gifts – CLARE HOPKINS

For those reading who aren’t Australian, ANZAC Day is a Public holiday held to commemorate the first military action initiated by Australian and New Zealand forces in the first world war. Hence, ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

Traditionally, Australian’s bake ANZAC cookies (a sweet biscuit made of rolled oats and syrup) on the day, in memory of the soldier’s staple food which was a hard biscuit (no sugar involved) made with ingredients that ensured the biscuit wouldn’t go mouldy. Sadly, the soldiers didn’t get the sweet, warm, oaty crunch of the ANZAC biscuits we bake today.

Today, instead of baking lots of little biscuits I decided to make one giant cookie.

If you want to make it yourself; preheat your oven to 170˚C and mix 150g melted butter, 2 tbsp golden syrup, 1.25 cups of self-raising flour, a dribble of water, 1 cup rolled oats and 1/2 cup caster sugar together. Then use your hands to spread it into a giant cookie and bake for 17 minutes or until golden brown.

I had a slice of cookie with some hot cocoa (cocoa powder, almond milk and a squeeze of maple syrup) in my favourite ‘Life is Beautiful’ Mug. As simple as it is, I love having a funny/inspirational message on my mugs to start the day and this one has to be my favourite.

If you want an fun mug to cheer you up at the start of the day, I recently found these awesome ‘life is beautiful’ mugs. You have to admit they are absolutely adorable… if you’re a sucker for cute things like me. They would make a great gift as well!

Enjoy!! Have you made ANZAC cookies before? Comment below and we can chat 🙂

Merry Christmas!

After stuffing myself silly with turkey, ham, pumpkin, potato, feta salad, veggies, custard, mince pies and truffles, on Christmas Eve, I woke up this morning to a tree full of presents and a slightly-less eager family who just wanted to sleep in.

Luckily I managed to get them out of bed by 9 am – motivating them mainly with warm, fruit-mince tarts that I freshly baked.

Earlier in the morning I was inspired by a recipe in my Mum’s old Donna Hay cookbook.

First I prepared the filling, by combining the following in a bowl and set it aside in the fridge:

1 cup Granny Smith Apples, finely chopped
Pinch of nutmeg and cinnamon
Dash of Brandy
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
1/2 cup currants
3 tsp lemon rind
50g butter melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup orange juice

Whilst waiting for that to chill, I used cookie cutters to cut little circles in shortcrust pastry and place them into greased cupcake baking trays. Then I prepared my star toppings using a smaller star cookie cutter.

After the hour was up I took the filling out the fridge and distributed it into the moulds. I placed the little star cutouts on top of each one and brushed them all with melted butter.

Then, I popped them into the oven (160C/320F) for 25-30 minutes.

Everyone enjoyed fruit mince pies, gourmet chocolate truffles (from Belle Fleur Fine Chocolates – a boutique chocolate shop in Sydney’s Inner West), and mulled wine whilst opening presents.

I got very spoilt this Christmas, and got a Mimco Supernatural Medium Pouch, some cute Kikki K stationary and the Antler Aire Large Suitcase.

Clearly I was spoilt by family and friends – hope you had a wonderful Christmas and got everything you wished for!

Tag: gifts

Calories don’t Count on Christmas! Mince Pies and Mulled Wine for Breakfast.