handmade Christmas

This year, apart from T and D, almost everyone else on my list got handmade presents. Most were made by my hands and some came from craft fairs (soap, candles) or specialty shops (tea, chocolate). Kata Golda's Felt book was a huge inspiration to me. A couple of people got a set of pot holders,

some got mug cozies and those who wear reading glasses got glasses cases.

T's teachers and others got boxes or bags of cookies, fudge, and peppermint bark. And yesterday I gave away 2 loaves of Dana's holiday bread. Once was apricot almond and the other was cranberry pistachio. They looked gorgeous and smelt delicious when baking, D swore I had picked them up at a bakery despite having seen me mixing and rolling the dough both nights and the whole house smelling of baking bread!

I made a mistake with the first loaf by not reading the instructions properly and skipped over the part about adding hot water. So after 90 minutes of rising time, the dough hadn't really budged. I parked it next to the heating vent and waited another 30 minutes. Then I reread the recipe and realized my error. So I punched down the dough (it wasn't very risen) and shaped it and put it into a warm oven and prayed. It rose enough for me to bake it and still look like bread. (I added cranberries as per the recipe but subbed pistachios for the walnuts). The following evening I made a second loaf, following the instructions this time and the dough rose. I subbed apricots for the cranberries and almonds for the walnuts. I hope they are as delicious tasting as they looked.

rolling out the bottom of the loaf

finished loaf