New Thrifty Gifty - Organised for Christmas and all ocassions 2010- Santas Challenges

xrestrictedx

thought i would post the first on the list just to show you all, xx


Slimming World Christmas Cake

This dark , moist Christmas cake is made without fat to reduce the Syn count per person. It can be made a month in advance and stored in a cool, dry place until you are ready to decorate just before Christmas.


113g /4oz non-soaked prunes, stoned and chopped (8 syns)
283g /10oz mixed dried fruit (40 syns)
50ml /2 fl oz brandy or rum (5 syns)
170g / 6 oz plain flour (30 syns)
1 level tsp baking powder (½ syn)
57g /2oz glace cherries (7 syns)
57g /2oz mixed peel, chopped (6 syns)
1 level tsp ground cinnamon
1 level tsp mixed spice
Pinch of salt
57g /2oz dark muscovite sugar (11 syns)
2 eggs, beaten
Grated zest and juice of 1 orange (1 syn)
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon


Put the prunes and mixed fruit in a large bowl and pour over the brandy or rum. Mix together and leave to soak for a few hours, or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 170 C, 325 F, gas mark 3. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl and stir in the glace cherries and mixed peel. Add the spices and salt and stir well so that everything is lightly coated with flour.
Stir in the sugar and then beat in the egg with a wooden spoon. Add the soaked fruit, together with the soaking liquid, and the zest and juice of the orange and lemon. Mix well together. If the mixture is too stiff, you can thin it down with a little more lemon juice.
Spoon the cake mixture into a lined 18-cm /7- in, square cake tin and smooth the top of the cake. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 2 hours, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. If the cake is browning too much, cover it with some greaseproof paper while it cooks.
Let the cake cool in the tin, then remove and wrap in greaseproof paper and foil. Store in a cool dry place until you are ready to decorate it with the glazed fruit and nut topping (below) if desired.




Serves 12
Syns per serving: 9 Syns on Original and Green
Preparation time: 20 mins plus soaking overnight
Cooking time: 2 Hours

cookiecrumbs

Morning everyone

Pretty quiet today, my boss is out of the office all day so I have time to catch up on the thread!

OH commandeered about a dozen of my cupcakes to take to work this morning, hope he doesn't poison anyone :rotfl:. Got my stuff for pickles soaking in salt and water ready for tonight when I can dry them off and finish everything. Spent half an hour last night looking for some Christmas cards I thought I had, then I realised I'd never ordered them after all...

Had some friends coming to stay for the weekend but they have cancelled so I can go to the Christmas Fair at Olympia instead! :j

Hope everyone is well

Qaphsiel

Hello all

Sorry i have not posted for a week or so but i and then the kids have been poorly! All these bugs going round at the moment Going to try catch up on the thread and the Challenges now. In the meantime i have managed to get some Arts and crafts done:


Pots of Gold:








Peppa Pig Hamper :







Toy Story Hamper:

Qaphsiel

Opps sorry last few piccies are big even though i have re-sized them to the same as the other photos :think:

Also i have brought some cello cones from eBay but after 2 weeks and 2 emails still not received them! The EBay seller has a few bad feedbacks for not sending stuff :mad: Can anyone recommend a reliable seller to buy the cello cones from. I am wanting to make Snowman Soup. Thank you peeps X

cdsmiler

Morning all!

Oh Rufus, that's sods law though isn't it!! Hope the table cloth comes out ok!

Good to see you jamtart!

xrestrictedx - It's all quite overwhelming all these lovely makes! I know I felt the same last year. If I were you I'd just take one or two ideas and go with them this year and then plan some others for next year! Last year I picked up ideas for hampers, but mainly picked up the Snowman Poop and Pots of Gold ideas - Snowman Poop was for Chrsitmas morning for family members, and Pots of Gold (can be filled with ANY gold wrapped sweets and chocoaltes, and sometimes a £1 coin or scratch card...) were as table gifts for New Year. I'd make a note of all the ideas and then see which would fit in with your plans for Christmas this year..... Good luck!

Qaphisel - your hampers look fab! The children getting them are going to be over the moon! And I love your pots of gold - there's something a bit cupcakey about them with the ferrero roche on top!

Well I'm all jewelleried out - I have enough things made to keep the blog going for weeks!! lol Hubby and I (yes, he's been helping, he's a bit crafty too when he fancies it!!) have been on a major mass make of things the past few days as we're off to the inlaws tonight and his mum wants to see some of the stuff we've made and possibily buy some (and her colleagues at work). So I'm exhausted! We made about 16 bracelets over the last few days, not to mention about 15 pairs of earrings!!

Hope you're all doing fab!

Clare x

xrestrictedx

oh those hampers look fantastic, my eldest grand daughter loves pepper pig, may i pinch the idea lol, i see what you all mean with the pots of gold, they are very quirky and fun. how did you manage to post a photo, i cant seem to do it.

xx Milla xx

rufusdog52

cdsmiler wrote: »

Morning all!

Oh Rufus, that's sods law though isn't it!! Hope the table cloth comes out ok!


Clare x

It didn't lol, has made a right mess. Will have to try something else otherwise I will have to make a new white tablecloth for everyday use. We put a cotton one on the bottom and then a lace one over the top. It has just about come out of the lace one but made a big black blotch of the cotton one.

welshgirl90

hi everyone!

welcome to xrestrictedx, glad i'm not the only new one on here (only started this week) but everyone on here is so nice and helpful, they have already solved a few of my present problems.

i am loving the idea of the pots of gold! i think i may use them as little favours at christmas dinner. The normal family tradition is to buy the 'make your own cracker' kits, and each person has to get a lil gift for someone elses cracker. only problem is the kits are quite expensive. but this is a great idea. like the idea of the scratch cards too.

ooo, and those peppa pig and toy story hampers are amazing. Ive seen a fair few toy story stocking fillers in asda so i may do that for my little sister (9 and a complete tomboy) but can i ask, where is the box from, because that really makes it look so complete.

thanks!! x

esmer

I have ordered a lot of Cellophane and it arrived and im going to get my JML sealer............. So Im attempting tomake my cones I will prob be cursing myself. means I can make snowman soup for one cup, and Im making the shortbread candy cane that I found a recipe for to put on the side rather than the candycane sweet kind I think I have ALL my stuff now for making pots of gold, so I can have a crafty night in

Qaphsiel

welshgirl90 wrote: »

hi everyone!

welcome to xrestrictedx, glad i'm not the only new one on here (only started this week) but everyone on here is so nice and helpful, they have already solved a few of my present problems.

i am loving the idea of the pots of gold! i think i may use them as little favours at christmas dinner. The normal family tradition is to buy the 'make your own cracker' kits, and each person has to get a lil gift for someone elses cracker. only problem is the kits are quite expensive. but this is a great idea. like the idea of the scratch cards too.

ooo, and those peppa pig and toy story hampers are amazing. Ive seen a fair few toy story stocking fillers in asda so i may do that for my little sister (9 and a complete tomboy) but can i ask, where is the box from, because that really makes it look so complete.

thanks!! x

The Peppa pig storage boxes (they have lids too and metal handles and are very sturdy) were from a shop called The Range. I was going to buy them a storage box each anyway. Also the Toy Story is for my 7yr old daughter and most of it i got from poundland and the 99p store so worth having a look round.

XrestrictedX i use photobucket to upload and edit my photos. Upload the photo, i edit it to a preset size of medium, replace the original them copy and paste the IMG code onto here.