goes well shrill and jittery in front of sugar. The general mood this year: cranberry, rum, chocolate something or other cookies? Annoying little voice-bitch in the head: EEEK. Sugar…cookies. Sugar! Lots and lots of merry sugar!

3 days to Christmas, everyone! And as the photos are proof of it, I caved and made roll-out sugar cookies! I should have made them so much sooner; but always, better late than never. This year, we’re throwing a big dinner for friends of the family and ourselves so it means whipping out the mixing bowls and cookie sheets tomorrow (again) to prepare enough cookies for everyone. Amidst all the hustle and bustle of Christmas preparations, neither my sis C nor I realized that the cookie dough wasn’t going to be enough. Can’t blame us though, as this time near Christmas is manic and everyone’s a tad spacey. I ain’t getting much sleep either. I can safely say I’m sleeping at about 4-5am every ‘night’ and getting up from any time between 9am and 1pm. It is just insane! I don’t think I’m actually alive – I sorta feel a little like a sugar-operated undead. A thinking, dying, essayist by night; just an ordinary girl dreaming about cheese, sweets and dragons when asleep; and, soul-less, dark-eyed female by day.

But today was different. I was pretty much still undercover – soul-less and dark-eyed from about half 9 til 11 this morning but once I got working proper in the kitchen, with Ben 10 on TV, it honestly wasn’t so bad. I have used a recipe by Deeba from Passionate About Baking for Smartie Cookies. (Click the previous link to access her recipe. )This woman is a baking genius. I’ve decided to send this post in to Food Blogga’s cookie event Eat Christmas Cookies, mainly because that was where I found Deeba’s gorgeous cookie recipe. Once I saw her recipe on there, I knew it was the perfect one. She is a domestic goddess you can place your trust in. I’m very excited about this blog event as well, not just because it has been ages since I participated, but I can’t wait to see what everyone’s baked this year. If you want to see the latest entries at Food Blogga’s, click here.To Deeba: a big thank you for the recipe! Well, I pretty much nicked it off your site but it was so good

My sister C and I hardly bake together. Thing is, we’re separated by a whole continent and only get to see each other at Christmas and during the summer break. Also, I’m a little like my mum – a kitchen obsessive. It’s my way or no way at all. Yikes. Great image I’m painting of myself here. But you know what I mean. Today was pretty nice though. My sister was my sous chef and she was adorably good and agreeable. We worked well together. After a few quick instructions on handling the piping bag, she was at it and moving pretty swiftly over the cookies. Thank goodness she was around too as I was at a complete lost as to how to decorate the teddy bear cookies. Cute scares me. Being cute on cookies is a little bit tough. Jokes.

Rather than chat on about boring shit, I’m going to leave you with some photos I took today. Enjoy. And Merry Christmas! Have a great one, eat up, drink up and be merry.

bleeding snowflake in a bowl of icing?

Because I totally made that up and I’m no Dickens, that has nothing to do with the real Ghost of Christmas Past. It’s just that researching the reality of ‘ghosts’ in Henry James’s Turn of the Screw and relating it to some big ideas on a Freudian Death Drive, Victorian age and the Decadent aesthetic is literally driving me up the wall and all I can see whenever I close my eyes are little white floaty figures with black holes for eyes on the back of my lids. How is that for being haunted? Thankfully (and this is all thanks to the girls of my house), the house is clean and exorcised of all forms, well nearly, of washing up. You’re thinking sticky floors, sweet wrappers and the remnants of gravy and alcohol? I’m insisting it’s more like an 80% clean student kitchen, and a more open concept after rearranging the sofas.

Thanksgiving dinner was amazing. (Thank you Anna! You are a star!) Timing was perfection. Turkey was just delicious with a flavour-packed gravy. Butternut & spiced sweet potato mash. Sprouts and carrots, roasted parsnips and potatoes. Turkey gravy and bread gravy. And a helluva lot of pudding – chocolate cake, banoffee pie and apple crumble. Drown the folks with loads of wine to end the meal equation. The lounge and kitchen did look like devastation the morning after. Nevertheless, it was a great night with some wicked banter, cutting humour and channel-surfing. Didn’t take many photos of the food considering we were all a little too jolly to handle any average or slightly above average photo-taking. Trust me on that. I’m embarrassed to even look at the ones that were taken.

The after effects of such a gorgeous, hip-exploding meal has worn off and I’m a little guilty to say I’m thankful for it. It’s starting to head straight into winter and that’s the bit I don’t particularly fancy. Another bit would be the gaining of winter fat. Oh, what is all that about?! I’d rather it stay forever the end of spring just into autumn. Right now, and I must say I never feel this way, I wish for some summery spells. I haven’t worn my flip-flops in months and I’m going to go cold-turkey if I don’t!

N: It’s a balmy 2˚c outside…perfect weather for shorts and flip-flops!
R: and cocktails.
Diva: and pork ribs on the bbq.

Go ahead. Laugh and say we’re freaking out of our minds. But that pretty much rounds up the end of our fantasy. It’s gonna hit a low of -2˚c by the late afternoon and there’s no chance in hell I’m going to be walking around in shorts and flip-flops at this time of the year in England. Unless of course, I’m looking to have the blood in every vein of my body turn into ice. Could so do with those pork ribs, nonetheless.

So anyhow, hope everyone who has celebrated Thanksgiving had a really fantastic one. I will be doing my best to post as much as possible, with new exciting recipes and experiments as much as I can. Honestly, it is a little of struggle as I’ve got 3 essays due in after Christmas. An application for a Masters degree, my future, my final year degree are all breathing down my neck and as much as I would like to wish them away for Christmas, they mean too much to me so here goes! My well wishes go out to all of you and let’s hope all our Christmases this year go beautifully well and that the amount of work I’m due to complete doesn’t mean the end of my social life.

That would be the horror of horrors. Honestly.

Christmas Roast went well – turkey, gammon ham, roast beef; roasted courgettes,sweet potatoes, pumpkin; roast potatoes; roasted parsnips; yorkshire pudding. mmmm. what a feat! Started cooking from 3pm but glad it’s all over. New Year’s is going to be much simpler.

Due to mum’s request, made a little Lim Family Fruitcake. Recipe was taken from Martha Stewart Living – the Backhouse Family Fruitcake but the only difference in mine is the pre-soaking of dried fruit in tea overnight and the dousing of Cognac instead of rum. For other fruitcake recipes from martha, try this link: http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.3a0656639de62ad593598e10d373a0a0/?vgnextoid=
5ecfb06fa67b4110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&autonomy_kw=fruitcake&rsc=header_1

Note, the recipe yields quite a lot. I made a loaf cake, a 20cm round cake and 6 muffins, noted i did double the recipe since one of the cakes was meant for eve lunch at the gran’s. However, there’s never a hard and fast rule to fruitcake. You can be as generous as you like. Although less is more, with fruitcake I believe you can be as crazy as you like, just remember not to overdo it or u’d hardly have any cake left and it’d be all fruit!

• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, plus more for pan
• 4 ounces glaceed or dried apricot, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces (1/2 cup)
• 4 ounces glaceed or dried pineapple, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces (1/2 cup)
• 8 ounces dates, pitted, chopped (1 1/2 cups)
• 4 ounces dried cherries (1/2 cup)
• 4 ounces whole blanched almonds (3/4 cup)
• 8 ounces Brazil nuts (1 1/2 cup)
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup light-brown sugar, firmly packed
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons rum, plus more for dousing

Soak dried fruit in tea overnight. Use whatever fruit you like best. I used dried dates, apricots, currants, raisins and cranberries. Cover and let the fruit absorb the tea. The next day, when you’re ready to begin, pour away excess tea and put aside while you prep the rest of the cake.
Sift the flours, baking powder, and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed; add eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Add vanilla and rum. (I used cognac as we’d run out of rum, of course rum is usually the best christmas liquer for fruitcake. But i personally like cognac very much!)
In two additions, add dry ingredients to butter. Scrape down bowl between additions. Fold in fruit and nuts. Pour batter into pan. Bake until golden and set, about an hour. Cover with foil if it colours too much.
Cool on a wire rack. Remove from pan; discard parchment. Wrap in cheesecloth or muslin. Douse with 1/2 cup rum. Store in a cool, dry place; douse with 1/2 cup rum weekly for at least 1 month before serving.

After the fruitcake was done, it gave me plenty of time to make my mince pies.
Mince pies are easy to make, all you need to do really is make the tart pastry and you can use storebought ready-made mince meat (stick with M&S, they do well good ones) and throw it in the oven. Then sprinkle with icing sugar. And whilst this is happening, it also gives you time to sort out the mulled wine which you have to be very careful not to let it boil. Red wine simmering with sugar, an orange slice, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves and peppercorn.

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