Caramel and Pecan Fudge

Every year around Christmas my dad makes fudge to bring in to work and sometimes I help him make it. It is kind of like a tradition in our family. My favourite fudge that he makes is Pecan Caramel fudge. Mmmm! Here's what you will need to make this delicious fudge:

• 600ml cream
• 125g butter
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 2tbsp golden syrup
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
  
  

Simmer the cream in a medium pot for 15-20 mins or until reduced by half.


Add the butter,

sugar,

and golden syrup. Simmer and stir until caramel is Golden and thick.

Like this! Add the pecans now.

Pour into a baking paper lined tin and refrigerate until set.

Once set, cut fudge into squares. We cut ours on the small side because they are quite rich and sweet.

One at a time place each square onto a piece of baking paper about 16x10cm in size.

Fold each long side over and twist ends to seal.

And there you have it! An easy treat to make for friends or family at Christmas!

Shortbread

I was looking for something to bake for Christmas and I thought I would go back to my Scottish background (my mum is Scottish) and bake some Scottish shortbread. The recipe is quite simple- there are only four ingredients. They are 250g butter, chopped; 1/3 cup caster sugar; 1/4 cup rice flour and 2 1/4 cups plain flour.

Beat the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until smooth.

Sift the flours together, add to the butter and sugar and stir.

Press the mixture together to form a firm dough.

Knead on a floured surface until smooth.

Cut rounds about 7cm in diameter or press some of the mixture into an 11cm shortbread mould. We have a shortbread mould but it is smaller than 11cm so I just stamped it onto the 7cm rounds. If ya get what I mean :)

Bake the 11cm shortbread about 30 mins at 150 degrees C and the smaller ones about 20-25mins. Stand the shortbread on the trays for 5 mins before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy! I will be doing more baking for Christmas and will post recipes and pictures. My dad also made some fudge this weekend and I took some pictures so I will put them up as well. I really want to make a gingerbread house but I don't know who would eat it! It would be fun to do though. I'm still not sure what else I will bake but I will keep looking for recipes.

Love,

Little Miss Cupcake.

Recipe adapted from Scottish Shortbread in the Australian Women's Weekly Christmas Book

Countdown to Christmas!

Yay! The countdown to Christmas is on! Only 16 days to go! This weekend we will be putting up our Christmas lights and next weekend we will get our Christmas tree. We have a wooden one (below) that my sister and I helped my dad make. It has hooks on it to hang decorations on.

Ainsley made this advent calender last year from material scraps. We filled it up with Magical Elves and other yummy chocolates!

This is our cute dog Lily wearing a Santa hat. She has grown so much since I last put pictures on here.

I made this wreath last year from twigs out of our garden. I wrapped the twigs around a thick piece of wire shaped into a circle and secured them with thinner pieces of wire. I also made the angel hanging inside the wreath. She has cloves for hair and a pair of wire wings.

That's all for now. I haven't been doing much baking lately but I will be doing some Christmas baking soon and will post pictures.

Lots of Love,

Little Miss Cupcake xx