The Last Vestiges...

...of the selection of homemade goodies!

It was a bit of a "designer" collection, so to speak.

First, there's Nigella's "Sweet and Salty Chocolate Bars", very yummy choccy bars with peanuts and crushed Crunchie (honeycomb) bars. Then Martha 'Jailbird' Stewart's' "Neapolitan Coconut Strips", which was like coconut ice but made with melted chocolate. (My personal favourite!).

Back to Nigella for Baklava-absolutely fab, and something I've always fancied having a go at making. It's very easy, just a bit fiddly, but totally delish! This sad looking 'thing' is the last piece of gingerbread that was supposed to be made up into a house...but we started eating it neat!

Finally, the last slice of Kirstie's' "Cheats Christmas Cake". I was pleasantly surprised how good this was; you'd never guess it wasn't made months ago and left to mature. There's a couple of Jamie's' mince pies, using the left-over filo pastry from the baklava. Mind you, I've done mince pies like this years before I saw Jamie's' TV show. And, last of all, homemade brandy butter. I put ground almonds in mine and unfortunately was a bit too heavy-handed with them this time. Too almondy for my liking, but Mr Blossom was more than happy with it.

Thank goodness I don't bake like this all the time!! But it was great not to be ill over Christmas and to be able to be creative in the kitchen. And using my new butchers' block too! Thank you, Mr B!

Nearly the weekend, so enjoy it!

Z xx