We started making gingerbread three years ago (I think), when we received the gorgeous snowflake cookie cutters pictured below, and it has become our little Christmas tradition.

Gingerbread dough, cutter, and rolling pin

Gingerbread snowflake shaped cutter

Snowflake shaped gingerbread biscuits

Cooked gingerbread biscuits on a cooling rack

After much indecision, I settled on crème caramel. But that meant caramelising sugar; something I have never done before, and have always been a bit scared of.

Caramel in ramekins for crème caramel

My first attempt did not go well. The recipe called for ²/₃ cup of sugar and 1 tablespoon of water, shaken in a saucepan until it caramelised. Instead of caramel, I ended up with a solid white lump stuck to bottom of my saucepan (which, thankfully, dissolved in hot water).

I turned to YouTube for help, and for my second attempt decided to try caramelising just the sugar without any water. With just sugar in the saucepan, I watched with amazement as it started to melt around the edges, and eventually became a pool of golden brown liquid. I had just made caramel for the first time!

My spice mix has evolved over time. It’s not an exact science, so feel free to use this as starting point and experiment to find the perfect combination for you.

Mexican spice mix

• 3 tsp dried onion flakes
• 2 tsp chilli powder
• 2 tsp cornflower
• 1 tsp dried garlic flakes
• 1 tsp cumin seeds, crushed
• 1 tsp stock powder
• 1/2 tsp dried coriander
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika (use smoked paprika if you want that smokey bbq flavour)

Put all of the ingredients in an air tight jar and shake well to mix.

I add about 2 teaspoons of the spice mix to the beans and vegetables as they cook.

Homemade chocolate truffles

You will need:

• 200g block of dark chocolate
• 1/4 cup fresh cream
• 2 tablespoons of your favourite liqueur (optional)
• cocoa powder

Break up the chocolate, put it in a small saucepan with the cream, and stir over low heat until the chocolate melts. Turn off the heat and stir in the liqueur. Pour the chocolate mixture into a bowl, cover, and put it in the fridge overnight to set.

Take the chocolate mixture out of the fridge, shape teaspoons of the mixture into balls, and roll in the cocoa powder until completely covered (don’t try to do this on a hot day or your truffles will melt).

Your truffles are done. Store them in an airtight container in the fridge between layers of baking paper.

Cream is not something we use often. I had a lot leftover after making some chocolate truffles, so decided to try to freeze it.

I froze ¹/₄ cup portions in a silicone muffin pan. Once frozen, I turned the portions out of the muffin pan, wrapped them individually in plastic, and kept them in freezer.

Frozen cream in a silicone muffin pan

The cream did separate as it defrosted, but came back together nicely after a good shake, and accompanied some delicious chocolate cake.

The first step is making the dough. The dough is a simple mix of flour, water, yeast, sugar, and salt.

Flour for steamed buns

Yeast mix for steamed buns

Kneading the dough

Dough after kneading

Leaving the dough to rise

After leaving the dough to rise, you add baking powder to it before shaping the buns.

Steamed bun dough after rising

Adding baking powder to dough

Steamed bun dough after kneading in baking powder

The dough is rolled out into small circles. You put some filling in the centre (in this case, some red bean paste I picked up from our local Asian supermarket), and then fold the edges together to seal the filling inside the dough. Twisting a piece of dough off the top of the bun makes sure it is well sealed.

Rolling out dough for steamed buns

Preparing to add filling

Adding red bean paste

Steamed bun dough with red bean paste

Folding in the dough to close the bun

Steamed bun dough with all edges folded in

Sealing a steamed bun by twisting the top off

Sealed steamed bun

The buns are placed on squares of baking paper and left the rise again before steaming them. The baking paper stops the buns from sticking to the steamer.

Sealed steamed bun left to rise

Steamed buns after rising

Steamed buns in the steamer ready for cooking

We keep our left over buns in the freezer and reheat them in the microwave as we want them.

You can find the recipe I used here.

We will, of course, enjoy one fresh from the oven, and the rest will go in the freezer for many wonderful weekend breakfasts.

Cooked croissants

The Recipe

If you want to make your own croissants, I used a recipe by Pino Ficara. I recommend watching the video before you start.

The Rest of the Series

This post is part of a series about making croissants. You can find the other posts below:

1. Rolling Butter;
2. Preparing the Dough;
3. Layering the Butter;
4. Shaping and Baking;
5. The Finished Product.

The warm weather delayed us. The morning sun streaming through the window made it too hot to handle the dough. It was melting in our hands thanks to the high butter content. This afternoon, we have had more luck.

Layered croissant dough

We rolled out the parcels dough, shaped it into croissants and pain aux chocolat, and left it for the final rise. Croissants start out as long triangles of dough, which are rolled up and tucked into their crescent shape. Pain aux chocolat are simple rectangles with a piece of dark chocolate rolled in the middle.

Rolled and cut croissant dough

The warm weather has at least been helpful with the rising; by the time we finished shaping our last batch of dough, the first croissants we made were nicely risen. We gave them a final coating of egg wash before going in the oven.

Shaped croissants and pain aux chocolat

The Rest of the Series

This post is part of a series about making croissants. You can find the other posts below:

1. Rolling Butter;
2. Preparing the Dough;
3. Layering the Butter;
4. Shaping and Baking;
5. The Finished Product.

Risen croissant dough

The next step is layering the dough and butter. This is how all those wonderfully flaky layers are created in the finished croissants.

Rolled butter layed on croissant dough

We divided our dough into four portions to make it easier to work with. Using a lot of flour, we rolled it out into a large rectangle, then layered the butter sheets on top, and folded it up like a letter. Another round of rolling and folding, and it’s wrapped up in cling film again, and put in the fridge overnight.

Rolled and layered croissant dough

We have four parcels in the fridge ready to be turned into croissants tomorrow morning.

Rolled and layered croissant dough in fridge

The Rest of the Series

This post is part of a series about making croissants. You can find the other posts below:

1. Rolling Butter;
2. Preparing the Dough;
3. Layering the Butter;
4. Shaping and Baking;
5. The Finished Product.

Bowls of milk and yeast; flour, sugar, and salt

The dough is a simple mix of warm milk, yeast, flour, sugar, and salt. After letting the yeast dissolve in the milk, everything is mixed together until it becomes a very sticky, elastic dough.

Adding yeast to warm milk

Then is the fun part; wrapping it all up in lots of cling film. The cling film is the only thing preventing a great dough explosion in your fridge, so you don’t want to skimp.

Croissant dough

Croissant dough wrapped in cling film

Our dough will now spend eight hours in the fridge while the yeast  does its thing. I’ll be back later when we layer the butter with the dough.

The Rest of the Series

This post is part of a series about making croissants. You can find the other posts below:

1. Rolling Butter;
2. Preparing the Dough;
3. Layering the Butter;
4. Shaping and Baking;
5. The Finished Product.