FOR THE LAST MINUTES OF THIS YEAR

Happy new year & let's get back to action in 2014 then!
This is how they did it a very long time ago (-84 years to be more exact). Source.

GINGERBREAD TRUFFLES

Room for some sweets still? I've never been too eager on making any Christmas dishes myself (I let others do them for me for when I come over, hehe), apart from sweets. For New Year's I, as many others, like to eat something fresh and not really related to the season. But when it comes to the extras I prefer to still go for Christmas,  as I do like the holiday scents an tastes, sweet and spicy. 

Here's a recipe for gingerbread truffles, to serve with coffee for or after dessert or to place on the table among with the other sweets you've gathered around yourself for this time of the year. I'm sure you could get pretty awesome truffles by just adding gingerbread bits to a regular truffle batch, or by rolling truffles in gingerbread crumbs (>note to self: try). But these here are not that kind of truffles.


For about 18 pieces you'll need:
180 grams of almonds
2 tbs of honey
8 dates (or fewer, if you use very big ones)
Ginger bread spices

Grind the almonds in a mixer. They don't have to get as smooth as flour, keep a little texture. Add the honey, and then the dates one by one. (If you want to do a vegan version trade the honey into one spoon of agave, or just use about one or two dates more.)

The mix should be a rather fluffy, nutty crumble, that will stick together easily when you roll it into a ball. If you put in too many dates it will turn soggy, so check before adding the last ones. Put in the spices last and blend. I use 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and one each of ginger and clover. As I like cardamom a lot I put a teaspoon of that too.


Form into balls and roll them in a mix of cocoa and cinnamon (or if you so prefer, just either one).
Keep cold for an hour or two before serving, and if you for some reason are left with any over, store cold in a plastic box.

No food processor at home? If you use soft enough dates you can do this with just a hand mixer too, with pre-ground almonds (or almond flour). Or mash the dates with a fork for the hand-only version.

You can do several variations on these:

The obvious - cut into cubes instead of rolling them into balls,  or form a roll and cut thin slices. Dust cinnamon or coconut sugar on.

The more created variations:
Press the dough out rather thin and use small gingerbread forms to cut out shapes.
Roll the truffles around a piece of dried apricot or dark chocolate.
Dip the gingerbread balls in melted chocolate, leave as they are or sprinkle chopped almonds, cinnamon or nonpareils on.

You can also bake these. Then they of course will no longer be truffles but turn in to sort-of-gingerbreads.  The raw way would be to keep them in oven on low heat until they dry, some hours in just 40C. The inpatient way I'd go for is a very hot oven for just a minute or two.

Or, if you are among those who like gingerbread dough shut ike that, skip all rolling and just eat right out of the bowl!


PS. these are also healthy! And raw. Child-friendly sweets with no sugar. Haha!

DOMESTIC BLACK CATS

A little kitsch around the house isn't wrong, especially when it comes to cats!

 The cat-bottle is of course a classic. We got the wine juts because of the bottle; I can't remember what it tasted like. I once saw a window with cat bottles in all colours in a row. Fun! And that meant someone had a lot of wine.

 My youngest sister gave me a black cat soap bottle, because, well, it's a cat soap bottle.

She also gave me the vintage cat lamp they'd found with her boyfriend as it was a little 'too much' for their home. It has just the same look as my Lulu!

A LITTLE BIT MORE OF CHRISTMAS STILL...

Did I already say I love Christmas holidays? Also the so called "days in between", as those are the ones you get to really take it easy after running around at relatives; read your books, burn your candles, eat your chocolate and marathon watch you series. And the kids play with their toys. (But I kind of broke my own suer-relaxation code and did a quick stop at the gym today  - room for more sweets! And wine.)

There are lots of old pots and pans in the country house that cannot really be used for cooking anymore so I use them as candle holders instead. The baking tin was a little to small for tea candles however, so I put some small rocks in the bottom first to keep the candles steady.

I don't really have much other decorations for the season than lights, and the more neutral ones get to stay up almost all winter long. But once I was at it I made a christmas thing of gold sprayed branches and christmas tree decorations, put them in a Chinese vase we have. When asking Eddi what he thought of it I could almost hear him thinking about which was the right answer until he came up with a "mjaaah?". Hehe.

Dag has been placing his new farm animals in different rows and positions around the room but then he took a break from all organising and just squeezed them a bit. (And now I'm off for some late night marathoning of SOA season 5!)