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The 12 Bakes of Christmas

Christmas Star cookies



Forget the 12 days of Christmas, I feel like I'm doing the 12 bakes of Christmas.

~ First Bake of Christmas ~

Started baking on Saturday to restock my snack supply.  Finally settled on making Banana and peanut butter cookies.  I swap the mashed banana for the egg in a normal cookie recipe.  

~ Second Bake of Christmas ~

On Sunday baked the above Christmas Star Cookies as gifts for a few friends.  The recipe I use makes 3 dozen so it was a pretty big bake.  Once they were cooled I drizzled icing over them as decoration.  I stacked them off set so they looked like Christmas tree's.

~ Third Bake of Christmas ~

On the same day started baking for mum's Christmas Hamper.  I made a Christmas Tea loaf, by swapping the raisins for seasonal mixed fruit that included dates and cranberry's. 

~ Fourth Bake of Christmas ~


Prep work for a Bakewell tart.  Iv rolled shortcrust pastry and lined a foil pie tin and placed in the fridge to firm up.  Tomorrow I'll make the cake batter and bake, so I can give it to my friend D on Thursday. 

I'm doing custom personalised bakes for my friends and family this year.  I'm adjusting the recipes to suit each persons individual tastes.  In D's case, being generous with the almond meal and using seedless raspberry jam.

~ Fifth Bake of Christmas

I made chocolate chip shortbread dough this morning, It bakes better if you can leave it in the fridge for 2 - 4 hrs.  Baked them this after noon.  Discovered rolling out chocolate chip shortbread is not an easy thing to do.  Made a large batch as there part of my brothers family hampers.  Shortbread has always been a big part of our family's Christmas. 

~ Sixth Bake of Christmas ~

Had enough left over shortcrust pastry from D's Bakewell to make myself some mincemeat tarts.  I normally buy a jar of mincemeat but I couldn't find any with out the suet!!  So decided to make my own. 

Sharabelle's Mincemeat recipe

- 1 Cup of dates - Chopped after being measured
- 1 Orange - grated and juiced
- 1 tbsp Orange Marmalade
- 1/4 cup chopped mixed nuts

Chop dates and mix in with the orange juice, zest, orange marmalade and nuts.  Leave in the fridge for a few hours or overnight to allow the dates to plump up.

- 1 Apple - peeled, cored and diced small
- 1 tbsp brown sugar - You can always add more to suit your own taste.

Fold through the date mixture.   I had enough pastry to make 9 mincemeat pies. 
I only needed to use half of my mincemeat mix, so Iv kept the rest in the fridge for another recipe.



Okay perhaps it's not an authentic recipe, but it was definitely a lot cheaper to make since I didn't have to buy several bags of dried fruit to mix together.  And be honest there's always one dried fruit or peel that a friend or relative doesn't like.  They taste great.  Iv just polished one pie off, and I'm currently trying to resist eating any more.

~ Seventh Bake of Christmas ~

Iv already given out my Christmas Star cookies, and cooled and frozen my other bakes.  There was no way I was going to attempt baking everything the weekend before Christmas.  Iv got ahead by baking the goodies that freeze well.

Next bake is for mum's foodie hamper, I'm making her coconut macaroons which I plan to drizzle with chocolate.

~ Eighth  Bake of Christmas ~

Plan to use the hairy bikers Cheese and onion Pie recipe to make some individual pies for my mum's hamper.  She really liked the ones i made her a few months ago.  Going to use Puff pastry this time.

Lol, like a chipmunk with nuts Iv been stockpiling baking ingredients for the last few months.  Saves on one huge shopping bill.  Also meant I could take advantage of special offers, I bought some fresh puff pastry and kept it in my freezer.

~ Ninth Bake of Christmas ~

Chocolate Brownie made with melted milk chocolate for my brother G and family.  My mum suggested this one, she taste tested the recipe either this year for me.  I rely on friend and family to taste test full fat dairy recipes, since I'm lactose intolerant.  

~ Tenth Bake of Christmas ~

My youngest niece has recently also had to give up dairy, so I plan to make her a special batch of Dairy free chocolate chip cookies. So she won't feel left out on Christmas day.  Here's hoping her brother and sisters don't eat them all up.

~ Eleventh Bake of Christmas ~

The final stretch, this ones getting collected on Christmas Eve. As a gift to my friend L I'm making her  a meringue Pavlova base for her Christmas dinner.  All she needs to do is top with whipped fresh cream and fruit and she'll have a stress free dessert. 

~ Twelfth Bake of Christmas ~

My final bake will be on Christmas day, I'm planning on making myself a chestnut and mushroom pie for my festive dinner. I discovered Morrison's have cooked and peeled frozen Chestnuts, so Iv picked some up.  I'll buy the mushrooms fresh a few days before. 

I have my own tradition of eating Christmas dinner.  Each course is a meal........

- Breakfast is my starter
- Lunch is my main course
- and dinner is Dessert 

When you have IBS and need to eat little and often, there's no way I could sit down to a three course meal with out setting off a few weeks of serious stomach spasms.  This way I can enough my meal with out the pain.....

Any one can buy a pressie, taking your time and making your own is my way of showing my friends and family how special they are.  It's also a great way of saying thank you for all the support they've given me this year xxxx

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