Christmas 2013

This year's plans revolved the great big (not that big lah) Christmas Party M.C. was throwing. From putting up the decorations at M.C.'s place to helping in food/game preparations to executing the party games to cleaning up. It felt GREAT to be a part of each & every phase. Though, I have learned my lesson & will better plan out my 2014 Christmas cookies way in advance AND not try to achieve too many things in a single occasion.

First up, making the piñata for the party! It wasn't a one-day-project, because Jer did the template / bare skeleton and I did the "beautifying". But yes, I suppose you could finish the whole thing in one day. haha..

Goodies from the Value Store for filling the piñata

We went for sweet treats that had a little shine & lots of color because it's pretty (& adds to the festivities?) that way. Hehe~ KitKat's (which I would not recommend - you'll see why later on) included in the piñata surprise because M.C. was all about citrus / clementines for its festive feel.

Naked Stocking Piñata

We wound up making a Stocking Piñata because we didn't want to promote
1, deforestation (even though the piñata's made out of cardboard)
2, violence (Frosty was said to be a very friendly snowman)
3, ungratefulness (it's just not nice to be smashing up the present)

There were other ideas that were suitable.. a Candy Cane Piñata, a Star Piñata, and Santa's Hat Piñata.

dressing the stocking

Using strip after strips of crepe paper for the stocking's beautification. I didn't want the stocking to be boring old red & white, so I got green as well. And instead of using glue, I used double sided tape. It's faster that way. And even so, it still took me about 5 hours to finish it up.

The completed product of the double J's hardwork. \( ´ ▽ ` )/

The Stocking Piñata!

Next up, the Christmas baking frenzy. Tuppers full of naked / dressed cookies. Even the brownies are cut outs. I had planned out to achieve way too much.
1, Gingerbread Man, Woman, & Boy.
2, Wholemeal Sugar Cookies
3, Sugar Cookies
4, Stained Glass Cookies
5, Rudolph Cookies
6, Strawberry-Brownie Santa / Hats(?)
7, Chocolate Log Cake

Yeah, after listing all that out, it really was too big a hat. But! Everything worked out well when the time came. & with lots of Jer's help too, hehe~ ヽ(⌒_⌒ )ﾉ

Wholemeal Cookies (Round), Gingerbread Girls
Gingerbread Men & Boys, Round Brownie Cut Outs

The Gingerbread people was made by Jer, as with the past years, haha. He's no fan of cut out cookies, but he'll get to it for only a certain season. Chirstmas! o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o hehe~ Jer had to do some non-gingerbread cookies as well for this year. Because I simply did not have the time for everything I wanted to achieve, Jer helped me turn my wholemeal cookie dough into Rudolph circles / rounds. He had to make the brownie cut outs too for the little strawberry + whipped cream Santa hat on a little brownie.

And it doesn't end at here, cause the cookies need to be dressed!

Gingerbread People all dressed & packed for giving!
Christmas Tree sugar cookie with a melted dark chocolate tree trunk..

Icing and dressing the Gingerbread People and the usual Christmas Sugar Cookies had me burning lots of midnight oils. There was even a night where Kelly came over after supper & we had a blast till 2am +, icing Gingerbread girls for Soph & Mich. I iced a Gingerbread Minion too.
One thing I'll have to take note for next year's Christmas baking, chocolate takes a longer time to dry compared to royal icing. & the air bubbles, ahh.. when they surface, boy do they make the whole cookie look mighty gross. *sigh* (´д｀)

First attempt Stained Glass Cookies (Wholemeal)

Then there's the stained glass cookies. They add an extra hour on top of the usual time I take to make cut out cookies. It only takes that long for a mere handful of them because the boiled candies from Australia melted into a sticky mess. Next time, I'll be using Fox candies for the stained glass babies. (>.< )

After all the cookies, it's time for the centerpiece. The Yule Log!

Chocolate Swiss Rolls & Ganache

It was my first attempt at a chocolate swiss roll (swiss roll is the base for most log cakes). And it was a to be a chocolate on chocolate yule log! Because cocoa powder is very different from other flavorings like green tea powder or vanilla extract, I could foresee the failure of the first chocolate swiss roll. After baking so many failed swiss rolls in the past, I can tell if it's a pass or fail when I'm mixing up the final batter. The second attempt was another rubbery fail. But the 3rd attempt was a charm. I tweaked the recipe and it came out perfect! (sadly, I don't remember the recipe.. *sigh*)

Instead of chocolate buttercream, I used nutella plus a thin layer of ganache for the filling. The rest of the ganache was used to cover the rest of the log cake. ~(´∀`)~

Chocolate Yule Log

A log cake's never a log cake until it's dressed up with pretty cake ornaments & a generous sprinkling of snow! Somehow, I can never stop the (icing) snow from melting into the frosting. meh~ ヽ(ー_ー )ノ

All that, for the Christmas Party at M.C.'s place. Wait, there's more. There was Christmas Charades (the ones I made for the charity party but never got to use them), and M.C.'s 2-tier set thing was finally put to good use!

a third of the dessert table *grins*

Marshmallow "Cupcakes" in red, white, green. There's the fruit cake Jer taught M.C. to make. The log cake near the hot lights and a box full of delicious peanut butter cookies one of M.C.'s guests brought.

The Before & After of the Stocking Piñata.

Secret Santa (not very secret really..)

Now, what's a Christmas Party without a presents? After everyone's combined effort to "open" the Stocking and the Secret Santa, we concluded the party with the final event. Who ever's able to, help to clean up. Cause afterall, a party's only fun when everyone works as a team to have fun! ヾ(^▽^ )ノ



Merry Christmas Folks!