Kerstkadootjes Christmas gifts

Dit jaar besloot ik als kerstkadootje voor m'n familie, een doos met lekkernijen te maken. Een paar weken op voorhand  begon ik met het bakken van de Engelse Kerstcake. Dat is een rijkgevulde cake  met gedroogde vruchten. De vruchten worden een week lang geweekt in 5 soorten sterke drank. Deze cake kan maanden bewaard worden als je hem goed verpakt in aluminiumfolie. Hij is erg lekker als je tenminste van rozijntjes en ander gedroogd fruit houdt. Ik vind deze cake zalig met een heerlijk kopje zwarte thee met citroen en honing.



As Christmas presents for my family I decided to fill a cake box with goodies I made in my kitchen.

Dit waren de kruidige nootjes die ik ook maakte naar een recept van Martha Steward

These jars are filled with the spicey nuts are after a recepie of Martha Steward

  Ik maakte ook advokaat en daar had ik zoveel eiwitten van over dat ik koffie en frambozen schuimpjes kon maken. Deze blijven erg lang goed op voorwaarde dat je ze luchtdicht bewaard. De smaak van de frambozen bracht ik erin door aan de eiwitten een frambozen pasta toe te voegen die ook gebruikt wordt om boterroom of ijsroom op smaak te brengen. Het gaf een heel fijn resultaat,de koffiesmaak kwam van een espresso poeder.

I also made Advokaat, that is a sort of Egg Nog. (No picture) Its made from egg yolks, sugar, condenced milk and alcohol. It's creamy and rich and a traditional liquer here in Belgium and Holland. From the leftover egg whites I made these small coffee and raspberry flavored merringues.

 Natuurlijk mag er in deze periode geen chutney ontbreken alhoewel dat dit vrij onbekend is in onze regionen. Ik gebruikte een recept met veenbessen en appels dat heerlijk zal smaken met allerlei paté en koud vlees en wild.

Of course this box could not go without some chutney although this is not so well known in Belgium. I made one with apples and crandberry's that goes so well with cold meats and paté.

Boterkoekjes konden natuurlijk ook niet ontbreken. Niets zo lekker bij een kopje koffie en je kan ze ook lang op voorhand maken als je ze maar luchtdicht bewaard. De idee om ze in een knoop te maken en ze dan op te binden met een lint kwam ik tegen op Pinterest.

 

 

 

The box could not go without some shortbread cookies. The idea to make them in the shape of a button and to tie them together with a small ribbon I found on Pinterest.

 

 

De witte pakjes bevatten een stuk witte chocolade fudge met veenbessen en pistache nootjes.Lekker maar superzoek.Het is iets tussen een truffel en een caramel.

The white packages contained a piece of white chocolate with nuts and cranberry fudge. Nice but very very sweet!

Dit s de afgewerkte doos. Hier weliswaar met vier dezelfde bokaaltjes met nootjes maar in de doos die weggegeven werden zat een bokaaltje met Advokaat, eentje met veenbesses/appel chutney, een bokaaltje met een lekker spek met tomaten marmelade en een bokaaltje met de hartige nootjes.
Over de spek met tomatenmarmelade wil ik nog iets vertellen. Ik zag op een blog een recept voor spekmarmelade. Ik probeerde het uit en het was erg lekker hartig maar ook een beetje zoet van de suiker en de ahornsiroop die erbij was. Je smeerde het als een marmelade op je brood of je at het bij eitjes of zo. Zelf vond ik het erg lekker met wat tomaten ketchup erbij en zo verzon ik zelf een recept  van spekmarmelade met tomaten erbij. Het bleek gelijk een voltreffer en ik vond steeds meer manieren om het te verwerken. Ik deed er zelfs een schep bij onder het gehakt alvorens er kleine gehaktballetjes van te maken. Het gaf aan het gehakt een lekkere hartige smaak.

This is how the finished box looked. Here it is still with four jars of nuts but in the boxes that went away I had for differently filled jars. One with the nuts, one with the Advokaat and another with the Cranberry chutney and the fourth was filled with a Bacon and Tomato marmelade. I found the Bacon marmelade in a blog and decided to try it out. I like it but also discovered that I loved some ketchup with it.So I made my own version of the bacon marmelade by adding a few pounds of fresh tomatoes, an apple and a few other thing. It was very nice and I by using it I discoved many ways to use it.
I wrapped the box with bakers string and added a little wooden tag with my best wishes.

Kerstmis 2011 Christmas 2011

 Een nieuwe Kerst een nieuwe boom. Zoals elk jaar tracht ik wat nieuws met m'n Kerstboom te doen. Omdat dit jaar het aarderwerk van Emma Bridgewater zo'n grote rol gespeeld heeft hing ik 24 mini mugs in de boom.

 Like every year, I try to do something new with my Christmas Tree. Because this year Emma Bridgewater was so importent for me I have hung 24 mini mugs with robins in the tree.

Kerstballen in fluwelig rood en zacht goud en mijn glazen kardinaal vogeltjes vervolledigden de boom.Eenvoudig en mooi in een klassieke kleurencombinatie.
Aan al m'n lezers, familie en vrienden wens ik een fijne Kerst toe en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!

Red and soft golden baubles together with my red cardinal glass birds completed the look. I think it's simple and elegant.
I want to wish all my readers,friends and family a very Happy Christmas time.

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year!

Ik wil graag al m'n trouwe lezers een heel fijn Kerstfeest en een heel leuk, gezond en creatief Nieuwjaar wensen.
I wish all my readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

De kinder kerstboom voor Anne-Fleurtje die hem geweldig vindt.

Haar kerstjurkje is ook klaar voor het feest vandaag.

De belletjes uit de kerstboom die moeten er gewoon uit want er mee rondlopen is zoveel leuker!

Happy New Year!!!

First and formost I wish you all a very Happy New Year. I wish you health, happiness and peace.
A lot of festive days have past since the last time I blogged.
In Belgium we started on the 6th of December with St Nicolas day. The day that all good children get presents and candy.For the first time in years we celebrated this again. With our new granddaughter Anne-Fleur it was the ideal year to do so. She is of course only 7 months old and thus not get the spirit of the day. Chewing presents was the big joy of her day! The typical candy, chocolate, fruit and of course the speculaas went to her mom and dad who accepted it gratefully. I think next year she will have her say about that!For the adults there was of course cake.A very simple chocolate cake adorned with the typical Saint Nicolas candy. Golden coins (with chocolate inside), nic nac's ( the small sugared cookies ) on the side and on top and some lovely little chocolate Saint Nicolas plaques I found at the bakery shop.It was years agoo that we had so much snow. I began snowing the first friday of december. So at Saint Nicolas day we took these pictures of Anne-Fleur. She sits on the sled of her dad and auntie that I kept for more than 30 years. She was a bit afraid. It was bitterly cold and her mom did not take her in to the snow before since she had been in hospital ,two weeks before. But I thought we could not pass up this opportunity to get pictures of her in the first snow of her life.She did not enjoy it that much.I think she was even a bit scared of it.

In each case the snow lasted just until Christmas and we had the first white Christmas since 1986 I believe. The next day it started raining and it was all gone.
In the mean time our little kittens grew up to be little white and blue fluff ball's. You can't contain them in a small area anymore! They want to play! Polar Bear is kissing the Steiff snowman. He has found a good home in Holland.

Sadly we have one handicapt kitten in the litter .You see him at the far left in the picture below.

All four bones in his front legs are bent. He will always be handicaped. But the good news is that if he has a good chance to live a painfree and happy life, he will have a loving home with the parents of our Brandaen of with my daughter.
Aren't they sweet?

Trying to snap a group picture is not that easy as you can see!

Shortly after Saint Nicolas day I set up the Christmas tree.
I try to make a different tree every year. That you can see if you look for the post ' Christmas in July'.
This year I used fresh green, covered with transparent plastic pearls, glass baubles, porcelain balls with flowers. Some metal and glass danglely things, some mirrored snowflakes and the collection of Snowbabie ornaments I started for Anne-Fleur. And of course my favorite ornaments of all could not be left in the cellar. My white glass birds are almost every year in my Christmas tree.
Lily our youngest Maine Coon is facinated with the tree .She had never seen one before. She took out one of my green glass balls in the first days. After that she became a good little girl and only sleeps beneeth the tree on the white fleece blanket that is covering the base.

I did not do a lot of other Christmas decorations this year.I only made place to put my Snowbabies out since this year I bought the nativity set of it.

Even the Christmas dinner table was simple but classy. Floral tablecloth in blue and cream with a simple flower decoration and some candles.
This is it for today. Tomorrow I start preparing the New Year dinner I do for my inlaws. They will come on sunday to celebrate the New Year. Today, the first of january will be a day to start preparing, like ironing the table cloth and preparing the cakes.
Have a happy day and until the next time.

Foody friday 's Saint Nicolas Speculoos

Sunday the children of Belgium and Holland celebrate Saint Nicolas. He is the patron saint of the Children. Children put their shoe out with a carrot for the horse of Saint Nicolas and hope that in the morning the carrot will be gone and there will be presents instead.
One of the presents we got every year was a plate full of candy.
The staples where, speculoos, oranges of clementines, golden chocolate coins, nicnac's ( a very small cokie in the shape of letters) and guimove( a sort of sweet) and of corse some chocolade figurines.
My hometown is famous for its very special speculoos.
What is it exactly. Well it is a big cookie, a bit soft and the main ingrediances are, real butter, cinnamon and almonds.On the picture above you see two different kind. The small cookies are the commercially made one. These are very sweet and hard and thin and you can get them in every shape.
The big ones are the ones where my hometown of Hasselt is famous for.
These ones contain almons (the commercial ones don't have that) and are thick and a bit soft.
The Dutch also have a sort of filled speculoos.

Here is the recipie that I got from my great grandmother, Anneke.
Cream 2,5 cups or 500 grams of sweet real butter.
Please do not subsitute the butter for crisco of margerine or something.I is a very big part of the flavour.

Then add 3 1/4 cups or 650 grams of dark brown sugar

Work in 4 XL or 5 L eggs

Then add 2 heaped theaspoons of cinnamon

Then it is time to add 6 cups or 1 kilo of plain four and the right amount of baking powder

Another vital part of speculoos of Hasselt and unique to that is 1 cup or 100 grams of almond powder and 1cup or 100 grams of slivered almond. This time my shop had no slivered almonds so I used all almond powder.

You need to work the dow by hand by now since it is a very heavy dow.

Don't work it to long. Just enough to combine everything. Then put it in the fridge for a few hours or even overnight. Cover it with clingfilm.

Next day you preheat your oven at 325°F or 175 °C.
Take a piece of the dow and make a roll out of it about 2,5 inch or 6 to 7cm diameter

Slice fingerthick slices and put on a baking tray.

The baking tray should be coverded with some baking paper. Just flatten the slices ever so slightly. Leave room between the slices since they will spread.

Bake for 15 minutes.
The cookies should have only a lightly brown rim on the outside. The will be hard after cooling down but when you store them in a tin they should get softer.

You could keep them for weeks but I bet they won't have the time to get bad!
I know they are heavy on the calories but I only bake them for Saint Nicolas and for Christmas.
These cookies are for Belgium and Holland what Shortbread is for Scotland and Chocolade chip cookies are for the USA. Please try them, I know you will love them.

These days speculoos is so popular in Belgium that in the last two years they intruduced a speculoos paste that you can put on bread. It was the winning thing in a tv contest to invent something new and it is a huge succes.
Since this years there is also chocolate with pieces of crisp speculoos in it and there is even Speculoos ice cream.

I also use the paste to mix with buttercream and spread that on apple cupcakes. Yummy!

Xmas in July and Foody Friday

in July!

What a fun idea it this.Whilest it was raining today I got in the Xmas spirit and looked at all my old Xmas pictures.
In Belgium we have not a lot of Xmas traditions since up to a decenia or so agoo, Xmas was mainly a Christian holiday. We had a tree with some ornaments and a festive meal and that was it. Now a days with all the influences trought TV and internet and so, Xmas trees and all the decorations are becoming more and more popular.

So I am just going to show you a lot of pictures of my trees and tablescapes. I don't do a lot of other decorations since this is difficult to manage when you have like me a lot of cats. No family pictures either I'm afraid. Since I am cook and host I don't take pictures at that moment.

Because it is also Foody Friday I am putting a recipie for Chocolate Truffles at the end of the blog.
Since Belgium is know worldwide for its very good chocolates I thought this was appropriate. Sadly there are now pictures of them but believe me these truffles are devine.

My first nativity set. I still love it after all those years.People think I am crazy to have a mouse and a cat nativity set but what the heck...I like them!

Xmas trees of the last 4 years

2008

The Bird tree

In 2008 I wanted a non traditional tree with dry branches witch I adorned with 70 white glass birds, some clear glass balls and some pampilles. There where also a lot of tiny snowballs on nylon threads and of course some white lights.

2007

The Snowflake Tree

I was very, very pleased with this tree and it is still one of my all time favorites. On Ebay I bought from a Canadian lady about 170 handmade snowflakes and it made a fabulous Xmas tree. Some clear glass ball and about 600 white lights finished it off beautifully. In the top stood my little Steiff snowman!2007
The Red Roses and Cardinal tree

Sadly I have no really good pictures of this tree. It was fabulous but very hard to take good pictures of. One of those trees I truly was proud of. For the first time ever I bought all new things. The ball I bought on sale. The birds I bought on Ebay and the rest, like the red glass hearts and the velvet balls I bought localy.

2006
The White Tree

Full of white balls and all my mainly white glass figurative ornaments and once again all white lights.

Some of my tablescapes from some years back

2008
2007

This was certainly 6 years back
Of my very best tablescapes, I sadly have no good pictures

Christmas and the cats

When you have cats and love them, Christmas with cats is fun to experience. We have laughts a lot with the fun things they do once the Xmas tree is up. I only have glass ornaments and never, ever will buy plastic ones, just because I have 11 cats in the house. Only kittens will try to climb the tree. My big Maine Coons love to sleep under the tree since I always put a fleece as a tree skirt under it.
I must admid, I am at home all the time and at night the cats don't sleep in the livingroom. So that helps a lot. On the other hand I put unbreakeble things and bells at the bottem of the tree. So I can hear when they are in the vicinity of the tree. Here is an impression of a Xmas with the cats!

BlumaBlue admires the White Xmas tree

Gulara, 12 weeks old is the one and only cat ever to climb the tree!!

The cat Xmas tree. Not meant for the cats but it a tree and decorations with cats.

I collect glass cat ornaments. The old fashioned kind.

In 2008 I designed this Cattery Chrismas tree with wood ornaments I bought at Ebay.I painted them in a greyish/blue color and made some shading on them. Later I gave the ornaments to my daughter since she said that she could not have a Xmas tree because of her 4 cats. This tree is fun for the cats since they can play with the ornaments, sleep under it and if somethings fall out, nothing gets broken.


Koko half asleep under the Cattery tree.



Biggles and Caitlin are garding my Snowbabies collection

Pregnant Poppy sleeping under the Red Roses Xmas tree.

Chocolate Truffles Recipie

This is for a lot of truffles but I assure you, you will need them becauste they are delicious.
Put them in a nice box and you have a perfect gift.
One again my recipie is in metric so please trow it trough a converter program.
You need:
200 grams of real unsalted butter

1500 grams of very good (at least 50% cacaofat) dark cooking chocolate

1 liter of single cream.

real Dutch cacoa powder

Put a pan on the heath and poor the cream in it and let it come to the boil.
Chop the chocolade in small pieces and let it melt aux bain marie and then stirr the chocolade in the cream away from the stove. Chocolade may never cook or become to hot!
Put away in the fridge until the next day. The next day you heat the mixture gently and add the soft butter.
Put in the fridge again until the chocolade mix is hardened.
Then,with a small spoon, you scoop out little balls and quickly roll them in to long our round chapes and dust them with real Dutch cacao powder.

You can also roll them in chopped pistachio nuts, slivered almonds or coconut. You can also give them something extra by adding a small amount of cherry of raspberry liqueur.

While forming them, your hand will get messy real quick. Dust your hands with cacao powder or powdered sugar to prevent the chocolade clinging to them. When your hands gets to dirty wash them and then cool them in cold water before starting again. Or you could do it with plastic gloves.The forming of the truffles is a big job so let your bigger kids help.

Put in a nice box and give them to friends and family.
Enjoy!!!