Merry Christmas

Just a quick post after the craziness of today to wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS with 5 minutes left to go!!! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas day, however you spent it. 

One More Day! Christmas Round Up

One last quick post before I go to sleep to wait for Santa, this years Christmas round up. I didn't quite reach my target of 25 days of Christmas posts, but I came pretty darn close making it to 20. Next year I'll get to 25!

1st. Brown Sugar Cinnamon Advent Cookies
2nd. Christmas Tree
3rd. Last Years Christmas Favourites
4th. Baileys Ice Cream
5th. Pina Coladas
6th. Gift Ideas
7th. White Choc Cranberry Cookies
8th. Eggnog Cookie Shakes
9th. Cheese and Sesame Crackers
10th. Cream Cheese Christmas Tree
11th. Gingerbread Houses
12th. Coconut Whit Chocolate Christmas Tree Toppers
13th. Eggnog Cake
14th. Parcel Prezzies
15th. Slice and Bake Cookies
16th. Candy Cane Ice Cream Pops
17th. 'For Santa' Cookies
18th. White Chocolate Rocky Road Bites
19th. Mint Slice Cheesecakes
20th. Christmas Beer 'Krampus Ale'

Christmas Beer/ Krampus Ale

I spend the day cleaning and doing the garden getting things pretty for Christmas so I don't have any new bake treats  for you, but I can share one other thing from my kitchen. Christmas beer!

The beer we made is acutely a summer beer, to combat the holiday heat here in Australia, but I cant wait to try some others like eggnog beer in the cooler months. To add a festive touch to our beer, we gave it the name Krampus Ale and made up some fun labels to decorate the bottles ready for gifting.

I got boyfriend a small batch brewing kit for his birthday last year and we have been having fun with it since. The book we've been following to make beer is Brooklyn Brew Shop's beer making book, Its been fantastic so far with easy to use recipes organized by season, each batch is small enough (1 gallon) to make in your own kitchen with standard kitchen tools. The book and a mini beer brewing kit would make a fantastic Christmas gift for the beer lover in your family, if only it wasn't super dooper last minute.

Mint Slice Cheesecake

 

Today was my last day of work before a little break over Christmas and New Years, I'm very much looking forward to relaxing for a short while. In what's become a bit of a tradition for me I made goodies to gift to the people I work with, this year they each got a Mint Slice Cheesecake. I made the cheesecakes directly into containers instead of pans, which might seem a bit odd, but was easy, safe way to transport them.

 

I made 4 smallish/regular sized cheesecakes and 8 mini cupcake sized cheesecakes using a double batch of the mixture in the recipe below. In the instructions I've included directions to make either one full pie sized cheesecake or a bunch of mini ones from a single batch of filling mixture.

The cheesecakes a festive variation on the cookies and cream idea, with a mild minty flavour added to by the mint slice pieces mixed through the filling. I especially enjoyed the single serve cupcake cheesecakes with  the whole mint cookie base. 

Sadly shortly after taking pictures of the mini ones, I dropped them while trying to fit the container in the fridge. So now I have a box of squished messy cheesecakes, I guess I can't be too sad, at least now I have a great excuse not to share them.

Mint Slice Cheesecake

Chocolate Base
250 grams plain chocolate biscuits (cookies)
120 grams butter (melted)
or
12 mint slice biscuits

Cheesecake Filling
2 teaspoons gelatine
2 tablespoons water
375 grams cream cheese (softened)
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 cup caster sugar
300 mls thick cream
180 grams white chocolate (melted)
200 grams mint slice biscuits (roughly 1 1/2 packets)

Whipped Cream, chocolate, crushed candy canes and sprinkles to decorate.

To make the base- If you are making mini cupcake sized cheesecakes- simply place one mint slice biscuit into the base of a cupcake paper lined pan.

Alternately for a pie sized cheesecake-  In a food processor, process biscuits until fine crumbs. Add the melted butter and malt and process until combined.

Press the mixture evenly over the base of a pie dish, use the flat bottom of a glass to press evenly.

To make the filling- Roughly chop 200 grams of the mint slice biscuits, a mixture of small and large pieces works well.

In a small heatproof bowl sprinkle the gelatine over the water. Stand the bowl of gelatine mixture over a saucepan of boiling water and stir until the gelatine has melted. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.

With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, vanilla and sugar until smooth.

Beat in the cream until combined, followed by the white chocolate and gelatine mixture.

Stir through the chopped mint slice biscuits.

Spoon the filling over the prepared base and smooth over the top, refrigerate for at least 3 hours (or overnight) until set.

Decorate as you like. I piped whipped cream around the edge of the cheesecake and topped it with drizzle of dark chocolate and a bunch of sprinkles or candy cane.

Enjoy!!!

White Chocolate Rocky Road Bites

Rocky Road is one of my favourite treats at Christmas time, I've posted quite a number of recipes over the last few years. This years recipe is a bit of a variation on my favourite white rocky road recipe made in bite size form. The mini rocky road bites make a cute gift all packaged up, or a tempting treat each time you pass the fridge.

White Chocolate Strawberry Rocky Road
250 grams pink and white marshmallows
190 grams strawberries and cream lollies
160 grams shortbread
360 grams white chocolate
1/4 cup shredded coconut

To make the Rocky Road- line a mini cupcake pan with papers. Chop the both the strawberry and cream lollies and marshmallows in half. Break or chop the shortbread into small pieces.

Break up the white chocolate into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave the chocolate on medium in 30 second bursts until it is melted and smooth, be careful not to burn the chocolate.

Mix the strawberries, marshmallows, shortbread and coconut together in a medium bowl.

Pour in the melted white chocolate. Mix all of the yumminess together.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared pans. Cover and pop it into the fridge until it is set.

Enjoy!!

Cookies for Santa

Before you start wondering why I'm posting carrot cookies as a Christmas thing, I assure you I have a reason.. promise!

What does your family leave out for Santa Christmas Eve? Milk and cookies? Eggnog and fruitcake? Maybe a cold beer? (Not condoning drinking and slay driving)

We always left out milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer, now that I've grown up and learnt a few of Santa's secrets, a beer would probably be welcomed.

Choc Candy Cane Ice Creams

Today I've got the perfect post Christmas day dessert to share with you. Christmas lunch or Christmas dinner means a stretchy pant sized meal for a lot of people, and while we all try to leave room for dessert it doesn't always happen. These petite sized Choc Candy Cane Ice Cream Pops are a sure fix those post feast sweets cravings, especially on a hot Summer day.

The minty flavour in these frosty treats, entirely from the crushed candy canes stirred into the mix, is a lovely refreshing end to big meal. The individual popsicles are the perfect size and as an added bonus save you the extra washing up of ice cream bowls and spoons.

The only thing to consider when making these popsicles is that as it is a no egg recipe the ice cream will soften faster while you are working with it. Ensure your moulds and tools are cold as possible to keep your ice cream from melting too much.

Candy Cane Ice Cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup Sweetened Condensed milk
1 cup thickened cream
1/4 cup sugar
6 regular sized candy canes (crushed)
a few drops red food colouring

100 grams dark chocolate
sprinkles

To make the Ice Cream- add the milk, condensed milk, cream, colouring and sugar into a large mixing bowl, stir until the sugar has dissolved. Cover the mixture and chill in the fridge until very cold.

Pour the chilled mixture into your ice cream maker and freeze according to your machines instructions.
While the ice cream is churning place your popsicle moulds into the freezer to ensure everything is cold as possible.

Once the ice cream is at soft serve consistency, quickly stir through the candy cane pieces,

Spoon the ice cream into popsicle moulds and insert pop sticks. Freeze for at least 2 hours.

Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl 30 seconds at a time, stirring between bursts, until smooth.

Covering the ice cream pops needs to be done quickly so the ice cream doesn't melt. To remove the pops from the moulds quickly dip the outside of the mould into a cup of warm water, careful not to get water on the ice cream.

Take one ice cream pops from the freezer at a time, use a spoon to drizzle chocolate over the ice cream and sprinkle with sprinkles. Lay the choc coated ice creams in a container lined with baking paper. Return to the freezer until you are ready to enjoy them.