Merry Christmas....

Merry Christmas everyone....may your days be merry and bright.

Full of love & happiness....good people, good food & good times.

Have a wonderful time!

Simone X

  

 

Christmas : London Lights

Oxford Street

Regent Street

Liberty of London

Burlington Arcade

Oxford Street

Cartier, Bond Street

 Bond Street

Cartier

Tiffany & Co, Bond Street

One of the miniature scenes in the Tiffany window....

on top of the tiny gift was the most beautiful diamond ring

Asprey, Bond Street

Just a few photos from around town today....

Bond Street was, as always, especially beautiful.

Not long now!!

 

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree....

I love a Christmas tree....lots of different styles above but all beautiful.

I'd love the kind of home where you could have several trees & decorate them all slightly differently. 

Our tree this year is full of cream lights with lots of colour from many sentimental & much loved decorations...

some made by the children, others bought at Christmas time on our travels & some from friends around the world. 

In an attempt to scale things down just ever so slightly this year, I bought a tree a foot smaller than usual....generally, I buy a tree as big as the living room will possibly allow :)

A couple of giveaway winners today....

The winner of the Baylis & Harding box of goodies is Wanderlust

The winner of the movie DVDs is HowardsHouse

Please contact me ASAP and I will get your prizes to you!

11 more sleeps....

lots to do this week-end....

presents to wrap

the last few cards to write

menus to plan

mince pies to bake

the tree to decorate

a pile of Christmas movies to work our way through

a few last gifts to order....

  

I love Christmas!!

Christmas Chocolate Biscuits

These last two weeks I've been spending my time between baking and running outside every time it starts snowing. And I mean that literally! I drop my oven mittens, put on my new gorgeous, baby blue,wellington boots and go out to try catching the snow flakes whit my face. For me, snow is still something new and exciting and I've been learning a lot about it. First of all, I learned that if I keep moving back and forth, from a warm oven to a frozen terrace, I will get a nasty cold...snif...snif. But that was totally worth it. I've seen snow I could shape and play with, snow that feels like sand and snow that was frozen and no fun at all. And I learned that there is a thing called "black ice" that is difficult to see and extremely slippery and that I need to be careful not to fall on my behind when I walk on it.

Now, this post isn't about snow but it all started on a snowy evening, when I was snuggling on my sofa, under a duvet, watching Nigella Lawson's special Christmas cooking program on TV. Amongst other delicious things, she started making these chocolate biscuits and it was love at first sight. When I saw that dough I KNEW I had to make them. And I'll say it again... it was when I saw the dough, not the actual biscuits... which probably means I have been baking way to much this last year! So I got up, "googled" the recipe (which you can see here) and it seemed simple enough for me.

These biscuits are not too sweet and they have a crunchy, sandy texture that I love (but if you have kids or a man at home that will mean lots of crumbs all over the place). The first batch I made ended up not having any sort of topping because I run out of confectioners sugar and this was at mid-night. But they were so delicious that they all disappeared before I had time to go buy more sugar. So I made another batch and today I tried the topping on half of them. I think they are pretty damn good to eat without the toppings, and the chocolate topping is a bit too sweet for my taste, but they do look more festive for the holiday season if you add a bit of colourful sprinkles and sparkles on top.

[updated] After I posted this recipe I gave one of the biscuits with topping to Emil, who had just gotten back home from work, to try. He said and I quote: "The topping distracts from the awesomeness of the biscuit". I couldn't have said it better and completely agree, so even though it looks pretty there will be no more toppings for me!

I made a few small changes so I'll leave you here the adapted recipe (most of the description was copied from the original recipe since I still find it hard to explain this things in English at times).

For the biscuits:

250g butter (soft)

150g confectioners sugar (caster sugar in the original)

40g cocoa powder

300g plain flower

3/4 tea spoon baking powder

a pinch of salt (the original recipe says bicarbonate of soda but  that thing leaves a weird after taste)

For the topping:

2 table spoons cocoa powder

175g confectioners sugar 

60ml water (boiling)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

sprinkles of your choice

Pre-heat the oven to 170.C Cover 2 oven trays with cooking paper. 

Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl. Add the cocoa powder and mix well. Add the flour with the salt and baking powder and keep mixing. I used my electric mixer for this and after adding the flour I got a very lumpy mixture so I finished it with my hands.

Pinch of pieces from the dough, about the size of a big walnut, roll them into balls, and then slightly flatten into fat discs as you place them, well spaced, on your baking sheet (more or less 12 biscuits per tray)

The original recipe said that this dough was very sticky, but mine wasn't! Which I thought it was just perfect because I hate dough glued to my fingers. This was very, very easy to shape...oh, and delicious to eat!

Bake for 15 min. It won't feel as if they have had enough time but they will continue to cook as they cool. And they will get harder, so don't panic if they feel mushy as getting out of the oven. Let them cool on a cold surface before moving to the topping.

To make the topping, put all the ingredients, except the sprinkles, into a small sauce pan and whisk over a low heat until everything is smoothly combined. The original recipe says to leave it for 10 min, but my chocolate wasn't to warm to start with so I started topping the biscuits immediately. 

Ice 6 biscuits at a time with one table spoon of chocolate and then the sprinkles and let it cool completely.

And that's it! Easy no? And the best part is that they aren't really part of mine or Emil's Christmas traditions so I feel free to make them all year round :)

Merry Christmas and enjoy! 

Christmas Wishes....

For December's contribution to the "By Invitation Only...." group that I am part of, we were asked to share stories of our "Best Christmas Ever" and also to share what we would give, if we could give only one "tangible" gift.

Christmas is about family - for better or for worse, like it or not!!

And I grew up with parents in separate homes, dreading having to decide where my brothers & I would be on Christmas Day....there was no right decision. 

Someone was always unhappy.

I am really aware that for some, Christmas can be a very difficult time....

It did mean though that once I had my own family, I had a blank canvas....

and I knew just how I wanted to fill it.

And now that I have my own children, every Christmas feels pretty perfect.

London rarely experiences a white Christmas but I am all about tradition at this time of year.

I love being at home....the city is cold & quiet. 

There's a peacefulness about it that I love.

Of course, the run-up to Christmas is madness....

not enough days, enough evenings to meet up with friends, not enough shopping time.

School events one after the other x 2!! 

For the last couple of years though, I have not shopped as though it was the last Christmas ever, I've said no to an event or two, I've taken time to enjoy the build-up to Christmas Day....

and I've sat down to watch & enjoy a Christmas movie or three.

December always makes me think of Manhattan & the annual shopping trip my husband & I used to make every year around this time. 

Definitely the best Christmas spirit & best decorations that I've ever seen.

If the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City doesn't get you in the Chistmas spirit then nothing will!

Christmas is about being at home though, there's never anywhere else I want to be.

There are certain things that we do as a family each year....

my daughter & my husband choose our Christmas tree whilst my son & I prepare the decorations & make mugs of hot chocolate

we always take the children into central London to see all the Christmas decorations & the shop windows

we watch a lot of Christmas movies....our favourites right now being "Elf", "Miracle on 34th Street" & "It's A Wonderful Life"

My son is only 7 and has already been talking for weeks about the arrival of Father Christmas....how will he be able to get in via our blocked chimney, what happens if one of the reindeer is ill on Christmas Eve, does he really read all the letters he receives, does Father Christmas have a father etc etc?!

The magic of Christmas....

These are the moments that I cherish.

Christmas for me is simply about being with those you love, being together....it's a time of comfort, warmth, good food made with love and thankfulness for all these things.

I hope that each Christmas will be my "perfect Christmas".

If I had to give just one tangible gift, it would be a plane ticket to anywhere of the recipient's choice. Seeing the world is one of the best things you can ever do, the sights & experiences will stay with you forever.

Happy December!!

to see more posts on this topic, head over here to Marsha's blog ....