Happy holidays plus my sugar cookie tins

A weekend of snow - travel disruptions aside, who could not be cheery at the prospect of a white Christmas? This post is a bit of a farewell one for me (or at least for a week or so) as I'm taking a break over the festive period. I'll be back next week with my New Year wishlist though, and there's some exciting Her Little Place developments in the pipeline which I can't wait to share with you in 2010. In the meantime though, I leave you with some pics of my weekend's Christmas baking - star sugar cookie tins complete with homemade tags - that I put together on Saturday. I realise I've been going a little top-heavy on recipes over homestyle later, but there'll be plenty of time for home inspiration in the New Year - promise!

Happy Holidays
Huma xx

Festive baking: all spice biscuits

Sometimes when I'm in baking mode, it's a toss up between cookies and cake. But this week, my mind has been made up for me with this Friday's recipe for all-spice biscuits from Biscuiteers. If you've not heard of Biscuiteers before, do take a second to check out their website - the presentation tins gave me an idea for my own Christmas cookie tins for this year (which I'll be sharing with you next week). Forget sending cupcakes in the mail on birthdays; a good old-fashioned iced English biscuit is clearly the way to go!

I asked Harriet Hastings, who came up with the idea for Biscuiteers with her husband while on a trip to New York, to share one of her favourite recipes.

Harriet says: "These tasty treats are wonderful to bake at home with your family and make beautiful Christmas tree decorations or presents for unexpected guests. I really enjoy spreading a little biscuit love with Biscuiteers and making really beautiful, imaginatively designed biscuits - we enjoy sending them as much as you love eating them!"

All-spice biscuits
350g plain flour
100g butter
150g sugar
1 egg
4 tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp powdered ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice

Pop the butter and sugar together in a bowl, mix them until creamy and light. Add the egg and the golden syrup and give the mixture another stir. Then carefully sift in the flour, ginger, cinnamon and spice, folding together lightly until the mixture comes together. At this point, switch your oven on to preheat at 140 C. While it warms up, start rolling out the biscuit mix on a lightly floured surface, to a thickness of about 6mm. Then simply stamp out as many biscuit shapes as you can, using whatever shape you fancy! Keep re-rolling left over dough and cut out as many biccies as you can. Arrange on a baking tray (prepped with greaseproof paper) and pop in the oven for 30 minutes.

For the icing
2 large egg whites
2 tsp water
330g icing sugar

Beat egg whites and water (or vanilla extract or almond essence if you want flavour) with an electric whisk. Then slowly add the icing sugar and beat on a low speed until combined and smooth. If you want colour, add a few drops of colouring at a time until you get the shade you want.

Wait until the biscuits are completely cooled so the icing doesn't melt, and then spoon the ice into a piping bag and ice away.
If you are icing in different colours, ice each colour in stages and allow one colour to dry before starting the next. You can be as creative as you like - add edible glitter, silver balls and sprinkles. If you're worried about messing up, practice the pipe bag on a plate first!

How to: make your own Swiss Chalet Christmas decoration

I'm delighted to hand over to Clare at Pretty Green for this really nice how to - follow the step by step instructions and print out the pattern below to make your own unique decoration piece.

Start by printing out the pattern on two pages (you can get the full size by clicking on each individual jpeg on the post below):

You will need:

Recycled card (a cereal box or corrugated card)
Thick thread or wool
Festive ribbon
Darning needle
Push pin
Scissors or craft knife

Cut around each pattern piece and attach with masking tape to the back of your card.

With a needle or push pin, make holes through your card on each of the dots on the pattern. It helps to put some blu-tack under the card so you can push all the way through, or use a cutting board.

Cut out the pattern pieces and the black areas in the windows. Using a craft knife or a pair of scissors, gently score down all the dashed lines (as below).

Fold up the sides of the house

Glue the shutters slightly overlapping the sides of the square windows and fix the door under the circular window. It you want to paint or decorate the house, do it now before you start securing it
Thread the needle and tie a knot at the end of the wool. Push through one of the bottom holes you made on the walls of the house, then go back in through the bottom hole on the neighbouring wall.

Continue going up the sides of the house in a criss-cross pattern. When you get to the top, cut the thread and tie another knot - but if you find this too fiddly, you can always secure with tape. Then do the same on all three remaining sides (you are essentially "stitching" the chalet up!)

Sew along the holes in the middle of the roof, leaving a loop of thread on the outside to give a gabled feel.

Do the same on the edges of the roof, but make the gable effect fall down on the inside of the roof.

Fold up the roof support into a triangular prism, cover the little tab with glue and tape up.

Bend the roof piece along the dashed line and glue or tape the roof support in the arch to strengthen the house and allow it to keep its shape.

Pull a piece of ribbon into the inside of the roof through one of the holes on the top, and pull it through the inside of the house and out through one of the holes in the base.

Go back into the house through the other base hole and finally come up through the other hole in the roof. It can be tricky to get the ribbon through the small holes, so you can always tie some thinner thread to the ribbon and use this to draw it through.

Push the roof onto the house and, leaving enough ribbon to pull the roof up and get little hands in, tie a bow with the two ends of the thread.

Finally, fill the chalet with treats and hang proudly on your tree!

Pattern to download for the Chalet decoration

Please click on each image for an enlarged printable pattern - you'll need to print both pages

Christmas crafts coming up this week

The season's craftiness continues!

Check out my guide to making your own table centrepiece over on the Guardian by clicking here - and here's a sneak preview of the end result - not bad, for a first-time floral attempt even if I do say so myself...

I managed to get to a Christmas market over the weekend - the German market and craft fair in Birmingham - where I snapped up some folksy painted Russian dolls at a snip of the price they are in stores, although there's a very cute "paint your own kit" for sale over at Cox & Cox which would make a lovely last-minute stocking filler.

And there's much more do-it-yourself craft coming this week, with a very special "make your own" Christmas decoration guide on Wednesday, courtesy of Clare at Pretty Green and a brilliant Christmas biscuit recipe coming up on Friday too. Have a lovely, if not cold, start to the week!

What's Cooking: carrot cake with the Little Cake Parlour

Being asked to bake your sister's wedding cake would put most home-bakers under a hell of a lot of pressure, but it didn't put Liz Cooper off: no, it only spurred her on further to set up her own baking shop, the very cute Little Cake Parlour.

After presenting her sister with vintage-decorated buttercream cupcakes on her wedding day, ex-Ideal Home interior stylist Liz simply got hooked on baking, growing more and more ambitious and addicted as she went on - so much so that when fate dealt her what some would consider an unfortunate hand (she lost her job), she turned it into something very lucky and very magical indeed, setting up The Little Cake parlour as her very own business. Since then, there's been no looking back - except, she says, for the one downside: "growing slightly more rounded around the waistline from all the sampling I have to do!" (although we're sure you look fab!)

If you haven't checked out the website, do so - her stylist eye is evident just by looking at the pics (she does mini-cakes shaped like popcorn tubs!) - and in the meantime, why not try these really cute carrot cupcakes? Thanks Liz for the recipe - I know I'll be trying these soon! Her top tip is to "NEVER" use a food processor to combine the cake ingredients - stick to an electric mixer instead.

Carrot cake cupcakes
1 muffin tim
9 large folded muffin cases (Liz buys these ones) or 12 standard cupcake cases
300g self raising flour
2 tsp cinnamon
200g soft brown sugar (Liz uses a 50/50 mix of light and dark brown sugar)
4 medium eggs
250ml sunflower or vegetable oil
Zest of 1 orange
Zest of 1 lemon
200g finely grated carrots

Optional
150g chopped walnuts
227g tin of pineapple, well drained and chopped

Heat the oven to 180C and prepare your muffin tin with your folded muffin cases. Weigh out all your ingredients and beat the eggs with the oil and citrus zest. Stir in the carrots gently and then carefully add the flour, cinammon and sugar. Finally add the pineapple and walnuts (if using).

Equally divide the mixture between the cases - it will make 9 deep filled muffins (or 12 if you are using the standard cases) and bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until the skewer comes out clean. Serve warm - preferably with a hot mug of steaming coffee; coffee and carrot cake: mmm!

How to: make your own monogrammed Christmas stocking

I'm really pleased to be sharing this lovely festive "how to", courtesy of my friend Emma, who like me is a little bit homes-craft-mad. I met Emma over a work meeting, but we quickly realised we had far more interesting things to talk about when she showed me her homemade felt iPod case - and since then, we've shared nuggets of craftiness (well, I have to say she has more than me!) finding lovely books and fairs to go to and so on. Emma told me she was making these, and since I have a bit of a thing for anything monogrammed with an initial, I just had to get her to share her "Christmas stocking" how to. Thank you so much, Emma!

1. Take a large piece of felt and fold it double (it doesn't necessarily have to be red - think how cool black felt would look, or deep greens and navies, or grey with a red trim too)

2. Using tailor's chalk, sketch out the outline of a large novelty stocking

3. Pin the two layers of folded felt together and using fabric scissors, cut around the outline

4. Put the back piece of felt to one side

5. Then, find a font you like, type out an initial (to a fairly large size, or a size that's in proportion to your stocking), print out the initial and then cut it out and use it as a template to cut out around the initial on the felt (pin to the initial and use a craft knife to cut around it). Or, freestyle the initial straight onto the stocking with tailor's chalk, and cut it out with the craft knife.

6. Select a different coloured felt to back the front of the stocking where the initial has been cut out (Emma used white).

7. Select some co-ordinated fabric (nice off cuts you might have lying around) and cut out to fit the shape of the heel and toe.

8. Then, using runner stitch, sew the fabric on top of the felt in the heel-toe position

9. After this, you can always add more embellishment on the front, like sequins or buttons

10. Retrieve the back piece of felt, already cut to the stocking shape (from step 1) and pin both pieces of the stocking together again.

11. Using blanket stitch, work your way around the perimeter (except for the mouth of the stocking that is!) and you can always stitch on a loop of ribbon so you can hang your stocking on a doorknob or off a mantlepiece.

12. For a little extra festive fun, you can add little bells (Paperchase sells a box of bells for £3.95) for a few jingles!

And there you have it, a lovely clear guide by Emma Neate on how to make your own Christmas stocking. If you, like Emma, are a crafter by nature then please do sign up to the Craft Council's Make Craft Count campaign, to support UK craft - sign up here.

New year already? Plus coming up this week...

Morning all - another Monday, another start to the week - and only a few more weeks to go until Christmas and New Year. Except my New Year has come early, as I've been busy compiling a selection of all things 2010 for the Guardian (2010 calendars and diaries). Normally, I'm really careful to only ever use UK based designers or retailers, to cater for our UK audience, but this year I simply couldn't feature one of my favourite pieces, made in the States by Ilee Paper Goods

Isn't it just lovely? And letterpressed too - and for $22 it's really not bad price considering it's so unique (that's roughly £13).

Meanwhile, a fortnight ago I wrote about making homemade gifts for the Observer (and blogged about my own version of homemade presents too) - and I've been seeing some great homemade present ideas ever since. There's a whole section on foodie presents to make and give as gifts in the December issue of delicious, including a marbled chocolate winter bark (whirls of dark and white chocolate and nuts) and bottles of chilli pesto. And tomorrow, Kirstie Allsopp returns with her Christmas version of "Kirstie's Homemade Home". I know she got a fair bit of fun poked at her for her first series, but I have to say I thought it was a really sweet show first time round, and I'm quite looking forward to seeing the crafty things she'll make this time - even if her performance last week on Question Time was ever so slightly uncomfortable (she did seem a bit out of her depth, bless her).

So this week, I'm following suit with a lovely Christmas-themed crafty guest post to make your own stocking filler gifts on Wednesday, and a scrumptious cake recipe courtesy of Liz at theLittle Cake Parlour come Friday - so do be sure to come back, as there will be lots to look forward to!

What's cooking: homely goodness in The Kitchen

Cookery school has come a long way since my school days, where we had to carry old fashioned baskets with our ingredients in for Home Ec (nostalgic or what!). Nowadays, cookery school is all fun, funky and fast - a chance to catch up with friends or go on blind dates (as we think the people next to us were, quite amusingly) - and really enjoy putting a meal together without having to do any washing up. Bliss!

Last Sunday, my friend Sarah and I headed down to one of the more picturesque parts of London, pretty little Parsons Green, to visit The Kitchen - a new concept in cooking: part-fancy cafe, part-laidback cook school, run by Michelin starred chef Thierry Laborde.

We picked the menu before hand (spicy Moroccan kebabs with couscous for her, traditional fish pie for me; chickpea and cumin falafel for both of us, juicy red onion salad and gorgeous apple and pear vanilla crumble for afters) - and after a leisurely hot chocolate, headed over to our work stations, where our recipes were laid out in front of us, ready to go.

I wish I had time to go through every recipe here (sadly I don't) and I wish I remembered to take photos of the food when plated up fresh from the oven in my place (I forgot) but it was a lot of fun. The downside is that time and space means you can't really claim to have made it all from scratch yourself - the fish had been poached for us before we arrived, for instance - but the rest of it really was hands on. I learnt to pipe potatoes instead of just spooning on, and was mighty proud of the falafel which turned out wonderful (mix fork-mashed up chickpeas with tahini paste, lots of finely diced red onion, cumin, coriander - then lightly flour, dip in egg and roll in breadcrumbs before shallow frying until warm) and no where near as dry and flaky as the shop bought stuff. End result? We were stuffed. A lovely way to spend a Sunday - I look forward to doing it again!

How to: sleep easily and luxuriously...

(Main picture, top: Gingerlily, silk bedspread from £220)

Ok, so it's almost midnight, I am very very tired, and yet again I am not yet asleep - so here I am writing my Wednesday post. Isn't it infuriating when all you want to do is sleep, but you just can't fall asleep? We've all seen the secrets to a good night's sleep time and time again - The Guardian even ran a little piece on it yesterday - and it's all stuff we know: have a routine (check), don't eat too late (check), never take work into your bedroom and keep it your "sanctuary" (check). And yet, I'm still awake.

So I figured it's time to take it up a notch: maybe what I really need are satin sheets and cosy throws to lull me to bed?! Maybe a little luxury factor will make it all the more enticing to curl up for the night? So, sleepily, I asked someone who surely knows what makes the perfect bed: Adam Black, the managing director of luxury all-things-bed-related-store, Feather & Black.

(above: Libby bed linen, Feather & Black)

"The average person spends roughly a third of their life sleeping," said Adam. "So you've got to find a bed that suits your sleeping patterns. But the bed you choose will also determine the style of your room - iron beds add a slightly feminine touch, while a head and tail board makes a huge statement, and upholstered bedsteads create a really luxurious look."

Mmmm, luxury - think mohair and cashmere throws, Egyptian cotton, pure silk sheets and cushions scattered everywhere. Here's my favourite choice of luxury bed-dressing in my favourite current colour scheme of soothing soft grey and yellow. Sweet dreams:

(Top, L-R) Grey and white blanket, Nina Campbell
Gold satin quilt, Toast
Shearling throw, Toast
(Centre) Orla Kiely petal bed linen, Heals
Deerfield paisley throw, The Biggest Blanket
Sunset orange and yellow silk cushions, Heals