Today’s post is a little different, but I wanted to give you all an update (also, full disclaimer: this post is nowhere near as serious as I’m making it sound! I feel like I’m writing a horrible announcement (I suppose, because it feels that way to me!), but in reality, it’s just a break from sharing my festive ideas: not the end of the world by any means!).

I’m going to be taking a break from my daily Blogmas posts for a little while. I’m so disappointed about this because I had SO many fun & exciting posts lined up to release in the second half of Advent, but the winter colds have really hit me hard this year (I’m currently on my sixth one of the season…) and, with my already less-than-ideal health, it just isn’t feasible for me health/energy-wise right now.

Please know this decision was really hard to make (I just LOVE sharing the magic of the festive season with all of you!) and, while it makes me a little… uncomfortable… to leave this year’s Blogmas At Home incomplete, I have to look after myself (or, at least, I’m learning to!), especially when my body/general health is already on the more feeble side. It’s also important to me that I save some energy for my own festive plans with my family: that is, after all, what Christmas is all about (though the cookies and the pigs in blankets are right up there for me, too!).

With all that being said, I do hope you’ve enjoyed the first 13 days of Blogmas At Home 2025: I’m so proud of all of the posts I’ve shared and I hope they’ve bought you bit of festive joy this year (because, let’s face it, we could all do with a bit of extra festive joy this year). If/when (hopefully, when) I start feeling better, I’ll try to share some of the posts that I had planned to share, even if it’s not a daily occurrence. Either way, I’ll spend some time getting myself better, spending lots of festive time with my family and dreaming up fun ideas for 2026!

I hope you have a magical rest of Advent and an even more magical Christmas,

Gemma

xxx

Every December, I try to come up with a new spin on a festive classic: the Yule Log. My first attempt was my Almond, Rosemary and White Chocolate Yule Log, which featured an almond sponge, filled with an amaretto cream filling, covered in a rosemary-infused white chocolate ganache and sprinkled with toasted almonds.

My second take was my Tirami-Yule Log, which was (you guessed it!) inspired by the flavours of a tiramisu. It was made up of a vanilla sponge, a coffee syrup (spiked with amaretto), mascarpone cream and grated dark chocolate.

This year, I took inspiration from our Christmas Day dessert from last year, which was the Spiced Clementine Cake from the Ginger Pig Christmas Cookbook. The cake is made with ground almonds and a small amount of cinnamon, allspice and cardamom are added to give it a little bit of festive flair. It’s topped with candied orange slices and served with crème fraîche.

Let me introduce you, then, to my Spiced Orange and Almond Yule Log!

Table of Contents

• Ingredients
• Making the Spiced Orange & Almond Sponge
• Making the Spiced Orange Syrup
• Making the Crème Fraîche Filling
• Assembling the Yule Log
• Decorating the Yule Log
• Recipe

Ingredients

To make this Spiced Orange and Almond Yule Log, you will need the following ingredients (it’s a bit of a long list, but stay with me!):

• Oranges

To make an orange cake, you need oranges! You’ll need orange zest for the cake and the crème fraîche filling, then you’ll need some freshly squeezed orange juice for the syrup. I recommend using unwaxed oranges for this recipe.

• Caster sugar

I’ve used golden caster sugar throughout this recipe, but you can use white sugar instead, if you prefer.

• Eggs

I always use large eggs for baking.

• Plain flour

Don’t be tempted to use self-raising flour here, or the cake will rise too much!

• Baking powder

A small amount of baking powder is added to the sponge to help it rise the perfect amount, so that it is light and fluffy, but still rollable.

• Ground cardamom

If you can find ready-ground cardamom, I recommend using that (just for ease). If you can’t find it (and it can be hard to source sometimes), you can use the whole pods: just grind the seeds in a mortar and pestle/spice grinder until you have a fine powder.

• Ground cinnamon

A classic festive spice, ground cinnamon is readily available in supermarkets.

• Ground allspice

The final of the three spices added to the cake batter, allspice adds a lovely, festive warmth.

• Ground almonds

Ground almonds add a sweet, nutty flavour to the cake, while also helping to make the sponge super flexible, so it’s easier to roll without getting cracks!

• Fine sea salt

As with most baked goods, a small amount of salt is added to the cake batter to enhance all of the other flavours.

• Almond extract

Just to amp up the almond flavour even more!

• Vanilla extract

You won’t taste the vanilla flavour (only a very small amount is added), but it helps to counteract any potential eggy-ness that can come with this type of foam-based cake.

• Cardamom pod

A whole cardamom pod is bashed and added to the orange syrup to infuse it with some extra festive spice. It’s best to use the whole spice here, rather than the ground stuff, because it keeps the syrup nice and clear.

• Cinnamon stick

Similarly to the cardamom pod, a small cinnamon stick is added to the orange syrup to add even more festive flavour, without affecting the appearance/texture of the syrup.

• Crème fraîche

Crème fraîche is a classic pairing with any orange and almond cake and it makes the perfect filling for this Yule Log: light and fresh, but still rich and delicious.

Making the Spiced Orange & Almond Sponge

The process for making this sponge is super similar to making the almond sponge from my Almond, Rosemary and White Chocolate Yule Log (just with some added orange and spice!).

The first step is to grease and line the tin. You’ll need a 23 x 33cm Swiss roll tin for this recipe. Use a small amount of sunflower (or other flavourless) oil to grease the tin, then line it with baking paper. Set this aside, then preheat the oven to 180°C (conventional oven, not fan-forced).

Now, it’s time to make the sponge batter. Place the sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer, then zest the orange directly over the top, so that all of the essential oils fall down into the bowl and you get more flavour from the fruit.

Use your fingers or the back of a spoon to rub the zest into the sugar. This helps to make sure it is evenly distributed and releases even more of the essential oils, so you’ll get even more flavour!

Add the eggs to the orange-ified sugar, then, using the whisk attachment, whisk on high speed until the mixture has become pale, fluffy and tripled in volume.

You want it to be at the ‘ribbon stage’, where you can lift the whisk and draw a figure of eight with the ribbon that falls off it.

While the egg mixture is whisking, prepare the dry ingredients. Sift the flour, baking powder, spices and salt together into a separate bowl.

Then whisk in the ground almonds. Set the dry ingredients aside for now.

Once the egg mixture is ready, add both extracts (almond and vanilla) and whisk briefly to incorporate them.

Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and sprinkle over the dry ingredients. Scattering the ingredients over the top, rather than dumping them all in in one spot, helps to distribute the weight a little more, so you are less likely to deflate all of the air you’ve just whipped into the eggs!

Using a balloon whisk or a large metal spoon, fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture until no streaks of flour remain. I like to use a whisk for this, because I think it works better, but you can use either utensil. The aim is to retain as much air as possible at this stage.

Pour the sponge batter into the prepared tin and use an offset spatula to spread it out gently into an even layer.

Bake the cake in the middle of the preheated oven for 15-17 minutes, until it is risen, golden and just about firm to the touch.

While the cake is baking, spread a piece of baking paper onto a clean work surface. Make sure the baking paper is slightly larger than the size of your cake tin. Sprinkle 2 tbsp of caster sugar all over the baking paper (this will help prevent your sponge from sticking to the paper when you roll it up).

Once the cake has come out of the oven, leave it to cool in the tin for 1 minute, then flip it out onto the prepared, sugared baking paper.

Peel the baking paper layer off the bottom of the cake and discard it, then tightly roll up the sponge, along with the baking paper underneath, starting from one of the shorter ends. Doing this while the sponge is still warm means you’re less likely to get any cracks when you roll it back up later!

Set the cake roll aside to cool completely before filling it.

Making the Spiced Orange Syrup

To add even more flavour to the cake, we’ll be soaking it in a homemade, orange syrup.

To make the syrup, place the orange juice, caster sugar, one cardamom pod (give it a little bash with a rolling pin/the flat edge of a knife first, to help it release its flavour!) and one small cinnamon stick into a small saucepan.

Place the pan over a medium-low heat and swirl it gently every now and then, until the sugar dissolves. Leave the syrup over the heat to bubble away gently, until it has reduced by about 1/3 (about 3-5 minutes).

Remove the pan from the heat and strain the syrup through a heatproof sieve to remove the cardamom pod/cinnamon stick. Set the syrup aside while you make the filling.

Making the Crème Fraîche Filling

This filling is SO easy to make! All you need to do is place the crème fraîche into a bowl, along with the orange zest. Just like with the sponge, I like to zest the orange directly over the bowl so that all of the essential oils fall in and give the filling extra flavour.

Then, just stir everything together. That’s it!

Assembling the Yule Log

Once you have your rolled and cooled sponge, orange syrup and zesty crème fraîche ready to go, it’s time to assemble the Yule Log.

Carefully unroll your sponge cake, using the baking paper to help you if needed.

Use a pastry brush to brush the orange syrup all over the surface of the cake.

Then spread the crème fraîche filling right over the surface of the cake, directly on top of the syrup.

Now, it’s time to roll! The cake should want to roll back up, because it cooled in that position, so just go slowly and roll it back up around the filling, making sure the roll is quite tight, as this will give you the most defined swirl.

Once your cake is all rolled back up, breathe a sigh of relief! You’ve done the hard bit! Don’t worry too much if you get any cracks: it won’t affect the flavour in any way (and icing sugar can hide a multitude of sins!).

If you want to, use a dry pastry brush to gently brush off some of the excess caster sugar from the top and sides of the cake (though I don’t particularly mind the extra crunch!).

Transfer your cake to a serving plate, then it’s time to decorate it!

Decorating the Yule Log

I’ve kept the decoration really simple for this Yule Log: just a generous dusting of icing sugar all over and some homemade Candied Orange Peels placed on top, right down the centre.

I’ve just placed the orange peels on top, but do be aware that they are likely to fall off if you need to transport the cake anywhere! If you want to make the decoration more secure, you might want to make some extra crème fraîche filling and pipe it down the centre of the cake, then you can stick the orange peels to the icing so that they don’t move around.

However, you can decorate this cake in any way you would like! If you really want to impress, you might want to cut a small slice off each end of the cake, to reveal the beautiful swirl inside.

Alternatively, you could make extra crème fraîche filling and use it to ice the outside of the log as well as the inside to give the log a snowy effect.

Once decorated, serve your Yule Log immediately, or store it in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Recipe

Print

Spiced Orange and Almond Yule Log

A spiced orange and almond sponge, soaked with a spiced orange syrup, swirled with a zesty crème fraîche filling and topped with a dusting of icing sugar and some homemade candied orange peels.

Course Dessert, Snack

Keyword almond, Orange, Spiced, yule log

Prep Time 1 hour hour 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Equipment

• 23 x 33cm Swiss roll tin

Ingredients

For the spiced orange and almond sponge:

• Sunflower oil, for greasing (or other, flavourless oil).
• 80 g caster sugar, plus 2 tbsp for sprinkling.
• 1 orange, zest only.
• 4 eggs
• 50 g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1 pinch fine sea salt
• 50 g ground almonds
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1 splash vanilla extract

For the spiced orange syrup:

• 1 orange, juice only.
• 1/2 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 cardamom pod, bashed.
• 1 small cinnamon stick.

For the crème fraîche filling:

• 300 ml crème fraîche
• 1 orange, zest only.

To decorate:

• Icing sugar, for dusting.
• Candied orange peels, (see Note 1).

Instructions

Make the spiced orange and almond sponge:

• Grease the Swiss roll tin lightly with oil and line with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180°C (conventional, not fan).
• Place the 80g of sugar and the orange zest into the bowl of a stand mixer. Rub the zest into the sugar using your fingers/the back of a spoon until evenly distributed.
• Add the eggs and whisk on high speed until pale, fluffy and tripled in volume (the 'ribbon stage').
• While the eggs are whisking, sift the flour, baking powder, spices and salt together into a separate bowl, then whisk in the ground almonds. Set aside.
• Once the egg mixture has tripled in volume, add the almond and vanilla extract and whisk again briefly to incorporate.
• Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the egg mixture, then use a balloon whisk or large metal spoon to fold them in, until no streaks of flour remain.
• Pour the sponge batter into the prepared tin and use an offset spatula to spread it out into an even layer. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-17 minutes, until risen, golden and just firm to the touch.
• While the cake is baking, cut a rectangle of baking paper slightly larger than the Swiss roll tin. Spread it out on a clean work surface, then sprinkle over the remaining 2 tbsp caster sugar.
• Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 1 minute, then flip it out onto the sugared baking paper. Peel the baking paper off the bottom of the cake, then carefully and tightly roll the warm cake up into a log. Leave the rolled cake at room temperature to cool completely.

Make the spiced orange syrup:

• Once the cake has cooled, make the orange syrup. Place all of the ingredients into a small saucepan and set over medium-low heat. Swirl gently as the sugar dissolves, then allow to bubble away until the syrup has reduced by about 1/3.
• Remove the syrup from the heat, then strain it through a heatproof sieve to remove the spices. Set aside while you make the filling.

Make the crème fraîche filling:

• Place the crème fraîche into a bowl, then add the orange zest. Stir until combined.

Assemble the Yule Log:

• Carefully unroll the cooled sponge. Use a pastry brush to brush the syrup all over the surface of the cake.
• Spread the crème fraîche filling over the cake, right on top of the syrup, then carefully roll the cake back up into the log shape. The tighter you are able to roll it, the more defined your swirl will be.
• Transfer the whole roll to a serving platter, then dust with icing sugar. Arrange the candied orange peels on top, right down the centre, then serve.
• The Yule Log is best eaten immediately, but can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Notes

1. You can find my recipe for Candied Orange Peels here.

When I was little, one of my most prized possessions was my Pick & Mix Sweet Shop. It had lollipop holders, trays for assorted sweets and even a little weighing scale in the centre: I loved it. Unfortunately, I never actually had enough sweets at any one time to fill my sweet shop, so it sat in my room, beloved, but rather depressingly low in stock.

Every Christmas, I make quite a few festive sweets and treats for my whole family to enjoy. It occurred to me recently, while preparing for the festive season, that I am a grown adult with free will, so I decided to pay tribute to my Pick & Mix Sweet Shop and make my own homemade, festive, sweet shop this year, filled with all of my family’s favourite treats (unfortunately, I cannot charge my family members for the sweets… it is Christmas after all… so take the term ‘shop’ with a pinch of salt!).

In today’s post, I’ll talk you through all of the equipment I used to set up this sweet shop and go through the 6 sweets that I made one-by-one, in case you too have an inner child with a sweet shop fixation that needs to be HEARD.

Let’s get into it, shall we?

Table of Contents

• What You Need
• The Sweets
  • Rocky Road Bark
  • Peppermint Bark
  • Cherry & Almond Chocolate Puddles
  • Toffee Popcorn
  • Pistachio Nougat
  • Christmas Market-Style Nuts
• Setting Up the Sweet Shop
• Final Thoughts

What You Need

There are only two things that are absolutely essential for making your own sweet shop: sweets (obviously!) and containers to keep the sweets in. However, if you want to go the extra mile, you can also use some fun, festive decorations and make a whole display out of it!

Most of the things I bought for this sweet shop were from Sostrene Grene, one of my favourite places to shop during the festive season. I’ve linked everything down below, but their stock does change up pretty frequently, so the specific items may not be available anymore. Hopefully, though, the links will give you an idea of what each product looks like, so you can find similar versions!

For my sweet shop, I used the following things:

• Sweets

I used homemade sweets for my shop, but you could also absolutely buy your favourite treats and decant them into pretty jars to make it easier (but just as fun and special!).

• Jars

You’ll need one jar/container per sweet. I tried to source a variety of different shapes and sizes: I already had the two square jars and I bought the others from Sostrene Grene (links below).

Large jar with wooden lid.

Small jar with wooden lid.

Large round jar.

Small round jar.

• Tongs

This was a.. slightly frivolous purchase and by no means necessary, but, when I was buying the jars from Sostrene Grene, I saw these gold tongs and I thought they’d be so cute (and useful!) for getting the treats out of the jars. They actually work really well for the job, so I think it paid off!

• Faux pine garland

This is a festive sweet shop after all, so I nestled the jars in amongst this faux pine garland.

• Christmas lights

You guessed it, these gold star fairy lights are also from Sostrene Grene! They’re wired, so I was able to coax them into the shape I wanted, weaving them around the jars with the garland.

• Knitted sweets

If you’ve been following along with Blogmas At Home this year, you might have seen that I made these knitted sweets earlier on this month and I thought they’d make perfect decorations for this sweet shop! I just dotted them around the place, nestling them within the pine garland.

• Gingerbread Christmas tree

I haven’t shared my gingerbread undertaking for this year yet (don’t worry, it’s coming soon!), so I guess this is a bit of a sneak peak, but I feel like this sprinkle-coated, gingerbread tree fits the whole fun, sweet shop-vibe perfectly, so of course it had to feature!

The Sweets

I made 6 different treats for my sweet shop: Rocky Road Bark, Peppermint Bark, Cherry & Almond Chocolate Puddles, Toffee Popcorn, Pistachio Nougat and Christmas Market-Style Nuts. Because all of these sweets have pretty long shelf lives, I was able to spread the candy-making process out over a week, so I didn’t get too tired out (or overwhelmed by sugar!).

All of the recipes for these treats are available here on the blog. I’ll link to each one below, so you can make them yourself, if you fancy!

Rocky Road Bark

This Rocky Road Bark was a new entry to our festive treat list last Christmas and is a favourite of my sister-in-law!

It’s made with a 50/50 blend of milk and dark chocolate, mixed with crumbled digestive biscuits and topped with a scattering of mini marshmallows and raisins.

Find my recipe for Rocky Road Bark here.

Peppermint Bark

Peppermint Bark is the OG Christmas sweet in our household: my mum received a homemade version as a gift from her friend many Christmases ago and we loved it so much that I had to recreate it immediately! We’ve been making it ever since. In fact, it’s actually the first recipe I ever shared here on the blog!

The bark is made up of a thin layer of milk chocolate topped with a thin layer of white chocolate, which is then sprinkled with crushed up candy canes.

Find my recipe for Peppermint Bark here.

Cherry & Almond Chocolate Puddles

A new addition to the festive spread this year: these Cherry & Almond Chocolate Puddles are the final, chocolate-y offering in my sweet shop and a special request from my brother.

The puddles come in two varieties: dark chocolate puddles, topped with a whole almond and whole dried cherry, and milk chocolate puddles, topped with flaked almonds and chopped dried cherries.

Find my recipe for Cherry & Almond Chocolate Puddles here.

Toffee Popcorn

Toffee Popcorn isn’t an inherently festive treat, but it’s so addictive that I like to reserve it for special occasions (like Christmas)! My dad is a huge toffee popcorn fan, so this one’s for him.

This year, I decided to pull out all of the stops and make my toffee popcorn with a special variety of popcorn kernel known as ‘mushroom popcorn’ (I bought the Joe & Seph’s kernels). Contrary to what the name might imply, this popcorn does not taste at all of mushrooms (thank goodness, because I’m not a fan!), it’s the shape of the popped corn that gives it its name, because the kernels pop up into big, fluffy balls (kind of like the cap of a mushroom)! It’s the type of popcorn typically used by cinemas, so it has a really nostalgic, special vibe that I thought would really add to the festive magic this year!

Find my recipe for Toffee Popcorn here.

Pistachio Nougat

Making nougat is a slightly more involved process than the other sweet treats on this list so, just like the toffee popcorn, I only make it for really special occasions. This Pistachio Nougat is a particular favourite of my mum’s!

Made with egg whites, honey and roasted pistachios, this nougat is a really fun and impressive treat to make this Christmas.

Find my recipe for Pistachio Nougat here.

Christmas Market-Style Nuts

It wouldn’t be December without my Christmas Market-Style Nuts: these are always my absolute favourite treat when I visit any Christmas Market, so learning how to make them at home was a game-changer.

This year, I’ve used a combination of pecans (my all-time favourite), hazelnuts and macadamia nuts. They’re coated in a salty, sugary, cinnamon mixture, then baked until deliciously crunchy.

Find my recipe for Christmas Market-Style Nuts here.

Setting Up the Sweet Shop

Once you have all of your sweets, jars and assorted decorations, you’re ready to set up your sweet shop! Obviously, you can do this however you want and make it as simple or as over-the-top as you want, but, if you’d prefer to relinquish the mental effort and just follow some instructions, here’s what I’d do…

Choose a space that’s both easily accessible (to humans, not to pets!) and out of the way of the typical Christmas hustle and bustle (you don’t want to be knocking over jars as you’re trying to roast a turkey!). A side table or countertop would work perfectly.

Fill each jar with a different sweet/treat. If you have too many sweets for your jars, you can always mix similar sweets together (I’ve done this here: I put the milk and dark chocolate puddles in the same jar!).

Set the jars out first. This allows you to get their positioning right without having to deal with all of the extra decorations. Place the larger jars at the back and the smaller jars towards the front, so that you can see them all from the front. If everything feels a little too on one level, consider placing some of the jars on upturned ramekins (or other assorted knick-knacks), to add a little more height and dimension!

Once you’re happy with the placement of the jars, it’s time to decorate! Here, I’ve used a pine garland, a string of wired fairy lights, some knitted sweets and a gingerbread Christmas tree, but you can obviously use anything you have/think would look good.

I’d recommend starting with the biggest (bushiest?) decoration first (here, that’s my pine garland), as this will give you a base to work with. I wrapped my garland around all of the jars, adjusting (and readjusting) it until I was happy with how it looked.

Next, I added the fairy lights. Adding some lighting helps to make the setup extra festive and cosy-looking. I’ve used these battery-operated gold star lights, which was great because it meant I didn’t have to worry about plugging anything in.

Finally, I added the smaller, individual decorations in amongst the garlands and jars. I placed the gingerbread tree to one side of the setup, then dotted the knitted sweets around the place, nestling them amongst the branches of the pine garland.

And then, you’re done! Turn the fairy lights on, grab some little bowls or paper bags and get the whole family to visit your festive sweet shop before settling down to watch a Christmas film.

Final Thoughts

I think this is such a special, over-the-top (in the best way), thing to do for your family/friends (and yourself!) this festive season. I’m all about making Christmas feel super magical and if putting my homemade treats into some fancy jars and spending a bit of time arranging them does that, then I’m all for it!

Having said that, this is obviously a very extra approach to the festive season and I am aware that not everybody has the time, energy or mental headspace to take on a project like this, particularly at this time of year! You can always take bits and pieces of this idea: make just one of my homemade sweet recipes, find a single, fancy jar in a charity shop and fill it with Quality Street or store-bought nuts, or even just bring some greenery in from the garden and weave a string of fairy lights through it to decorate your home. Christmas is always a bit stressful, but there’s no reason to make it more stressful: I go to such extremes because it brings me joy, not because it’s in any way necessary.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post: it’s a bit of a special one (it had to be, for the halfway point of Blogmas At Home 2025!), so I’m excited to see what you think. I really embraced my inner child (and my inherent lack of restraint) to make something that I think is really fun and I’m super proud of it!

Gemma

xxx

And welcome to the latest, festive instalment of my Baking Around the World series, where I (attempt to) bake delicious, sweet treats from around the globe, in an effort to broaden my foodie horizons!

This time, we’re heading back to Sweden! I’ve already made one bake from Sweden (jordgubbstårta, a light and airy cake filled with pastry cream and strawberries), but I love making festive cookies from around the world this time of year, so I decided to try out these schackrutor (‘chess squares’) too.

A quick Baking Around the World disclaimer before we get into the recipe:

While I have done/will do extensive research for each of the recipes in this series, the recipes are unlikely to be 100% authentic because of differences in ingredient availability, variations within families/regions and multiple other reasons. I'm so sorry if I absolutely butcher your favourite childhood treat (and please let me know in the comments if I have made any unforgiveable errors), but please do give me the benefit of the doubt here- I am just a baker with a serious sweet tooth, trying to broaden her baking (and cultural) horizons through tasty snacks :)

Table of Contents

• Schackrutor: Explained
• Ingredients
• Making the Dough
• Shaping the Dough
• Slicing and Baking the Cookies
• Storage Instructions
• Final Thoughts
• Recipe
• Sources Used

Schackrutor: Explained

Schackrutor are bitesize, shortbread-style biscuits that are made with two flavours of dough (vanilla and chocolate), which are pieced together to create a (typically) 2×2 checkerboard (hence the name, which means ‘chess squares’). Checkerboard cookies are popular all over the world, but it seems that schackrutor were where it all began!

These cookies aren’t restricted to being a ‘Christmas cookie’, but I think they make such a lovely festive treat, especially if you have any friends/family members who aren’t a fan of the more traditional Christmas flavours (think nuts, oranges and dried fruits!).

Schackrutor are often served in Sweden for fika (a social coffee break steeped in rich tradition), sometimes are part of the ‘sju sorters kakor’ (‘seven types of cookie’) custom. Apparently, seven is considered the ideal number for cookies at a gathering, because any less would be ‘stingy’ and any more would be ‘over the top’! To save time, one dough is often used to make multiple different types of biscuits, sometimes called ‘1-2-3 Cookies’, (because of the proportions of the ingredients in the dough: 1 : 2 : 3 of sugar : butter : flour!) and this is the dough we’ll be making today.

Ingredients

You only need 5 ingredients to make schackrutor. The basic dough itself only requires 3 ingredients, while the 2 remaining ingredients provide the chocolate and vanilla flavour.

• Caster sugar

I used golden caster sugar, but white caster sugar will also work.

• Salted butter

I discovered in my research for the jordgubbstårta that the majority of the butter available in Swedish supermarket tends to be salted, so I’ve used salted butter here in an attempt to be more authentic! It’s great, because then you don’t have to worry about adding any salt yourself! If you only have unsalted butter, I’d recommend adding a generous pinch of fine sea salt to your flour at the beginning of the recipe. Your butter needs to be at room temperature (or slightly softened, if your house is chilly!).

• Plain flour

It’s important to use plain flour (not self-raising) for this recipe, because you don’t want the biscuits to rise— you want them to be short and crumbly!

• Vanilla bean paste

In Sweden, vanilla flavour is usually imparted via the addition of a store-bought product called vaniljsocker (‘vanilla sugar’). This ingredient is not readily available here in the UK, so I’ve used vanilla bean paste instead. I like using the paste because it imparts a lovely vanilla flavour without adding too much liquid to the dough (and you can see all the tiny vanilla bean specks in the cookies!).

• Cocoa powder

A small amount of cocoa powder is added to half of the dough to give it a chocolate-y flavour and a deep brown colour, which contrasts nicely with the vanilla dough and helps the checkerboard design to really stand out.

Making the Dough

Schackrutor dough is really easy to make: I do it in the food processor (because the cookies are so tiny, you only need a small amount of dough, so I do it in my mini food processor. You could easily scale the recipe up and make loads of biscuits, though!).

Place the caster sugar, softened butter, plain flour and vanilla bean paste into the food processor.

Pulse everything together until it comes together into a dough… and that’s the dough made!

Tip the dough out onto a clean work surface.

Then give it a little knead to bring it together into a smooth ball.

At this point, you need to weigh the dough, so that you can split it in half evenly. You can eyeball this, but you’ll get the neatest, most even cookies if you weight it! Weigh the whole ball of dough, then divide that number by 2 and split the dough into two equal balls, each weighing that final amount.

Now you need to add the cocoa powder to one of the dough balls. I like to knead it in by hand, until no streaks of vanilla dough remain, so that I can make sure it’s really well incorporated! It’s a little messy, but all the best things are.

Once you have two balls of dough: one chocolate and one vanilla, you’re ready to shape the dough into the classic checkerboard design!

Shaping the Dough

Now it’s time to make the schackrutor log (though it’s really more of a cuboid, which is what gives these biscuits their classic, square shape when sliced!).

The log is made up of four smaller logs (also cuboids): two vanilla and two chocolate, which are pressed together to form the checkerboard design.

Take one of your dough halves (I’m working with the chocolate dough first here) and divide it in half again, so you have two equal balls of dough (it helps to weigh and divide the dough by 2 here, just like last time, to ensure they’re perfectly even!).

Take one of the dough balls and form it into a thin, rectangular log. The aim is for the cross section of the log to be a 1 x 1 cm square (mine ended up about 17cm long). I used my hands to press the dough into a rough log, then tapped all of the sides with a bench scraper, turning the log as I went, to get those square edges.

Repeat this process for the second dough ball, making a square log as similar to the first as you can! Things might be getting a little sticky at this point, but it’s important that you don’t add any extra flour/cocoa powder, because the logs need to be tacky enough to stick to each other later on. If things get unbearably sticky, I’d recommend just washing down your work surface and utensils before getting going again (almost like a stickiness reset!).

Once you have your two chocolate logs, repeat the whole process for the vanilla dough. I’d recommend wiping down your work surface before you do this, to make sure you don’t get any streaks of cocoa in your vanilla dough. Because of the added cocoa powder in the chocolate dough, you might find that the vanilla dough is slightly softer/stickier, but don’t worry— it’ll bake up perfectly!

Once you have all four of the logs ready to go, you can form the checkerboard design.

Place one vanilla log alongside one chocolate log and press them together, being careful not to distort the shapes too much.

Then, add the second vanilla log on top of the chocolate log and the second chocolate log on top of the bottom vanilla log, pressed against each other along the middle so that you have a 2×2 design, with the logs of each colour in opposite quadrants. Gently press all of the logs together so that there are no gaps between them.

Wrap the log tightly in clingfilm, then use the bench scraper again to press gently on each of the sides a few times to really square them off.

Transfer the log to the fridge and allow it to chill for at least 2 hours before slicing. This ensures that they are firm enough to slice without disturbing the checkerboard pattern (and means that the cookies won’t spread too much during baking!).

Slicing and Baking the Cookies

Once the cookie logs have chilled, it’s time to slice & bake them!

Start by preheating the oven to 180°C (conventional oven, not fan) and lining a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

Remove the schackrutor log from the fridge and use a small, sharp knife to cut it into slices, about 5-7mm thick (don’t worry too much about getting them perfect, just try your best so that they bake pretty evenly!).

Space the cookies out onto the prepared baking trays (they won’t spread too much, but it’s best to leave a little space between them, just in case!).

Then, it’s time to bake the schackrutor! They’ll need about 6-8 minutes in the preheated oven, just until the edges are starting to turn golden.

Once baked, leave them to cool for 5 or so minutes on their trays, then carefully transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Storage Instructions

The schackrutor need to be stored in an airtight container at room temperature. They’ll keep for about 3 days before they start going a bit soft (still tasty, just not quite as crisp!).

Final Thoughts

I LOVE these little checkerboard cookies! They dough itself is very similar to the one I use for my 5-Ingredient Iced Star Biscuits, but it really shows how versatile it is, because the two cookies have such different vibes.

Also… these cookies are SO much smaller than I expected them to be! As in, they really are bitesize. You could definitely make them bigger if you wanted to (by making taller/wider logs, or even stacking more logs together, which I’m very interested in having a go at), but I do kind of love how tiny they are, it makes them feel so cute and dainty.

These are a simple cookie, elevated to something surprisingly impressive by just a little cocoa powder and a bit of shaping, which I think is pretty magical! I also like that you can form the log, get everything ready, then slice and bake the cookies when you want to serve them, so your family/friends can enjoy some delicious, fresh biscuits.

Recipe

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Swedish Schackrutor

Bitesize vanilla and chocolate shortbread cookies with a checkerboard design.

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine Swedish

Keyword 5 ingredient, Biscuit, Chocolate, Vanilla

Prep Time 40 minutes minutes

Cook Time 8 minutes minutes

Chill Time 2 hours hours

Total Time 2 hours hours 35 minutes minutes

Servings 25 cookies

Equipment

• Baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.
• Bench scraper/clean metal ruler, for squaring off the biscuit dough.

Ingredients

• 25 g caster sugar
• 50 g salted butter, softened.
• 75 g plain flour
• 1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder

Instructions

• Place the sugar, butter, flour and vanilla bean paste into a food processor. Pulse until a dough forms.
• Weigh the dough and divide it in half evenly.
• Knead the cocoa powder into one half of the cookie dough until no streaks of vanilla dough remains.
• Divide the vanilla dough into two equal balls. Form each ball into a square log (use a bench scraper/clean metal ruler to really square off the edges), about 1 x 1 x 17cm. Set aside, then repeat with the chocolate dough, so that you have four logs. Do not add any extra flour/cocoa powder at this stage— you need the dough to be slightly sticky.
• Press one vanilla log against one chocolate log. Place the second vanilla log on top of the first chocolate log, then the second chocolate log in the remaining space, on top of the first vanilla log. Press the logs together gently so they stick.
• Wrap the log tightly in cling film and use a bench scraper to press up against the sides and make it super square. Place the log into the fridge to chill for 2 hours before slicing and baking.
• Preheat the oven to 180°C (conventional, not fan).
• Cut the log into approx. 5-7mm slices. Space the cookies on lined baking trays and bake in the preheated oven for 6-8 minutes, until just starting to turn golden around the edges.
• Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the trays, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before enjoying. The cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for about 3 days before they start going soft.

Sources Used

Books:

Crumbs: Cookies and Sweets from Around the World, Ben Mims.

ScandiKitchen: Fika and Hygge, Bronte Aurell.

Websites:

Daily In-A Kitchen: 3×3 Checkerboard Cookies

Totally Swedish: Brysselkex and Schackrutor

True North Kitchen: Swedish Checkerboard Cookies

Swedish Spoon: Schackrutor—Swedish checkerboard cookies

Visit Sweden: Chessboard Cookies (‘Schackrutor’) – Recipe

Last Christmas (I gave you my heart)(no, just kidding), Petite Knit released a free knitting pattern for a Christmas Caramel, a stuffed ornament that looks like a little wrapped candy. I fell in love but, alas, I had too many other projects on the go to make one last year, so I set the pattern aside for this year.

Serendipitously, while I was making my Christmas Caramels this year, DROPS released a pattern for a Holiday Confection as part of their Christmas Calendar, which I always love following along with this time of year. This pattern makes a very similar, though slightly smaller and rounder, stuffed candy ornament.

So, naturally, I made two candies following the instructions from each pattern to compare them (you know, for science).

In this post, as always with my 'Making a...' series, I'll be chatting about my experience following these patterns, as well as detailing any changes/adaptations I made. If you want to make your own Christmas Caramels, you can find the free pattern on Petite Knit's Ravelry page, here. If you want to make your own Holiday Confections, you can find the free pattern on the DROPS Design Ravelry page, here.

Table of Contents

• Materials
• Christmas Caramels vs Holiday Confections
  • Size
  • Shape
  • Initial Stitch Count
  • Shaping Method
  • Edges
  • Design
  • Design Symmetry
• The Pick ‘n’ Mix Sweet
• Final Thoughts

Materials

To make these knitted sweets, I used the following materials:

• 2.5mm circular needles.

Both patterns call for 3.0mm needles. This makes sense with the Christmas Caramels, because they use a worsted weight yarn, but is slightly surprising with the Holiday Confections, which use a fingering weight yarn (and a particularly fine one at that: DROPS Flora). I used a fingering weight yarn for my sweets (more on that below) and I think it’s always better to have a tighter gauge whenever you’re working on a project that will be stuffed, so I used a 2.5mm needle for all of my candies.

• Fingering-weight yarn (I used DROPS Fabel in the shades Off White 100, Blue 107 and Ruby Red 113, plus a scrap of a gold yarn with unknown origins).

Are you sick of seeing these colours yet? They’ve kind of become my unofficial Christmas 2025 colour palette and… I’m not mad about it!

• Stuffing.
• Darning needle.
• Scissors.

Christmas Caramels vs Holiday Confections

While these patterns are very similar to one another, they are not identical and they do produce quite different candies.

Here are the key differences between the two patterns:

Let’s go through these one by one!

Size

The Christmas Caramels are significantly larger than the Holiday Confections. This is achieved simply by knitting more rows (as the starting stitch counts of each pattern are the same).

Shape

The Christmas Caramels have a longer, more oblong-esque shape, while the Holiday Confections have a rounder shape. Again, this is caused by the number of rows: working fewer rows produces a rounder shape, while working more rows produces a longer, more rectangular shape.

Initial Stitch Count

Both patterns start and end with the same stitch count: 24 sts.

Shaping Method

The shaping method used is one of the most significant differences between the two patterns: I think the Christmas Caramel version is easier to work (and work with, when stuffing/ finishing), but the Holiday Confection version gives a slightly more defined shape.

Edges

The first and last row of the Christmas Caramel is worked plain, while the first and last row of the Holiday Confection is worked in 1×1 rib. I was surprised by the addition of the rib row at first, but it a) stops the ends of the sweet from curling and b) somehow makes the ends look even more gathered and realistic, so I’m team 1×1 rib all the way!

Design

The Holiday Confection pattern has a greater variety of design variations than the Christmas Caramel but, admittedly, 4 out of the 6 of the designs are just slight variations on a horizontal stripe. I made all my sweets using the 2-row stripe pattern, for continuity.

Design Symmetry

The main problem I encountered with both of these patterns was the (potentially unintentional?) asymmetry of the stripe pattern!

As written, the main colour sections at the start and end of the body piece are different sizes (a natural consequence of the way the shaping is worked in both patterns), which drives me slightly crazy. In the photos above, the red sweets are worked according to the pattern and have this problem (the far left end of the Christmas Caramel (left) and the far right end of the Holiday Confection (right)).

On my second attempt at each pattern, I made a a slight adjustment to rectify this:

For both patterns, on the striped, body section, always START with two rows of the contrast colour and END with two rows of the main colour.

To achieve this, I made both of my second attempt sweets 2 rows shorter than the pattern suggests (these are the blue sweets in the above photos!). I’m much happier with them this way!

The Pick ‘n’ Mix Sweet

After making 4 sweets of various pattern origins, colours and alterations, I decided to combine my favourite features of each pattern and make my ultimate, knitted ‘pick ‘n’ mix’ sweet. Here’s what I did:

• Used 2.5mm needles (magic loop method) and fingering weight yarn (omit extra glitter yarn).
• Followed DROPS pattern for BONBON-2 from cast on to Round 4, leaving long tail for later.
• Worked 3 closure rounds as per Petite Knit pattern.
• Worked 12 plain rounds of 2-round stripes, starting with contrast colour and ending with main colour.
• Worked 3 closure rounds as per Petite Knit pattern.
• Followed DROPS pattern for BONBON-2 from Round 27 to cast off, leaving long tail for later.
• Tied off contrast yarn ends inside the sweet.
• Used tail ends of cast on/off to tie off each end of the sweet. I wove in the end until I reached the closure rounds, then wove the end in and out of the holes created by the yarn overs. I pulled the yarn tight to gather the fabric in, then wrapped the yarn around the outside 3 times to cinch it in even more. I then secured the end by threading it up underneath the yarn wraps and darning it in on the inside of the work.

Final Thoughts

And that was my (super scientific) process of knitting up some little sweet decorations! I’m so happy with my finished ‘pick ‘n’ mix’ pattern— I’ve obviously opted to go for the slightly rounder shape, but I could definitely knit more rows for the body to make it more of an oblong shape if I ever needed to.

I think these little candies look so cute just dotted around the place, but you could also attach a loop of yarn or thread and they’d make adorable little Christmas tree ornaments too! I feel like there are a lot of creative possibilities for these… maybe I need to cut myself off from making them now, lest I end up surrounded by sweets that I cannot even eat…?

If you're interested...

You can find the free Christmas Caramel pattern on Ravelry here.

You can find the free Holiday Confection pattern on Ravelry here.

You can find my Christmas Sweets project page on Ravelry here.

Gemma

xxx

Every Christmas, I make a whole load of my family’s favourite Peppermint Bark. We were sent some homemade peppermint bark as a gift many years ago and, ever since, it just hasn’t been the festive season without a full jar of the stuff!

However, my sister-in-law, Amy, is not a huge fan of peppermint, so, obviously, that particular bark isn’t exactly her treat of choice. Last year, we sat down and brainstormed some ideas for a zero-peppermint alternative and we landed on this: a Rocky Road-inspired bark, with a 50/50 blend of milk and dark chocolate with raisins, marshmallows and digestive biscuits.

In today’s post, I’m sharing the recipe for Amy’s Bark: a fun, festive alternative to peppermint bark (for the candy cane-haters and the rocky road-lovers alike!).

Table of Contents

• Ingredients
• Method
  • Tempering the Chocolate
  • Assembling the Bark
• Recipe

Ingredients

To make Amy’s Bark, you will need:

• Dark chocolate

I like to use a 50/50 blend of dark and milk chocolate for this recipe. The dark chocolate that I use contains about 72% cocoa solids (so relatively dark). When combined with the milk chocolate, you get a perfectly sweet (but not-too-sweet!), chocolate base. However, if you prefer, you can use all dark or all milk: it’s up to you!

• Milk chocolate

The milk chocolate that I use for this recipe contains about 32% cocoa solids.

• Digestive biscuits

Biscuits add great crunch and texture to the bark. Digestives are a classic biscuit here in the UK and a key feature of our Rocky Road. They’re great, because they add a slight saltiness, which balances out the sweetness of the other ingredients, but feel free to experiment with different biscuits!

• Raisins

Dried fruit adds sweetness, tartness and a bit of a chew to bark. You can use raisins or sultanas for this recipe (I actually prefer sultanas myself, because they’re seedless!), but you could also really branch out and use dried cranberries, cherries or even chopped, dried apricots!

• Mini marshmallows

Marshmallows add even more chew and sweetness. I prefer to use mini marshmallows so they can be easily distributed throughout the bark (and it’s a lot less sticky than cutting up bigger marshmallows!).

Method

Amy’s Bark is pretty simple to make: the only tricky part is tempering the chocolate! Once the chocolate is in temper, you need to work fast, so it’s best to get everything weighed out and ready before you start:

• Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
• Weigh out the marshmallows and raisins and have them to hand, ready to sprinkle over the bark.
• Break the digestive biscuits up into very small pieces (this helps to keep the bark relatively thin and ensures that the biscuits are evenly distributed throughout the chocolate).

Tempering the Chocolate

To make Amy’s Bark, you start by tempering the chocolate. This ensures the finished bark sets properly at room temperature and has a great snap.

This chocolate tempering process is complicated by the fact that we’re using a combination of two chocolate types: milk and dark, so it’s a little different to the chocolate tempering instructions given here. Luckily, dark chocolate is actually the easiest to temper, so it’s easier to temper this mix than it is to just temper milk chocolate!

You’re welcome to use your favourite method for tempering chocolate, but this is what I do:

Roughly chop all of the chocolate (milk and dark). Transfer about 4/5 of the chocolate to a heatproof bowl and microwave on the lowest setting for 1 minute (if you don’t have a microwave, you can do this over a pan of barely simmering water on the hob).

While the chocolate is in the microwave, continue chopping the remaining 1/5 of the chocolate so that it is super fine. We’ll use this later to help with the tempering process.

After 1 minute, give the chocolate a stir. It won’t look very different at this stage, so put it back in for another minute (don’t be tempted to skip the stirring step, though: chocolate can burn very easily, so you want to take it slow and steady).

Keep microwaving the chocolate in 30 second – 1 minute bursts, stirring in between each burst, until it is completely melted. Check the temperature as you go, using a probe thermometer: you want it to reach 45-47°C. Don’t let the chocolate go any higher than 50°C.

Once the chocolate has melted and is at the correct temperature, add a small amount of the finely chopped, reserved chocolate and stir it in well until it has melted into the rest of the chocolate. The additional chocolate is known as ‘seed chocolate’ and helps the melted chocolate to cool the right way. This, along with the stirring motion, is the key to perfectly tempered chocolate!

Keep adding seed chocolate and stirring, keeping an eye on the temperature of the chocolate, until it reaches 26-27°C. If you run out of seed chocolate, just keep stirring the chocolate until it comes down to temperature (or chop up a little more chocolate, if you have it!).

Next, return the chocolate to the microwave and heat it very gently (5-10 second bursts on the lowest setting) until it reaches 30-32°C. The chocolate is now in temper and is ready to use! You’ll want to work fast at this stage, because it will start to set quite quickly.

Assembling the Bark

Tip the broken up digestives into the bowl with the tempered chocolate. Mix them together quickly, but thoroughly, so that all of the digestives are covered in the chocolate. This helps to keep the biscuits slightly fresher and crunchier than if they were just scattered over the top of the chocolate, so your bark will last longer.

Tip the chocolate mixture onto the prepared baking tray and spread it out into a thin layer using an offset palette knife, or the back of a spoon/spatula.

Sprinkle over the raisins and marshmallows, pressing them down gently as you go to ensure that they stick to the chocolate. Continue to work quickly at this point, because if the chocolate sets too hard before the raisins/marshmallows are added, they won’t stick!

Set the bark aside at room temperature to harden completely (about 30 minutes).

Once firm, break the bark up into pieces and enjoy!

The bark can be stored at room temperature, but it’s important to keep it in an airtight jar/tin to keep the biscuits super crunchy. It can also be packaged up in little bags and given to your friends and family as gifts!

Recipe

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Rocky Road Bark (Amy’s Bark)

A 50/50 blend of dark and milk chocolate, digestive biscuits, raisins and marshmallows all combined into a fun bark, perfect for snacking on and gifting this festive season!

Course Snack

Cuisine British

Keyword 5 ingredient, Chocolate, Rocky Road

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Setting Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Equipment

• 1 Baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.
• Thermometer

Ingredients

• 3 digestive biscuits
• 180 g dark chocolate
• 180 g milk chocolate
• 50 g raisins
• 25 g mini marshmallows

Instructions

• Break the digestive biscuits into very small pieces. Set them aside. Weigh out the raisins and mini marshmallows and set them aside too, ready for later.
• Melt and temper the chocolate (both the dark and milk, together). See post above for detailed instructions on how to do this.
• Working quickly, mix the broken digestives into the chocolate until completely coated.
• Tip the chocolate/biscuit mixture onto the lined baking tray and use an offset spatula/the back of a spoon to spread it out quickly into a thin layer.
• Sprinkle over the raisins and mini marshmallows, pressing them down gently into the chocolate to make sure they stick.
• Set the bark aside at room temperature until hardened (about 30 minutes) before breaking into pieces. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

It’s time to introduce you to the delight that is the Chocolate Puddle!

What is a Chocolate Puddle, you ask? It’s exactly what it sounds like: a literal puddle (i.e., bigger than a drop, (much) smaller than a pond) of chocolate, topped with whatever delicious additions your heart desires. Chocolate puddles are one of the easiest candies to make and are super customisable (so they’re particularly good for families that can’t quite agree on the ideal, chocolate-y treat!). You can make them look (and taste) super elegant & fancy, or super fun & frivolous: it all depends on what you choose to top them with!

Keep these puddles in a jar for your family to snack on this festive season. Pile them into cellophane bags and give them to your friends as gifts. Host a Puddle Party and make hundreds of them, letting all of your guests sprinkle over their favourite additions and create custom puddles. The puddle possibilities are endless. That is the joy of the Chocolate Puddle!

Today, I’m sharing the recipe for two varieties of Cherry & Almond Chocolate Puddles, which will hopefully provide you with a) a blueprint for a delicious, cherry & almond snack and b) a starting point for any future puddle ventures. Let the puddles begin!

Table of Contents

• The Chocolate Puddle: Explained
• Tempering Chocolate
  • Equipment
  • The Seeding Method
  • Chocolate Tempering Temperatures
• Making Chocolate Puddles
  • Milk Chocolate, Cherry & Almond Puddles
  • Dark Chocolate, Cherry & Almond Puddles
• Cherry & Almond Chocolate Puddles Recipe

The Chocolate Puddle: Explained

At its core, the Chocolate Puddle is just a scant teaspoon of tempered chocolate (white, milk, dark etc., the choice is yours!), sprinkled with delicious toppings and left to set at room temperature until it solidifies into a delicious, chocolate-y treat.

You can make puddles by simply melting the chocolate, skipping the tempering stage and leaving them to set in the fridge but a) you’ll have to store them in the fridge and b) they’ll be messier to eat (untempered chocolate is absolutely going to melt the second it hits your fingers, so hello sticky fingerprints all over your Christmas wrapping!).

Tempering the chocolate means that the chocolate will set at room temperature, so you can store the puddles in a jar on the counter (for optimal snacking!). It also makes it easier to give the puddles as gifts and ensures they have the perfect snap and shine (though, admittedly, the shine is the hardest part to get, as you can tell by the unfortunate bloom on my puddles this year… let this be a tempering lesson to you: don’t let your chocolate go above the ‘melting’ temperature range!).

You can use any type of chocolate and any topping you want to make puddles. Pick your favourite ingredients and flavour combinations: mini marshmallows, nuts and dried fruit are all delicious, but the possibilities are endless. Today, I’m making cherry & almond puddles, so I’m using a combination of dried cherries, whole almonds and flaked almonds, along with milk and dark chocolate.

Tempering Chocolate

I do already have a post on the blog where I talk about tempering chocolate (you can find it here), but I thought I’d re-share my method in this post to make it super easy for you guys to follow along! I’ve also updated my tempering technique a little since that first post to make the whole process a little quicker & easier (woohoo!).

Equipment

To temper chocolate, you will need:

• Heatproof bowl

I melt chocolate using the microwave, but you can also do it by placing the chocolate into a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Either way, you’ll need a bowl that can withstand the heat!

• Spatula

I like to use a silicone spatula (particularly one with a flat edge) for stirring the chocolate, because you can really scrape down the sides of the bowl with it: chocolate gets messy and you don’t want to waste any!

• Large knife

You’ll need to finely chop some of the chocolate and a large knife is the best tool for this.

• Chopping board

A large knife requires a sturdy chopping board!

• Digital thermometer

You’ll need to be able to monitor the temperature of your chocolate as you go. There are all sorts of candy thermometers available that will work perfectly well for this, but I like to use an infrared one (like this), because it means the thermometer stays clean and chocolate-free! I do recommend using a digital thermometer of some sort though, because the temperatures that you need to watch out for are very specific!

The Seeding Method

The method that I use for tempering chocolate is called the ‘Seeding Method‘. It involves introducing finely chopped, unmelted chocolate to the melted chocolate to encourage the latter to recrystallise in the correct way. It sounds complicated, but it’s not too crazy (it’s basically just a lot of stirring).

The first step is to prepare the ‘seed’ chocolate. Take about 1/5 of the chocolate you plan to temper and, using a large knife, chop it up very finely. Set this aside for now.

The next step is to melt the chocolate. Place the remaining 4/5 of the chocolate into your heatproof bowl and melt it using your preferred method. For me, this is 30-60 second bursts on the lowest setting in my microwave, stirring in between each burst.

Monitor the temperature of the chocolate as you do this. It’s important that the chocolate reaches a particular temperature (this varies based on the type of chocolate you use: see the ‘melting’ range in the ‘Chocolate Tempering Temperatures‘ table below), but does not go above the upper limit, or it won’t temper properly (see the bloom on my puddles for evidence of this… a definite case of ‘do as I say, not as I do’ here!).

Now, it’s time to add the seed chocolate! Add the finely chopped chocolate to the melted chocolate a little at a time, stirring between each addition until the seed chocolate has completely melted into the rest of the mass.

Monitor the temperature of the chocolate as you go. The aim is to get it down to within the ‘cooling’ range (see table below). If you run out of seed chocolate before the temperature falls within that range, just keep stirring the chocolate, allowing it to cool further, until it does. Conversely, if you reach the correct temperature range before you’ve used all of your seed chocolate, don’t add any more! You can always transfer the leftover seed chocolate to an airtight container for next time you’re tempering.

Next, you need to very carefully warm the chocolate back up a little. The required temperature increase at this stage is only very slight, so you won’t need to heat it for long. Start small (about 10 seconds on the lowest setting in the microwave), then give it additional 3-5 second bursts if needed.

Once your chocolate has reached its final temperature, your chocolate is officially ‘in temper’ and is ready to use to make your Chocolate Puddles! It’s important to work quickly at this stage, because the chocolate will begin to set straightaway at room temperature (that is, after all, the whole point of tempering!).

Chocolate Tempering Temperatures

Making Chocolate Puddles

Once you have your tempered chocolate, its time to turn it into puddles!

Use a teaspoon to place small dollops of the tempered chocolate onto a tray, lined with baking paper. Aim to make all of the puddles a similar size, but don’t worry too much: any variation just shows they’re homemade!

Give the tray a little wiggle or tap it gently on the work surface. This helps the chocolate to settle out and makes the puddles super smooth.

Scatter over your chosen toppings (think nuts, marshmallows, dried fruit— whatever you want!) while the chocolate is still wet (remember to work quickly!). If you have any larger toppings, it might be easier to press them into the chocolate individually instead.

Set the tray aside for about an hour, until the puddles are completely set and you can peel them off the baking paper easily.

Milk Chocolate, Cherry & Almond Puddles

To make these puddles, I used tempered milk chocolate, then scattered over flaked almonds and finely chopped dried cherries.

Dark Chocolate, Cherry & Almond Puddles

To make these puddles, I used tempered dark chocolate, then pressed one whole almond and one dried cherry into each puddle.

Cherry & Almond Chocolate Puddles Recipe

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Cherry & Almond Chocolate Puddles

Chocolate Puddles are a super easy, delicious treat to make, either for snacking on or for giving as gifts. They can be easily customised to include your favourite flavours, but these ones feature dried cherries and almonds.

Course Dessert, Snack

Keyword 3 ingredient, Chocolate

Prep Time 45 minutes minutes

Setting Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 34 minutes minutes

Servings 60 puddles

Equipment

• candy thermometer (see Note 1).

Ingredients

To make the dark chocolate puddles:

• 100 g dark chocolate (I used 54% dark chocolate).
• 30 dried cherries
• 30 whole almonds

To make the milk chocolate puddles:

• 100 g milk chocolate (I used 32% milk chocolate).
• 1 small handful dried cherries, finely chopped.
• 1 small handful flaked almonds

Instructions

To make the dark chocolate puddles:

• Temper the dark chocolate using your favourite method (or the method detailed in the post above).
• Place small spoonfuls of the chocolate onto a tray lined with baking paper, leaving about 2-3cm between each dollop.
• Once you've used up all of the chocolate, give the whole tray a little jiggle, or tap it gently on the work surface to smooth out the surface of the puddles.
• Quickly press one almond and one dried cherry onto each chocolate puddle.
• Set the tray aside at room temperature for about an hour, until the puddles are completely set and you can easily peel them off the baking paper. Enjoy immediately, or transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature.

To make the milk chocolate puddles:

• Temper the milk chocolate using your favourite method (or the method detailed in the post above).
• Place small spoonfuls of the chocolate onto a tray lined with baking paper, leaving about 2-3cm between each dollop.
• Once you've used up all of the chocolate, give the whole tray a little jiggle, or tap it gently on the work surface, to smooth out the surface of the puddles.
• Working quickly, scatter the chopped, dried cherries and the flaked almonds over the chocolate puddles, making sure each puddle has a bit of cherry and almond.
• Set the tray aside at room temperature for about an hour, until the puddles are completely set and you can easily peel them off the baking paper. Enjoy immediately, or transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature.

Notes

1. I like to use an infrared thermometer for this, because it stays clean and chocolate-free, which makes clean up a lot easier, but you can use your favourite candy thermometer.

Anddddd… welcome back to my Project Knitwear series, where I’m documenting my journey into the world of knitting my own clothes! This time, it’s the first post in a two-parter (big wow!), because I’m tackling the Season Set by Ullen Knitwear: a wintery, cabled hat and mitten duo. In today’s post, we’ll be focusing on the Season Hat. Let’s get into it, shall we?

Table of Contents

• The Pattern
• The Yarn
• The Knitting Process
  • Italian Cast On
  • Cables
  • Decreases
  • Sizing
• Techniques
• Final Thoughts

The Pattern

I haven’t made many hats before (read: I’ve made exactly 2, and both were samples for my Pumpkin Strange Brew Sweater, so I was less concerned with the hat itself and more concerned with the yarn/colourwork pattern), so I didn’t really know what to expect going into this pattern.

In light of that, I do have to say that I probably wouldn’t recommend this particular pattern for a beginner hat knitter: there are definitely some clearer, simpler hat patterns out there that would make a better starting point!

There are two main things to keep in mind if you’re planning to use this pattern:

• The sizing

For both the hat and the mittens, only two different sizes are supplied and the only difference between those sizes is the needle size you use (i.e. the gauge of your work). I would have loved to see a larger size range and a stitch-count based variation, because I’m quite picky about how my gauge looks and I feel this would have made the pattern more versatile/easier to work with, particularly for less confident knitters.

• The yardage

I ran into this problem before when I was making the jumper from the Atlantis Set from Ullen Knitwear: the yardage given in this pattern is for BOTH the hat and the mittens (they are not given separately). This means that if you want to make only the hat, you don’t know exactly how much yarn you’ll need (and vice versa, for the mittens). Luckily, I was making both this time around, so I didn’t have to worry about that.

The Yarn

I have been desperate to try Knitting for Olive‘s Compatible Cashmere for a while now, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to do it because of the price! I finally bit the bullet and decided to use it for this project, though, because I figured it was a good way of trying it out: a small knit (which means a small required yardage), where warmth & softness is a top priority, and something that looks a little fancy and can live up to that cashmere name.

For this hat, then, I used one strand of Knitting for Olive‘s Merino, held together with one strand of Compatible Cashmere. I chose the shade ‘Dusty Dove Blue’, which is a bit of a departure from my usual colour palette (I tend to favour warmer, autumnal shades), but I think it will go really well with my fancy winter coat (it’s a black/grey/white plaid situation).

For the set (i.e. hat and mittens), I purchased 2 x 50g balls of the Merino and 3 x 25g balls of the Compatible Cashmere.

The Knitting Process

This was a slightly trickier knit than I expected it to be: I was hoping for a quick, simple knit and it was… anything but!

Italian Cast On

I encountered a problem as soon as I began with this project: the Italian Cast On! This was a new cast on for me and I found it pretty tricky. It took me a few tries to get it right (I found it really helped to set it up on straight needles, then switch to circular needles afterwards to knit the hat) and, if I’m being honest, the finish isn’t as neat as I would have liked for something that was so fiddly to set up!

I think for the mittens I will try a different cast on (maybe the alternating cable cast on?) and see if I like that a bit better (and find it easier to work!).

Cables

In general, I love the way cables look, but I have to admit… I just don’t love working them! I find them pretty fiddly and time-consuming, but I keep finding myself drawn to cabled projects because of how pretty and cosy they make things look.

The cables in this pattern aren’t super crazy, but they’re a little more complex than your typical 2×2 twists. I didn’t particularly enjoy working them but, again, I do like how they look, so I guess it’s worth it? I just wish I could find a love of cabling to rival my love of cables…

Decreases

My main struggle with this hat came with the decreases: I could not work out how they were supposed to fit into the pattern (and, honestly, I’m still not sure I did it right— actually, I’m pretty sure I did not do it right). Truthfully, I was baffled throughout the whole of the decrease section, right up to the end of the hat— this could 100% be a result of my inexperience, but I’d love to see some more detailed instructions for that section in the pattern to really help guide you through it, because it is tricky to juggle the cables and decreases.

The hat does have a bit of a ‘point’ at the top: it’s not so noticeable when you wear it, but it’s more prominent when it’s off (and it was very noticeable before I blocked it). I wonder if increasing the frequency of the decreases towards the top would help this?

Finally, within the pattern, the decreases are written as ‘d1r’ (I assume, ‘decrease 1 right’) and ‘d1l’ (‘decrease 1 left’?). This terminology is not used in the abbreviations/explanations section, instead, SSK and K2tog is listed. I had to do a quick bit of googling to figure out which one was which (for reference, SSK = d1l and K2tog = d1r) and I used those decreases throughout.

Sizing

The sizing was a big issue for me with this project! As I mentioned, there are only two sizes supplied (and the only difference in the pattern between those two was 0.5mm in needle size). I ended up making the smaller hat (Size 1), because a) my head circumference is within the range for that size (admittedly towards the higher limit, but still within the range!) and b) I tend to prefer the appearance of a tighter gauge to a looser one.

However… the finished hat is a little small on me. It fits, but it’s not super cosy and it rides up a little bit. Plus, I blocked it on a head mannequin (let’s not even get into that) and I think it stretched it out slightly (so it’s not just me having a big head! Woohoo!), so the gauge (even on the smaller needle size) is quite loose and open, which makes it even less cosy. Overall, if I made this hat again, I’d definitely play around with the sizing.

Techniques

There were a couple of new techniques to me in this pattern, as well as some opportunities to practise techniques I’ve previously met (as always, previously encountered techniques are marked with an *):

• Italian cast on
• 5-stitch cables
• SSK & K2tog*

Final Thoughts

I went into this project with the false impression that it would be a simple, quick and easy knit. Alas, it was much more challenging than I expected and I didn’t enjoy the process quite as much as I had hoped to!

This is one of those projects where you know you’ll wear it and you love how it looks from afar, but up close it’s full of little things you wish you did differently. I wonder if, in the future, once I’ve got a bit more experience knitting hats, cables and decreases, I could come back to this pattern with more confidence and make a hat I’m happier with?

Nonetheless, I love the colour of this hat and I do love the general, cable-y vibe, so I’m excited to wear it throughout the festive season! Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Season Set, where I make the matching mittens!

If you're interested...

You can purchase the Season Set pattern by Ullen Knitwear on Ravelry here.

You can find the Ravelry project page for my Season Set here.

Gemma

xxx

I haven’t done a lot of embroidery in my time, but I’ve been (very) gradually trying to stitch my way into it and expand my crafty repertoire. I started out with a kit (specifically, the Woodland Fox Embroidery Kit from Tales from the Hoop, a UK-based company run by Marion, who makes incredible, modern embroidery kits & patterns). Next, filled with a (completely irrational) sense of confidence, I designed and stitched my own hoop-based project: a Feathers McGraw hoop for my sister-in-law.

For my next embroidery project, I decided to make a felt garland. Tales from the Hoop has these gorgeous festive letter kits for sale, which feature a minimal, super pretty, pine design. I fell in love with this design the moment I saw it and I thought it would make for such a special Christmas ‘heirloom’ decoration. I’ve been slowly working on it over the past few months, really taking my time to enjoy the process, and I just love how it turned out!

Table of Contents

• The Kit
• The Stitching Process
• Stringing the Letters into a Garland
• Final Thoughts

The Kit

As I mentioned, I made this garland using the Personalized Christmas Felt Letter Kit from Tales from the Hoop. You can buy as many or as few letters as you want: they can be used individually, as baubles, miscellaneous decorations or gift tags, or you can purchase multiple letters and make a garland (which is, obviously, what I did).

A single-letter kit costs £18.50 and you receive the felt (including one sheet printed with the pine pattern/letter outline), 2 embroidery needles, all of the necessary threads, gold beads, stuffing, pins and detailed, printed instructions. Each additional letter only increases the price by £2.50, so, if you plan to make multiple letters, I’d definitely recommend buying them all in one go to save yourself some money!

For this garland, I purchased a 14-letter kit. Currently, this is priced at £51.00, but I actually bought mine back in July for £45.90 (it’s very possible I bought the kit on sale? Or this could just be the inevitable result of rising costs here in the UK). Even at the higher price, I still think this kit is worth it!

You can select which letters you want for your garland/ornaments in the ‘Personalisation’ section of the order, so I opted for the letters to spell out ‘MERRY AND BRIGHT’. I went back and forth a lot between this and the more classic ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS’ (which unhelpfully contains the same number of letters, so I couldn’t even use the cheaper price as a deciding factor), but I ultimately decided to go with the former because I figured we probably had enough garlands telling everyone to have a Merry Christmas already.

Just like the last time I placed an order from Tales from the Hoop, I had a lovely experience: my kit came super quickly & contained plenty of all of the necessary materials, the instructions were clear & easy to follow AND the finished product looks great!

The Stitching Process

The stitching process was actually pretty simple and straightforward, which was lovely because it meant that I could really relax into the stitching and just chip away at the garland slowly. For reference, the kit uses the following stitching techniques:

• Back stitch
• French knots
• Beading
• Blanket stitch

I had done all of these stitches before except for beading, which was new to me, but was really simple to do and I absolutely love the sparkly effect the beads add: I think they’re such a pretty addition that really makes the letters feel special. This project was also a really good way of practising my French knots & blanket stitching: I got pretty good at the latter, but I do still struggle with the former! I can just about do them now, but they’re not always as neat as I would like! French knots, I’ll be back for you. This isn’t over.

Honestly, the hardest part of making these was cutting out the tiny, internal pieces of felt from some of the letters (the ones like R, A and, in particular, B, which had TWO internal pieces!). It was a bit fiddly, but I found that using a small, sharp pair of scissors made it (a little) easier.

Surprisingly, though, the letter I found the absolute hardest to do was the ‘G’! I think it just required a lot of stitching and I felt like it was slightly more prone to bending out of shape than the other letters. Obviously, the easiest letter was the ‘I’ because it was literally a single, straight line: the dream!

Stringing the Letters into a Garland

Stringing the letters together was also surprisingly easier than I expected it to be: the stuffing helps to keep the letters in position, so I just carefully lined up each one (I tried to go through where the brown stitch line ended at the top of each letter, to keep things even) and went for it.

The great thing about this whole process is the fact that you can work a stitch, add a letter, add a bead, whatever and, if you don’t like the positioning/how it looks, you can literally just take it out and start again. For someone like me, who has a deathly fear of making mistakes (I know, I know— I’m working on it!), this was a real comfort and made the whole process that bit more relaxing.

The only slight stumbling block I encountered was that I’m pretty sure I accidentally cut through one of my blanket stitches when I was rearranging the top thread on my ‘G’ (why is it ALWAYS the ‘G’?!). I haven’t noticed any drastic unravelling yet though, so let’s all keep our fingers crossed that it stays that way!

Final Thoughts

I loved working on this project almost as much as I love the finished garland: it feels so classic and festive, but still fun and whimsical at the same time, and it makes me so proud every time I look at it (because, you know, I made that!).

It definitely took a bit of time to make, but that was because a) I intentionally took it slow so that I could really enjoy the process and b) I had 14 letters to stitch! If you were just making one letter, it would actually be a really quick little project: you could probably whip it up in a couple of hours!

I definitely felt a few moments of pressure during the process (particularly when it was time to cut out the letters post-embroidery, because, well, what if I did it wrong and ruined all my hard work?!), but I never actually ran into any of the problems I was anxious about, which felt great.

Overall, making this garland was a very rewarding, therapeutic experience: I can’t wait to bring it out every year and feel all warm and cosy knowing I made it!

Gemma

xxx

You can probably tell, but this year has been a really gnome-y one for me! I’m currently working on my December entry for the Year of Gnomes 2025, but it’s another MKAL (mystery knitalong), so I can’t share that one with you this year (I must protect the gnome secrets)! It wouldn’t be right to let the festive season pass by without a nod to my gnome-ing era, though, so I decided to make a different, Christmassy gnome outside of the year-long challenge.

Enter: Gnoel!

Gnoel is in charge of the Grimblewood Carol Singers: he picks the songs, assigns the parts and maps out the route every single year. His favourite carolling pick is The First Noel (for obvious reasons), but he is also partial to We Wish You A Merry Christmas, because, on occasion, the gnomes of Grimblewood have been known to take the lyrics literally and bring the troupe some actual figgy pudding (Gnoel‘s favourite treat!). Some of the members say he rules with an iron fist, but he would say that he rules with a firmly knitted mitten: there’s a difference.

Sarah Schira (a.k.a. Imagined Landscapes), released the pattern for this festive, colourwork gnome back in October (you can purchase it here) and I just loved all of the little details— I mean, just look at the hat bobbles, the fringe beard and the little mittens! Honestly, I think Gnoel might be my favourite gnome I’ve ever made. Scratch that: he is my favourite Gnome I’ve ever made!

Table of Contents

• Yarn Choices
• Thoughts on the Pattern/Gnome-Making Process
• Changes/Adaptations
• Final Thoughts

Yarn Choices

I think my favourite thing about Gnoel is the colours I used for him: I wanted something really festive, but something a little different to the more classic, red/green/white combo from the pattern. I spent a little while looking through other knitters’ projects on Ravelry (you can find my Ravelry profile here!) and saw lots of people using blues and purples, which I thought looked really nice, so I decided to take inspiration from that and make my own, blueish Gnoel.

Just as with my Year of Gnomes knits (or the majority of them, at least), I used scraps of fingering weight yarn for Gnoel. The pattern actually calls for DK weight yarn, but I just used fingering weight and sized my needles down accordingly (more on that later), because I wanted Gnoel to fit in nicely with my other gnomes, size-wise.

Gnoel requires 5 colours (I know, it’s a lot!), so I chose a navy blue; a mid blue; a deep, raspberry red; a slightly variegated gold and a cream. Coincidentally, all of the yarns (bar the gold, which I cannot place), are DROPS Fabel (a sock yarn that is particularly good for colourwork), which made them great choices for this particular project. The cream shade is Off White (100), the navy blue shade is Blue (107), the mid blue shade is Grey Blue (103) and the red shade is Ruby Red (113).

I absolutely LOVE how these five colours work together: it’s a really rich colour palette that, while not inherently Christmassy, still feels very festive and cosy. I did mess around with the arrangements of the colours in the various charts a little, just to get the best out of my specific choices, but it wasn’t anything too crazy!

Thoughts on the Pattern/Gnome-Making Process

I had the time of my LIFE making Gnoel. Actually, let me rephrase that: I had the time of my life making Gnoel’s hat and body (the arms, bobbles and beard… not so much). I was quite nervous going into this project because I knew it was going to be on the bigger side and that there was a lot of colourwork, but I honestly enjoyed the process SO MUCH. I think that’s partly to do with my colour choices (it was such a joy seeing the patterns work up in those beautiful shades!), but also, I just do love knitting colourwork— particularly when it stays nice and even and I don’t run into any problems. I was so glad I used DROPS Fabel for this— the colourwork sections using that yarn worked up so neatly and I definitely noticed a difference when I used the non-Fabel gold shade!

Worked in the fingering weight yarn, my Gnoel is about 24cm high. The shape of both his hat and body are relatively simple (albeit large): the wow factor really comes from the colourwork design and the small features: the fringed beard, the mittened arms and the bobbles on the hat! As much as I LOVE how all those little features look on the finished Gnoel… they were a bit of a pain to make. The beard includes a lot of cutting and re-joining the yarn, the mittens are exactly as fiddly as you might expect them to be and the bobbles… well the bobbles are straightforward, but having to make three of them (including the nose) feels like a bit of a chore. However! You cannot argue with results and boy, does Gnoel look cool. It’s worth a bit of faffing around to make him so absolutely adorable and wintery and warm: I love him.

Changes/Adaptations

I usually don’t make any changes to gnome patterns the first time I make them, but I did end up making a few alterations to Gnoel this time around:

• Fingering weight yarn (and needle sizes)

First of all, as I mentioned, I used fingering weight yarn instead of the DK weight yarn suggested in the pattern. Because of this, I used 2.25mm and 2.5mm needles instead of the 3.25mm and 3.5mm needles called for. As always, I made this gnome on circular needles using the magic loop method, not DPNs.

• Colour positions

I used 5 colours, as called for in the pattern, but I rearranged the positions of them in some of the colourwork charts, just to make sure they fit well together.

• Needle positions

In the body instructions, the pattern suggests not having a needle join at the centre-front, to ensure that the colourwork pattern looks super neat there. I would actually recommend applying this principle to the hat as well, because there is a larger tree motif at the centre-front of the hat that falls right where your needle join would be (particularly if, like me, you’re using the magic loop method). I rearranged my stitches so that my BOR marker was in the centre of one of my needles and the two needle joins were on the left and right-hand side of the hat, respectively, which made my Gnoel look much neater than he otherwise might have! I’m really glad I did this.

• Beard fringe length

I made the fringe on my beard 1.5cm long, which is a little shorter than the pattern calls for, because I think it looks better on my Gnoel this way. I did cut it to the original length to start with, but it just looked a little too long and straggly!

While we’re on the topic of the beard fringe: I found the best way to cut it was to stick a piece of washi tape along one edge of the beard, right on top of the fringing, then hold the whole thing up in the air and trim the fringe right up against the edge of the washi tape, with a small pair of scissors (and, then, of course, repeat that process for the other side). Handily, my washi tape was already 1.5cm wide, so it was a perfect marker, but it also keeps the fringing secure while you trim, so you can hold it up and get a super neat, even cut.

Final Thoughts

I said it earlier and I meant it: I think Gnoel is my favourite of all of the gnomes I have made this year (and I’ve made a lot…). I love the colours I chose, I love the colourwork design, I love his shape and size and general festiveness. I even love those fiddly little mittens, the fringe on his beard and the little bobbles on his hat. He just brings me so much joy to look at, and brought me even more joy to make: long story short, he’s my dream gnome. This was definitely one of my favourite knitting projects of the year!

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my festive gnome-ing (and my beloved Gnoel)!

If you're interested...

You can find the pattern for Gnoel on Ravelry here.

You can find my Ravelry project page for Gnoel here.

Gemma

xxx