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GOSIA ﾅ、NIAK
Christmas is time of giving and sharing with those you love. There is something really special about planning gifts for family and friends. This is when you can show not only how much you care, but also how well you know your loved ones. What is the most precious thing you can give to someone? Yourself. Your time, your attention, your thoughts. Making gifts for somebody is the simplest way of showing it. So instead of buying another unnecessary thing, surprise someone dear to you with homemade gift. And even better, with edible homemade gift. It’s a well known fact that cooking is one of the best ways of expressing and celebrating love. Food is something that you can really bond over. Today I have for you three simple yet stunning Christmas gifts ideas. So get inspired and express your love in the kitchen. Gosia
Homemade vanilla extract about 10 vanilla beans (or more) 500 ml vodka (or other alcohol like rum) Cut vanilla beans lengthwise. Place into glass bottle and pour in the alcohol. Leave somewhere dark to infuse, and shake once in a while. Extract is ready when it has dark brown color. It takes over a dozen days, but the longer, the better your extract will be. When you’ll use bigger part of it, just fill the bottle with more alcohol and leave. You don’t have to replace vanilla beans for the new ones, just add a few more.
Gingerbread chocolate truffles 200 g milk chocolate 250 ml heavy cream 80 g ground almonds 3 cardamom pods 1 star anise 1 cinnamon stick 2 cloves chopped pistachios and coconut flakes Pour heavy cream into a small pot. Remove cardamom seeds from pods and crush. Add to the cream along with star anise, cloves and lightly crushed cinnamon stick. Heat up slowly almost to the boiling point, but do not let it boil. Brake chocolate into small pieces and place into a bowl. Pour in hot heavy cream through a fine sieve to remove spices. Let it sit for 3-4 minutes, and then mix well until chocolate and cream are fully combined. Stir in almonds and set aside to cool completely. Place in the fridge for 3-4 hours until mixture sets nicely and become workable. Using a spoon take small portions of the truffle mixture and form walnuts size balls with your hands. Coat each truffle with chopped pistachios or coconut flakes. Keep it in the fridge no longer than a week.
Homemade gingerbread cookies cookies 370 g all purpose flour 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder 3 tsp gingerbread spice pinch of salt 100 g butter 1 egg 200 g honey All of the ingredients have to be at room temperature. Preheat oven to 180C (350F). Line baking tray with parchment paper. Mix flour with baking soda, salt, cocoa powder and spice. Add egg, butter and honey. Knead the dough and roll it out to be about 3 mm thick. Cut out cookies and place on baking tray. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool down onto cooling rack and decorate with royal icing. royal icing 1 small egg white powdered sugar (amount depends on desired consistency) few drops of water or lemon juice (to control consistency) Mix together egg white and sugar until you have smooth icing. I know recipe is not very precise here, but I was adding as much sugar as I needed at the moment. To do frames and little pearls you need very thick, paste like icing, and to fill spaces between frames more runny icing will do.
Photography, styling and recipes by Gosia Łaniak for more visit: www.gosialaniak.com www.moderntasteblog.com © Gosia Łaniak