Festimas Post No.3 (my final one) BBB's and my Christmas Party

Hey guys!

I express regret(apologize) for failing to upload that promised post on Wednesday. I were obliged to attend a family gathering,arriving home far too late that evening to write up the blog post. Supposedly, this year's Festimas, hasn't been BakingBoutique's greatest,consistently-wise. Therefore, my apologies. To settle this post on a happier note, BBB and I have demonstrated both resilience and persistence to fulfill  Festimas for this year. You can find her side of the collaboration up at the link at the end of the post. Without further ado...

Recipes.

What accompanies a room brimming with people is food. Therefore, BBB and I have deliberated a menu of sweet buffet food to serve our guests of the evening. Let us know what you think about it in the comments below. Hope you enjoy it!

First off are Gingerbread Cheesecake Bites . If you're unaware, Zoe released a "Quick and Easy Festive Treats" video. This included this truffle recipe which I especially admired the look of. They're SUPER quick and easy to make. So, why not?

For these cheesecake bites, you'll require:

A pack of ginger  nut biscuits

125g of cream cheese

Sprinkles to decorate

1 bar of dark chocolate

Method:

First and foremost, crush your biscuits until they're minimum breadcrumbs.

Following on, incorporate the cream cheese. Work your hands to gather the breadcrumbs up into a firm ball. Afterwards,take small fragments of dough and roll them into around 3 cm balls,setting them on a lined baking tray. Once you've rolled out all the dough, place them in the fridge to set for approximately half an hour.

Once they've set, prepare the coating for the balls by melting the chocolate, stirring frequently to avoid any burning or.

Utilizing  a toothpick or cocktail sticks, poke it into the bites. dipping into the chocolate,gently tapping at the side of the bowl, to remove any excess chocolate. Place back onto the parchment paper and immediately top with sprinkles. Repeat until all the bites are coated.Once again refrigerate for roughly 15 minutes or once the chocolate has set. Pop onto a plate and Volia!

Succeeding from the bites,  are Chocolate Orange Cookies. Previosuly, I have made these  for last year's Festimas.  This shall be left at your disperse at a link below.

Last up is my best loved version of Rocky Road.

For this I used:

200g of dark chocolate

150g of mini marshmallows

175g of blanched nuts

2-3 tbsp of golden syrup (I substituted it for honey as I ran out of golden syrup).

Simply, melt the butter and dark chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water until melted,adding in the honey and stirring. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before adding in those mini marshmallows and my healthy option of blanched nuts,which I believed complemented well with the other ingredients. Once complete, leave in the fridge to set for roughly...two hours I'd say before taking out to serve. I'd recommend taking it out at least an 1 hour later as it tastes insane when it's chilled.

With a feast fit for a king, onto the decorations.

My main source of decorations actually had been the internet. And no, I didn't go and throw a Amazon Haul for Christmas Decorations. I mean online. On Google Images. And printed them off.

One I liked the look of and actually utilized in decoration was this one:→

It's particularly Christmassy and goes well with the theme (not that we have one,exactly).

This particular decoration, once again was aided by google Images but actually is handmade.

All the other decorations are left to BBB. I decided to give BBB more freedom in decorating the party, as you've all already seen my crafting skills in the last collaboration.

The ending result.

As well as this being enthralling,this also happens to be scary as we're finally showing our viewers the ending result. For all we know, you may not like it. Either way, here it goes...

 

 

 

Prior to this post ending...

Here's the link of BBB's side of the collaboration: My side of OUR Christmas Party

The link to my Chocolate Orange Cookies: Recipe Post No.6 Chocolate Orange Cookies (it's time to get festive)!

Zoe's Festive Quick and Easy Treats

A new video of Alex which brings back all of his highlights through his YouTube channel this year!!!😄😜😝

Best Of 2016 Mashup

The best Christmas Present I've ever received besides my tablet and Linea purse:

DIY a dreamy canopy bed- I WANNA do this so bad!

I'm so sad about Camilla leaving 5H. I'll miss her.😭

One of the other reasons of my absence of this book is due to the workings of a new book I'm writing up titled "Stolen Heart". 

If you're already a member of Storybird, go and check it out. It's age category is "TWEEN". If you're not yet signed up to Storybird,yet you love writing,what are you waiting for? Sign up here!

Speaking of missing Camilla, I actually am a fan of her collaboration with MGK with their hit song, Bad Things!

Don't forget to follow me on SnapChat with the name : BakingBoutique/ @sweetreats

Happy New Years Eve! xxxx 😙😗

           
                                    

Reason for my absence over the past week

Hi guys!

First up, thanks for watching my very short-termed take on Festimas. As you know already, I very much appreciate it and to show my appreciation for your visit to my blog, I shall follow your blog in return. Just leave the links of your  blogs below in order for me to follow.

Secondly, this post is reason for my absence over the past week and why I haven't exactly replied to comments or commented on fellow bloggers' posts. This is due to a family vacation away. I journeyed abroad on a Eastern Caribbean Cruise for a week with both my parents, exploring the small,tropical islands of the Caribbean such as Aruba, Bonaire, Grenada and so forth. Just to inform you that I did contact BBB, notifying her of my absence which is why SHE hasn't proceeded her side of Blogmas as it was  a joint collaboration. But fear not, everything will be back to normal by the New Year and the conclusion of BBB's and my Blogmas shall commence on Wednesday.😊😊 Until then Merry Christmas and happy holidays!!

#sweetreats xxx

Festimas Post No.1- 15 days 'till Christmas!

Hiya guys!

Welcome to my own twist on Blogmas. Below are a few things my "festimas" posts shall bring throughout December.

• I'll be posting twice a week ( Saturday AND Sunday)
• This year's festimas includes a collaboration with my best blogger friend, BeautyBe Blogger!

I'm really excited of what I have to display on BakingBoutique, with the help of BeautyBe Blogger. 

This time, BeautyBe Blogger and I are working together from each another's personal computers. After summing up numerous ideas, cutting and pasting, we've come to a conclusion of planning a Christmas Party, with inspiration from our last collaboration "Picnic Party", which had been a massive hit for her and I. However, we have altered the rules:

• We're working together with every task

• We'll be posting each other's side of the collaboration at the same time.
• We are also accepting suggestions from our followers/readers

Without further ado, here's the first piece!

Christmas Playlist

A Christmas Party cannot be such a thing without the music to bring the festivity and celebration back into Christmas. Below are several Christmassy songs, selected between BeautyBe Blogger and I:

Mariah Carey- All I want for Christmas Is You

Fifth Harmony- All I Want For Christmas Is You

Ariana Grande- Santa Tell Me

Katy Perry- Every Day Is a Holiday

Chris Brown- This Christmas

Rihanna-I Just Don't Feel Like It's Christmas Without You

Justin Bieber- Mistletoe

Sam Smith-Have Yourself a Little Merry Christmas

12 Days Of Christmas

Top 5 Christmas Films

Having films during a loud, bash party is unheard of. However, Christmas wouldn't be the same if one Christmas film hadn't been watched:

Elf


Bad Santa

Happy Christmas

Office Christmas Party(available at local cinemas)

Polar Express

A Royal Christmas

Christmas Decoration Ideas

The best way to find inspiration for any seasonal parties are Pinterest. Below are a few ideas of our theme:

 

Finally, the finishing touch to this first part of prepping is of course entertainment. Obviously the Christmas films and music cover the entertainment needs of the party but if you are in any way unable to supply music or watch a film, then providing your own entertainment is the next step.

SnapChat- Just by recording or snapping shots of your friends and you acting silly or pulling funny faces in a form of entertainment.

Spin The Dare- Dramatics, stimulation and hilarious

The Mummy- The funniest game I've ever played and a game worth posting on your Story.    

Taste The Rainbow

Cake Wars (the result of this is a VERY messy bedroom).

Before this post ends...

Head over to BBB's side of our collaboration by clicking here!

Loving Shane Dawson's videos, Cupcake Jemma's and SuperGirl!

 

Favourite image from December so far:

Isn't that beautiful??

Don't forget to follow me on my social media:

Snapchat name: #sweetreats

Song of the week: Post Malone Deje Vu ft Justin Bieber

Au revoir!

#sweetreats xxx 

Post No.19 : #sweetreats' & BBB "Perfect Picnic"

Hiya everyone!

Last weekend I'd arranged a meetup(with my parents being there of course) with BeautyBe Blogger; for those who do not know who BeautyBe Blogger is, she is an amazing beauty blogger who had started up her blog the start of this year and now is my best blogger friend! Anyway, we had decided it would be a great treat for us and our viewers if we collaborated a blog post based on a video Zoe had made around two weeks ago. 

Together, we split up tasks that we would need to complete for our perfect picnic. My duties from her

are the food, drinks and crafts  On her blog, she would've also explained what her tasks were from

me. What we plan to do next week is meetup again and go on a picnic, completing all the tasks instructed,take pictures and post them!

The first and most important task I intend on completing first our picnic obviously is the food.

I've decided to include a variety of bakes and cooked food just to keep the picnic combination interesting.

To start off, I shall share a very simple recipe of "Picnic Salad".

1/2 cucumber,cut into chunks       

1/2 red onion,slice

2 wholemeal pitta breads

1tbsp of olive oil

150g  of feta cheese.

Put the cucumber, onion into a large bowl. Toast the pitta bread and cut them into small pieces. Add them to the vegetables. Drizzle on the olive oil before tossing the salad together.Scatter the feta onto, refrigerate until ready and Volia!

After searching a few websites and researching, My first recipe is "Tear and Share Pastry". In order to make this pastry, you'll need:

500g of strong white bread flour

100g of lard, chilled & chopped        

•140g of butter, chilled & chopped

•1 egg,beaten

For the filling, you'll need:

•350g of beef skirt, cut into small cubes

•300g of waxy potatoes, chopped into small pieces

•175g of swede, chopped into small pieces

•1 onion,chopped

Method to making the pastry:

Firstly, tip the flour into a large mixing bowl , adding the lard and butter. With your fingertips, rub in the butter and lard into the flour, later on, mixing in 1 tsp of salt. Create a well inside of the mix and stir in 175ml of cold water. Knead just enough to bring the pastry together into a smooth ball shape wrap in clingfilm and let it rest inside the fridge for 3o mins-1hr.

Method to making the filling:

Place all the filling ingredients into another bowl along with 1 tsp of ground black pepper and 1 1/2 tsp of salt. Stir well to combine  and spread the seasoning evenly.

Heat the oven at the 160c/140c fan/ Gas Mark 3. Line a large baking tray with baking parchment. Split the pastry into two and roll each piece into very large circles approx, 40cm diameter. Plae on of the pastry circles onto the tray.

Pile a generous handful of the filling into the centre of the pastry, then create seven slightly smaller mounds of filling, spaced evenly around the centre 

like petals – make sure they don’t touch. Brush a little water onto the pastry gaps around each petal 

and the centre, then carefully drape the other pastry circle over the top. Starting in the middle, gently press the pastry down to seal in the sections – imagine it’s a giant, flower-shaped ravioli.

Using a sharp knife, separate the "petals" by cutting triangular slivers out of the pastry leaving a 1-2cm pastry border around each petal. Reserve the pastry you cut away and roll out into two ropes. Twist them together and place around the edge of the centre of the flower.

Using your fingertips and starting at one edge of one of the  petals, crimp the pastry. Do this all the way around each of the 

petals to create the classic Cornish pasty-style crimp.

Brush the whole pasty flower with beaten egg and put in the oven for 1 hr 15 mins-1 hr 20 mins or until it is golden brown and the pastry is cooked through underneath.

Allow to cool for about 5 mins, then serve on the baking parchment or carefully slide onto a serving platter. To eat, simply pull off or slice the individual pasties, then chop up the central pasty. Serve with salad leaves and a mustardy dressing, if you like. And there you go! That's one recipe I plan on making for our picnic next week!

Another recipe I plan to bake for our organised picnic are of course, pressed sandwiches! It's super quick, really easy and most obviously a tasty picnic nibble.

For these delicious sandwiches, you'll need:

Long baguette(you van find these cheaply, at the bakery), sliced in half lengthways

3 tbsp of oil

1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar             

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped              
1 tsp of  Dijon mustard

2 big handfuls of baby spinach

8 marinated artichoke heart from a jar, quartered ( neither I or BBB liked artichoke, therefore we substituted it for spinach)

250g of roasted red pepper from a jar

8 slices of prosciutto (if you do not eat pork or aren't allowed it,an alternative would be cheese)

125g of ball mozzarella,cut in slices

1/2 of an red onion, finely chopped

Using a bread knife, slice the baguette in half and heat the oven to 200c/180c fan/Gas Mark 6.

Then, place the halved baguette, crust-side down, onto a large baking tray and drizzle with a little olive oil. Pop them into the oven for a couple minutes until just golden brown and lightly toasted.

Tip the olive oil,balsamic vinegar,garlic and mustard into a bowl and whisk them together with a fork.

Remove the toasted bread halves from the tray and drizzle the bottom slice with about half of the dressing.

Arrange the ingredients in layers. I would suggest starting with a large handful of baby spinach followed by a few artichoke hearts. Continue layering with slices of pepper, the prosciutto(or the alternative,cheese),basil,mozzarella and finally the red onion. Drizzle over the rest of the dressing and pop the other slice of bread on top.

Press down on the sandwich to squash all the layers together. Then, wrap the sandwich in baking parchment and tie it together with a few  pretty,decorative pieces of string.

Place a heavy baking tray on top of your sandwich and top it with weights or loaf tins filled with baking beans. Pop it all in the fridge overnight or until you're ready to eat it. To serve, cut in slices; And's that's another one of my selected picnic snacks.

My final recipe for this picnic is of course, picnic brownies!  For this you'll need:

-85g of plain chocolate

-

150g of unsalted butter                                       

125g of plain flour

-

1/2tsp of salt

-1/2 baking powder                 

15g of cocoa powder

2 eggs

300g of brown sugar

1tsp of vanilla extract

100g of chopped pecan nuts(optional for anyone 

who cannot eat nuts for whatever reasons).

Method:

Begin by preheating the oven to 180c. Put the chocolate and butter in a pan over a low heat. Stir until melted.

Pour the mixture into a bowl. Sieve in the salt, flour,baking powder and cocoa powder and mix together. 

In another bowl,mix the eggs, sugar and the vanilla extract. Stir in the chocolate mixture and pecans.

Line a baking tin with baking paper. Pour the mix into the tin and smooth it out. Bake for 25 minutes. Leave the brownies to cool , later on, dividing them into squares.

Although this may be the end of the recipes I am planning to make, ther are picninc snacks tyhat are essential and do not even require baking or cooking such as:

Falafels

Dips

Classic pink lemonade

Chips from the chip shop (if there's one nearby)

Fruits such as apples, plums, oranges (I wouldn't 

recommend strawberries on a warm day as they 

can go off very quickly).

You don't nesercarily need to make everything I have posted; there all options. 

CRAFTS

There is no picnic more special than one documented within a photo album for you and your friends and family to look back out.

To make this you'll need:

Plenty of pictures from your awesome day

Plain,A4,hardback notebook

Stickers, glitter,ribbons,sequins, sweet wrappers buttons-whattever you like

Either a glue stick or PVA glue

Scissors (of course)

Start by laying out all your photographs, deciding 

which one you want to display on what page.

Then, stick your pictures within the couple first pages of your notebook, allowing enough room for each one.

Here's the fun part: decorate each page with 

whatever you want. Whether it's a souvenir from 

the day or stickers, glitters, cut-out fabric shapes-

whatever you like.

What I also thought would be a good idea was if I protected each paper with cheap cut out plastic wallet just in case anything would happen to it. 

If you find your notebook is quite bland and plain and you want to jazz it up a little, go ahead and do so , letting your creative juices FLOW!

Another craft I also made in  preparation for next week is the decorations. You don't necessarily have to decorate your picnic. However, as it is my first picnic with BeautyBe blogger, I thought I'd make it special.

My chosen decorations consists of:

Bunting

Paper loops

Homemade confetti                          

Prettily-coloured flowers

And of course I had decorate the cupcake stand with blue velvet flowers!

A few things to remember:

Don't forget to take with you:

🌼A camera/mobile phone

🌼Picnic blanket

🌼Wicker Basket

🌼Cups,plates,plastic cutlery

🌼Wet wipes, tissues,napkins

🌼Possibly entertainment of some sort such as music or video camera, book, magazine-whatever you think entertains.

🌼Check out BeautyBe Blogger's blog for her take on the picnic challenge. I apologize for not posting last week as I were working on today's post.

See you next week!

#sweetreats xx

• 
  
•