Deck the halls with popcorn trees!

I saw these lovely little popcorn trees somewhere at some point & thought they looked fab, they're something really different from the usual Christmas treats I make.  I didn't follow a recipe, I kind of made it up as I went along using melted marshmallows to bind the popcorn together.  The trickiest bit was shaping them into trees, I got myself into a right mess, melted marshmallow could be used as a heavy duty adhesive, it sticks to everything!

I melted around 200g of white marshmallows in a large pan, do this over a low heat & take some time otherwise the marshmallows can brown quite quickly.  I then stirred in a dollop of butter just to loosen it up a bit.  Next I stirred in about 200g of sweet popcorn, the cinema style one not the toffee coated one.  Now, how to handle this big old gooey mess?!  I started with dry hands....didn't work, then I tried icing sugar....by this point I was covered in marshmallow & had nothing resembling a tree!  Then I remembered a tip I'd been given in the past & I sprayed my hands with a little olive oil....bingo, I could easily shape my trees!

I used a digestive to make a base for the tree, then decorated them with coloured icing, sprinkles & stars. 

Voila, a forest full of popcorn trees!

If you're looking for ideas for last minute Christmas treats to make, scroll down for a few from the Rebecca Bakes Cakes archive.

I wish you all a very Happy Christmas & prosperous 2013!  Rebecca x

Christmas Cookies

Gingerbread House - including template

Florentines

An tribute to my trusted Good Housekeeping Cookery Book

I'm only a few weeks behind schedule, but this morning I finally got the Christmas cake into the oven!  It has previously featured on the blog as Week 39 in my year of cakes, so I wasn't planning on writing another post about it, but as I reached for my trusty cook book, I thought would share the story of where it comes from.

The recipe comes from The Good Housekeeping Cookery Book which my parents received as a wedding present & Mum has since passed onto me.  The book was first published in 1944, my edition I think is from 1976, it is a fabulous book & and I think a piece of foodie history.  I'm not sure cook books of today provide guidance on purchasing whelks or a recipe for creamed brains?  It is not an all glossy cook book, but instead has 64 pictures scattered throughout the book to showcase some of the recipes.  I think this is my favourite part of the book, the pictures really capture the styling of the 70's. 

 

From the vegetable section, Grapefruit & Prawn Salad, Tomato Salad, Green Salad, Cucumber Salad, Mushroom Salad & Cream Cheese & Celery Salad

 Buttercup Scrambles - Scrambled egg & sausage in a bread case

Celebration Cake

There is even a section on entertaining with this fantastic menu suggestion for a wedding breakfast...

Melon & Grape Cocktail

Cucumber Soup

Boned Duck with Orange Stuffing

Salomon Trout

Salads:  Tossed Green, Dressed Mushroom, Potato & Chive, Tomato with Onion

Lemon Souflee or Strawberry Flan

Wedding Cake & Coffee

I have built up a collection of lovely cook books with mouth watering pictures & recipes from all over the world, but I always fall back to my battered green book for all my cooking basics.  When I forget how to make pancake batter, need to work out cooking time for a joint of meat or just fancy making a classic pud, this is what I reach for.  I'm pretty sure Good Housekeeping still publish a traditional cook book that is more relevant for today, but would I want to swap mine for a shiny new one...no.  As well as being a piece of cooking history it's a piece of family history that I wouldn't want to part with.

So back to where we started and the main legacy of this book for the Hodgson household, the Christmas Cake!  It's still in the oven (& will be for a while yet) filling the house with the most amazing smell, M has already complained that we'll have to wait another 2 months before we can eat it.  We've had this cake every Christmas for as long as I can remember & now the responsibility of making it falls to me (no pressure), I hope we'll enjoy it for many more years to come. 

Isn't it strange how you can become attached to a cookery book?  Till next time, Rebecca x  

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas - with a Hotel Chocolat giveaway!

Hello all, it's 1st December today, so I can officially start to think about Christmas! Not that I've had time to think about much else over the last month, not wanting to do things by half I've moved both house & office. But now everything is pretty much sorted it's time to focus on the festivities.

I was very excited to have the chance to be part of Hotel Chocolat Christmas campaign. I'm already a big fan of their chocolate, in particular tiddly pots & cherry deluxe....mmm! So when I was asked if I would like to sample one of the products from their 2011 Christmas range, I didn't need to be asked twice.
I chose a selection of Winter Dessert chocolates which included Apple Strudel, Chocolate Souffle, Christmas Mess & Caramel Pecan Pie. They are definitely chocolates to be savoured & utterly delicious. I preferred the souffle & pecan pie choc's, but that's just because I like darker chocolate. My mum, who I shared them with (it was more than my life was worth not to share!) loved them all, but she has a real sweet tooth. They would certainly make a lovely after dinner treat to enjoy with coffee & if you have guests, I'm sure you could entertain yourselves trying to guess the flavours. You may be surprised how like the dessert they actually taste!

Other things that have caught my eye from the range (family & friends take note :-) are tiddly caramel penguins & mulled wine cherries but really there's just too much to choose from.
I did think it a little bit mean just to write a post about me getting to try some delicious chocolate, so I have an early Christmas treat for you! I have another box of the Winter Dessert chocolates to giveaway to one lucky reader. All you have to do is take a look at the full Hotel Chocolat Christmas range & leave a comment telling me which treat you would like to find under the tree this Christmas.

You can also email your entry to rebeccabakescakes@hotmail.co.uk

Entries need to be in by 23:59 on Wednesday 7th December 2011. Winner will be chosen at random with the help of a random number generator!

Good Luck! Rebecca x

If you want to find out more about Hotel Chocolat you can follow them on Facebook & Twitter

All pictures courtesy of Hotel Chocolat

Week 49 - Christmas Cookies

Hello! How are we all this week, survived the big freeze? I know a few weeks ago I said the snow in the Shire was a bit pathetic, well it certainly made up for it this week & it tipped it down on Saturday! It all made for a very pretty looking Windsor, but now it's all just turned into a yucky, mucky mess & I'm hoping it'll all melt away soon. I don't know about you, but I've also had to have an emergency re-think on the present front too as some things are stuck in the post! Thankfully I've finished work for the year, so it's into town for me today for some last minute shopping.

As well as the recipe this week I've also decorated my family Christmas cake, click here if you want to have a look at the finished article, must admit I'm quite chuffed with it. There's also a suggestion as to what to do with the marzipan you generally always get left with!

So this weeks recipe is a really simple sugar cookie, they make lovely tree decorations & I have heard a rumour that they are in fact a favourite of Santa Claus!

125g butter
150g caster sugar
1 egg yolk
225g plain flour
Few drops of vanilla essence
100g icing sugar mixed with water to a thick paste
Edible decorations (optional)


1. Cream the butter & sugar together until light & fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk & vanilla, then finally stir in the flour & combine until you get a firm dough. My kitchen is quite cold & I have granite surfaces, so I found kneading it a little to warm it up helped it along, it was quite crumbly otherwise.

2. Roll out the dough to around 5mm thick, then cut out into whatever shapes you like. I made stars, then used a skewer to poke a hole for the ribbon in the top. Bake in the oven on a baking sheet lined with paper at 180c/GM4 for 8-10 minutes. Keep an eye on them as they turn from light golden (what you want) to burnt (not what you want!) very quickly!

3. Leave to cool thoroughly, then attach a ribbon or string through the hole & decorate at will! I used the silver balls & sugar snowmen I had left over from last weeks Gingerbread House.

So that's all from me for this week, I hope you all have a lovely Christmas. Thanks for all your support & comments on my marathon blogging baking challenge, it's very much appreciated. I'll see you again next week as we head closer towards the Rebecca Bakes Cakes finale, only 3 weeks to go!

Happy Christmas!

Rebecca x