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Blogmas Day Twenty-Three: DIY Gourmet Popcorn Gift

honeyanddough

December 23, 2014

Merry Christmas Eve Eve! It’s very nearly time for us to kick off our shoes, wriggly out of our suits and wear pajamas and no bras. And of course panic buy those last few bits. Tomorrow, I have a mission to buy nibbles, prosecco and double cream. But if you find yourself scrabbling for a last minute gift, this could be the one for you.

You will need a 1ltr preserving jar, 500gr of popping corn (Holland and Barrett sell it in kilo bags) and dry popcorn flavourings. You can make these up pretty easily – I did a cinnamon sugar, an italian herb and a smoky curry flavour. Bag these up in small cellophane bags and tie them shit Add a label with popping instructions.

Blogmas Day Twenty-Two: Hot Buttered Rum

honeyanddough

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December 22, 2014

I love hiding under duvets. And napping under blankets. And living amongst the pillows. I could spend all day, every day in bed, in winter. I find myself staring longly back at my bed when I get up on dark, cold mornings and swan diving onto it when it’s time to go to bed.

You can get that warm bed feeling inside with this hot buttered rum during the day, all the way up to bedtime. We should put butter in more drinks.

Makes two servings

Ingredients

200ml apple juice
3tbsp soft brown sugar
1/2 cinnamon stick
3 cloves
50ml dark rum
25gr soft, unsalted butter

Method

1, Heat the apple juice up in a small pan with the sugar and spices. Bring to a simmer and remove from the heat.

2, Add in the rum and butter, stir until the butter has melted and serve immediately.

Blogmas Day Twenty-One: Christmas Sugar Cubes

honeyanddough

4 comments

December 21, 2014

Another cheeky repost from last year but, again, they are one of the best things to have a stash of in your kitchen. DIY christmas spiced sugar cubes for everything to your coffee to crumbling over your porridge.

Ingredients

70gr caster sugar
1tsp of Christmas Spice Blend*
2 drops orange extract
Water

Method

1, Put the sugar in a small bowl and mix together
2, Drop in the orange extract and then gradually drop in water, ever so slowly, mixing well between each couple of drops. You want it to be the consistency of damp sand. Press gently into your moulds and leave somewhere warm, uncovered, until they are dry. Store in an airtight container.

*Christmas Spice Blend
2tbsp of cinnamon, all spice, ginger and nutmeg together with two ground cloves. Scale up or down according to need.

Blogmas Day Twenty: Gift Wrapping

honeyanddough

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December 20, 2014

You’ve bought all your gifts. You’re now facing the mammoth task of wrapping. You know you’ve bought one thing that is so abnormally shaped that it is going to be a Grade A dick to get wrapping paper around. To mask my utter crap wrapping, I utilise handy things I picked up like:

Snowflake punched gift tags

Wooden snowflakes

Thick, wired hessian ribbon that actually has a slight gold glimmer woven in. (The above three are from Wilkinsons)

This beautiful, ruby red satiny ribbon.

This gingham, dangly decorative ribbon.

These festive wash tapes (above three from Tiger)

Blogmas Day Nineteen: DIY Crochet Cat Toy

honeyanddough

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December 19, 2014

Cat nip mice are so last year. You need the Cat Twizzler in your life.

A woollen cat proof turkey twirler-esque toy. It’s so easy.

Utilising some of the most basic crochet skills in the history of basic crochet skills, chain around 30 stitches. Longer, if you want a bigger toy. Next, in the second chain from the hook, place a single crochet. You want to place this through one of the loops on the top of your chain. See handy arrow below. Continue along the chain, back towards the tail end, placing single crochets in each top loop. As you crochet along, it will start to curl up.

When you get to the end, snip the wool and pull it through your last crochet. Tie the two ends together very tightly and snip off the excess wool. You can rub a bit of catnip on them if your cat has a nip problem.