Painted Christmas biscuits

Recipe for biscuits:

75 grams margarine

50 grams icing sugar

finely grated rind of a small lemon or orange(I like the orange ones the best)

I egg yolk( I used a duck yolk=fine)

175 grams plain flour

pinch of salt

Decoration:

2 egg yolks

food colouring(liquid)

Beat the margarine, sugar and rind until pale and fluffy.

Beat in the egg yolk, and stir in flour and salt.

Knead until smooth, flatten into a round, wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 190 degrees. 

Roll dough out gently with a floured rolling pin on a lightly floured surface, use cutters to press shapes.

With a spatula, transfer shapes to a baking tray, make features with the end of a straw(like Rudolphs nose, buttons on the gingerbread men, snowmen and baubles on the trees, and place in the fridge to chill.

I slid the spatula under and then flipped them over on to the tray. The dough is
very fragile but makes great biscuits.

To decorate,  put each egg yolk in a cup and add a few drops of liquid food colouring.

I used duck eggs, the yolks are bigger and I split the yolks to make three colours, red, yellow and green. For the amount of biscuits, splitting chook eggs would be plenty enough to colour.

Using a paint brush paint on the colour as you wish, I just did it simply, but you could get way more elaborate with the markings you make on the biscuits, the colours you use and they way you paint them. 

Bake the biscuits for 10-12 minutes, or until the begin to colour at the edges. Transfer to a wire rack, I used the spatula again for this. 

The result, perdy, tasty biscuits!

Have you handmade anything for the christmas season? You know what, it's OK if you haven't! It's all sorts of batshit crazy this time of year isn't it? I am not the most organised bottle in the six pack by a long shot! Still in denial that everything will be ok, and you know what; it will. There will be shit loads of food, and laughter, love and most importantly FAMILY.

I hope you have an awesome Christmas. With lots of love and Christmas cheer, the O'Brien clan. Hugs and kisses xxxxoooo

Add your christmas cheer, love and #openslather below xxx :)

Somewhere I visit every day

My place in time #59

Being a stay at home mum does have it's pros, like not having to leave the house some days. Days like these for me usually result in me not being dressed properly until lunch time, easy and relaxed. It would be good if this was the case everyday, as there are two people who try their best to see that it is not easy and not relaxed! Somedays we don't go anywhere, and depending on the weather, the kids don't even get outside the house.

One place I do go everyday is the loo. Somedays it is my refuge, and the sound of that doorknob lock clicking is pure relief, besides the other kind of relief that goes on in those tiny four walls. But I'm not taking photos of my loo, that would be too easy, plus I can't be bothered cleaning it.

Somedays the letter box doesn't even get a visit, not from me anyway. This is Izzys new favourite thing to do on her own. I am sure it is so she can be closer or catch the view of her best friend next door, which her wanting to play with is a constant nagging point during the day.

The laundry gets a visit from me everyday, whether it's packing the machine, turning it on, or emptying it. The broom and the vacuum cleaner live in there too. So I go in there for something, every. day. Again it is not spotless. Which is really ironic, because I have taken photos of the place that is the most crappiest at my place, chook poo crappiest.

The place I visit every day without fail is the chook house. Every morning I take our food scraps out to the two girls and let them out for a wander, which always means land mines everywhere.

Occasionally we get an egg, it's that time of year, a bit cold for laying eggs. The little brown chook has been an egg machine. The black one hasn't laid one for a while. I'm hoping to get a couple more chooks, I can see them not being let out as much, I'd have poo everywhere! They have a fair run around two sides of our big shed. 

You can read more about the My place in time project at Blackcurrant photography

Coconut Rough

It's the last day of term next Friday here in SA, so that means it's the last day of playgroup today. That means, instead of the usual healthy morning tea of fruit for the kids, we take party food.

 Popcorn has always been my easy take along party snack, but I don't have any in the pantry. What I do have in the fridge is a temptation that for the last few days has spelt disaster for my waistline. Leftover Easter eggs. 

I had no intention of using them, besides stuffing my face, if only I don't take that first piece.....but I went looking through my book and I found this little recipe from Jakes school days. 

I did have some choc chips but not enough, so I used some easter eggs. I just hope the other parents forgive me for chocolate loading their kids, as if they haven't had enough this week.

I made some cupcakes as well and popped the coconut rough on top. It's like double prizes at the show!  What is even better, the chocolate is walking out of my house on a tray and not in my belly!

Flogging my blog with Grace this week

Impossible Pie - Open Slather

Black chook, Red chook and Brown chook -  this is what Izzy calls them and it's stuck

I originally bought two chooks, black chook and brown chook. When I mentioned to Brett that I wanted to get chooks, he said everything in the negative, but I had made my mind up, and as usual I ignored him and did it anyway. Low and behold a month later he sneakily went and bought another one! I think he was impressed that we were getting eggs and he wanted more. I had to explain to him that chooks only lay one egg a day, I think he thought we should be getting more eggs from two chooks. Idiot. So now we are getting three eggs a day, and with at least a dozen eggs in the fridge, sometimes more at any given time, I'm always looking to use them up. 

Ann from Help!! I'm Stuck!! stole provided a recipe for mini muffins in last weeks link up, and we had them for lunch during the week. I also made a recipe from her blog too, for impossible pie. I had my own recipe I'd found somewhere that I'd been making for ages, but I gave hers a go. I used silverbeet instead of the zucchini and used up bits and pieces of three different cheese that were in the fridge. It turned out beautifully, and my husband even went as far as to say that he liked it better than mine! O. K.  then.......I have to admit I'll be using it from now on and throwing my old recipe away.

French toast - just like mum made