Christmas Biscuits

I enjoy cooking.  I'm not brilliant at it but I can follow a recipe with confidence. I really enjoy baking for special occasions and using food to create an atmosphere of welcome and indulgence!  I want my guests to feel a little spoiled so because we are hosting family on Boxing Day I want them to leave with a little kitchen gift. Perhaps I should confess now that biscotti  is not the first sweet thing my hand would reach for.  However, a couple of years ago when I was looking for a kitchen gift I could make in advance I found a recipe for Fruity Christmas Biscotti on BBC Good Food's website which would keep for 1 month once made.  Perfect!  And even better, when I presented my biscotti I discovered that I am in a minority and most people love it!   Below is this years finished result made all pretty in jars with labels added.  I actually made these biscuits last weekend but it wasn't until this evening that I made the labels to finish them off ready for you to see! I used some beautiful stamps from Waltzing Mouse.  The set's called Rescue Remedies and the shape matches the Spellbinders Labels 4 dies.  I inked them up with Archival Brilliance Rocket Red just because that's what I had to hand. 

Making this recipe is lovely.  The scents as you mix it are all of Christmas time, mixed spice, dried fruits and fresh orange zest...yummmmm

 Here it is turned into a dough and rolled out ready to place in the oven.  The reds and greens come from the inclusion of dried cherries and pistachio nuts.

And this is part way through the cooking process.  You remove it from the oven while it's still pale, slice it into diagonal strips and re-bake twice.  It's a bit of a faff turning the fiddly little biscuits but worth it!

And once you've done all your hard work, you can relax with a cuppa or a glass of something by candlelight.  This is my festive table decoration: oranges and huge pine cones still on their branches gifted from a friend's garden and placed on a big slate tile acquired when I happened to be in the right place at the right time when my building was re-roofed!  (Scrub your tile, stick a bit of felt underneath and act casual about it.)