Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

Yummy! These were delicious! Will definitely make them again. From Martha Stewart Christmas magazine.

7 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate

1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

1/2 cup dark-brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup unsulfured molasses

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup granulated sugar


Directions


1.Line two baking sheets with parchment. Chop chocolate into 1/4-inch chunks; set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cocoa.



2.In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and grated ginger until whitened, about 4 minutes. Add brown sugar; beat until combined. Add molasses; beat until combined.


3.In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in 1 1/2 teaspoons boiling water. Beat half of flour mixture into butter mixture. Beat in baking-soda mixture, then remaining half of flour mixture. Mix in chocolate; turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Pat dough out to about 1 inch thick; seal with wrap; refrigerate until firm, 2 hours or more.


4.Heat oven to 325 degrees. Roll dough into 1 1/2- inch balls; place 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Refrigerate 20 minutes. Roll in granulated sugar. Bake until the surfaces crack slightly, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Christmas cards

I usually buy the holiday editions of the Martha Stewart magazines. In this years Christmas special I saw some Christmas cards that looked easy and not too cheesy.

Martha Stewart made it sound a lot easier than it is. The way it was explained in the magazine was simply lay a branch down on top of green construction paper and coat with spray paint. I tried this, the power of the spray paint blew the branches all over the place and I could hardly see the imprint of the branch at all. So my advice would be the follow the following instructions:

you will need:
green construction paper
blank cards & envelopes
spray paint
glue
glitter glue
branches
pins


-cut green (or any colour) construction paper down to the size you want
-lay them out on a surface you don't mind getting spray paint on
-using straight pins pin down the branches (I used 3 to 5 per branch)
-coat them with spray paint

-after they dry you can glue them on to blank cards, I used white, next time I think I might try grey

-you could just leave the cards that way, I choose to add glitter to them

Now I just have to write on them!

Felted Sweater Pillow

I remember felting wool in design school and I am not really sure what reminded me of this, but it seemed like I could turn this into a Christmas gift. I decided to try and make a pillow cover this way.





You will need:


1 wool sweat (100% wool)
Buttons
Pillow or pillow form (I just used an old pillow)
Needle & thread or sewing machine



First thing you want to do is wash the sweater, you want to put it in hot water in the washing machine, an not on the gentle cycle. Also throw it in the dryer. This should sufficiently felt the sweater.

Next I cut the sweater apart and squared out the pieces to make it into two equal squares of fabric. I chose to attach the two pieces together and make a centre back seam on the pillow, I did this to take advantage of the contrast binding on the hem of the pillow. If you want you could just make regular side seams instead.

I tried sewing the seams together on the machine but it was a bit thick, I ended up sewing some on the machine and some by hand. I then measured out where I wanted the buttons to go (I chose 3 different buttons, I thought it went with the folky feel of the intarsia pattern on the sweater) and the coordinating button holes. I tried to finish the button holes using a blanket stitch but you can’t really see the stitching. I may just leave them as raw cut button holes, it shouldn’t fray so this should be OK.

 I attached the button holes by hand, try and make a shank on the buttons since the fabric is so thick. You can do this by putting a tooth pick or a pin under the button while you are sewing, this will make sure the button is not so tight on the fabric. And then before tying off the button wrap the thread around the base of it a few times to tighten this up.

I think it looks pretty good. I would like to try a solid coloured cabled sweater next.

Turning Records into Bowls

Another gift idea I saw using records was Record Bowls, this was actually a lot easier then I thought. I was a bit scared that I might blow up the house but that didn’t happen.




You will need:


As many records as you want
2 oven safe bowls approximately 9” in diameter
1 cookie sheet
Rubber gloves
Oven mitts
1 medium size can of anything (just to use as weight)
Heat oven to 200 degrees


Turn one of the bowls upside down on the cookie sheet, centre the record over top of it, then place in the oven for about 5 minutes. When you see the record drooping sufficiently take it out of the oven. I found it better to take the oven mitts off and put on rubber gloves here. Some instructions said to use the oven mitts, or some showed people using their bare hands. Do what ever suits you but the record is hot.


You have to work quickly while the record is hot, if it cools to much you can put it back in the oven another minute or two. Next flip the record over and start playing with the shape with your hands. Once I was happy with the shape I placed it in the second bowl and put the can in the middle to weigh it down. Leave it like this for 5-10 minutes until it cools.

Making a Record Clock

I am trying to be creative and make as many of my gifts as I can this year. I have lots of plans, but we will see how many I will actually make! The first one I made this year was a record clock. I was looking up ideas online, spent a lot of time googling “home made gifts”, and this was one I saw that looked simple.



Record clock

You will need:


1 record
1 clock
glue gun
Picture hanger

Also using the glue gun I attached a picture hanger to the top back and the clock so that it is easy to fasten it to the wall. Pretty easy and looks good. You could add numbers to the clock if you wanted. I think this is a good gift for a guy or a student.

 

I picked up some old records and a thrift store and then I tried a few different discount stores to find a clock with hands that I liked and that was reasonably priced. I took the clock a part keeping only the hands and the motor. Using my glue gun I attached the motor to the back side of the record and then reattached the hands.