Today’s post is a little round-up of this year’s festive posts, to celebrate the end of another crafty & Christmassy period on the blog! I’ve had such a lovely time sharing all of my festive ideas with you over these past few weeks— I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the posts too!

So, without further ado, here’s what’s been happening over the past 24 days on the blog!

Table of Contents

• Blogmas At Home: The Stats
• The Posts
  • Bullet Journal
  • Crochet
  • Knitting
  • Recipes
  • Other
• A Final Wrapping-Up

Blogmas At Home: The Stats

I may have intensely disliked statistics during my maths A Level, but I am a fan of a fun, numerical summary, so here’s the Blogmas At Home 2024 edition:

• Posts shared: 24
• Words written: 39,938 (I’m not known for my brevity…)
• Bullet journal pages set up: 127
• Crochet patterns shared: 1
• New cookbooks: 3
• Gingerbread Defenders made: 1
• Hours said Gingerbread Defender stood upright for before collapsing: 36
• Kulkuls rolled: 75

Anddddd, here’s the Blogmas At Home 2024 distribution of posts by category:

• Bullet Journal: 5
• Crochet: 3
• Knitting: 3
• Recipes: 8
• Other: 5 (including this one!)

And, because I love a pie chart…

As expected, Recipes turned out to be my biggest category this time around!

The Posts

Here, you can find links to all of the Blogmas At Home 2024 posts, grouped by category (for easy navigation):

Bullet Journal

Crochet

Knitting

Recipes

Other

A Final Wrapping-Up

So that was Blogmas At Home 2024! I hope you’ve enjoyed the daily dose of festive fun and crafty chaos over the past 24 days. I’ll be back in January with some more posts and general, sugar-filled joy. I hope to see you then!

Wishing you & your families the holliest, jolliest Christmas and the sparkliest, happiest New Year,

Gemma

xxx

It’s been a while since I’ve released a crochet pattern but, in today’s post, that’s exactly what’s happening! This pattern is for a super quick & easy, festive project that can be whipped up using scraps of cotton yarn (that you probably already have!). These are my…

❄️☕️ SNOWFLAKE COASTERS ☕️❄️

You can find this pattern on Ravelry here, if you want to save it for later!

Table of Contents

• Materials & Tools
• Pattern Notes
• Abbreviations
• Written Pattern
• Photo Tutorial
• Blocking the Coasters
• Final Thoughts

Materials & Tools

To make these coasters, you will need the following:

• Stylecraft Naturals Organic Cotton, in the shade Gypsum (7168), (50g = 104 m [114 yds]) (or other, DK weight yarn). You will need about 5g of yarn per coaster.
• 3.00mm crochet hook.
• Darning needle.
• Scissors.

Pattern Notes

• This pattern uses UK crochet terminology (please check the Abbreviations section below for stitch explanations if you’re unsure!)
• Gauge is not important for this project. I would recommend using a size down from whatever hook size you would usually use for a DK weight yarn- for me, this is a 4.00mm hook, so I’ve used a 3.00mm hook for this project.

Abbreviations

• ch = chain: yarn over and pull through.
• ss = slip stitch: insert hook into stitch, yarn over and pull through stitch and loop on hook.
• dc = UK double crochet: insert hook into stitch, yarn over and pull through. You will now have two loops on your hook. Yarn over and pull through both loops.
• tr = UK treble crochet: Yarn over, insert hook into stitch, yarn over again and pull through. You will now have three loops on your hook. Yarn over and pull through two of the loops, then yarn over again and pull through the remaining two loops.

Written Pattern

Round 1: 11 dc in a magic ring. Ss to join.

Round 2: Ch 3 (counts as first tr), then tr in the same stitch (at the base of the ch 3). *Ch 4, skip 1 stitch, 2 tr in next stitch* until there is 1 stitch remaining. Ch 4, then ss to top of the ch 3 to finish round.

Round 3: **Start by working a ‘long arm’: (*Ch 5, skip first ch, then ss in next 2 ch* twice. Ch 4, skip first ch then ss in next 3 ch. *Ch 3, skip first ch, then ss in next 2 ch AND first 2 ch from second ch 5* twice. Ss to the 2nd tr from Round 2). 2 dc over the ch 4 from Round 2, then work a ‘short arm’: (Ch 6, skip first ch, then ss into next 2 ch. Ch 4, skip first ch, then ss in next 3 ch. Ch 3, skip first ch, then ss into next 2 ch AND first 3 ch from previous ch 6). 2 dc over the same ch 4 from Round 2, then ss to top of the next tr from Round 2.*** Repeat from ** to *** around.

Cut yarn and fasten off. Darn in the ends, then block before using (see instructions at end of post).

Photo Tutorial

I’ve also created a photo tutorial for this pattern, just to help make everything super clear and easy to follow! If you find the above pattern a little hard to follow (I’m looking at your Round 3…), hopefully this will help you.

Start by working 11 dc in a magic ring.

After you’ve worked the stitches, pull the tail to tighten the loop.

Then, to finish off Round 1, slip stitch to the top of the first double crochet stitch. Andddd there you have it! 11 dc in a magic ring.

To begin Round 2, work 3 chains. This ch 3 counts as the first treble crochet of the round.

Next, you need to work a treble crochet in the same space (i.e. where you worked the slip stitch to finish off Round 1). I’ve used a needle here to indicate the stitch you need to work into.

Like this! As I mentioned, the ch 3 from the start of the round counts as one treble crochet, so you now have a cluster of 2 treble crochets.

Work 4 chains.

Then skip the next dc and work 2 treble crochets into the dc after that (again, indicated here by a needle).

Like so!

Keep repeating this process (ch 4, skip one dc, then work 2 tr into the next dc), until there is one dc remaining on the round below (you will have just worked 2 tr into the previous dc, as pictured).

Work 4 more chains.

Then, to finish off Round 2, slip stitch to the top of the ch 3 from the beginning of the round (indicated by the needle again).

Like so! Now you’ve finished Round 2.

Round 3 is where things get a little more complicated, but it’s also the final round of the coaster, so you’re nearly there! Start by working 5 chains.

Now you’re going to start by working into the 2nd chain from the hook (indicated by the needle). You’ll be doing this throughout the rest of this process (after any chaining), so try to remember that rule of thumb— it will make things a lot easier!

Slip stitch into the 2nd chain from the hook.

Then slip stitch into the next chain as well, so you have a little row of two slip stitches at the top of your chain. This forms the first ‘branch’ on the arm of the snowflake.

Next, you need to make another branch, so chain 5 again.

And, again, you’ll be working into the 2nd chain from the hook (indicated by the needle).

Starting in the 2nd chain from the hook, work a slip stitch into each of the next two stitches to make the 2nd ‘branch’.

Now, it’s time to make the top of the snowflake arm. Start by chaining 4.

Then, starting in the 2nd chain from the hook, slip stitch into each of the next 3 stitches.

Now you’re going to come back down the other side of the arm, to make the branch symmetrical. Chain 3.

Starting in the 2nd chain from the hook, slip stitch into each of the next two stitches to make the next branch.

Now you need to anchor this branch to the other side of the arm. To do this, you want to slip stitch into the two remaining, intact chains from the 2nd chain 5 (the first of which is indicated by the needle here). These two chains are the first 2 chains of that chain 5, that you didn’t make into a branch.

Slip stitch into those two stitches, and you’ll see that the branch you just made has lined itself up alongside the 2nd branch. Success!

Now, it’s time to make the final branch on this arm, in exactly the same way as the previous branch. Chain 3.

Starting with the 2nd chain from the hook, work 1 slip stitch in each of the next two chains, then work 1 slip stitch into each of the two remaining chains from the first ch 5 of the arm (the first of which is indicated by the needle).

Like so!

To finish off this first arm, you need to anchor it back onto the top of the 2 tr cluster from Round 2. To do this, slip stitch into the top of the 2nd tr, indicated here with the needle.

Once you’ve done that, you’ll have finished your first arm! I call this one a ‘long arm’, because it is the larger of the two arm styles used in this pattern. You’ll work a ‘long arm’ over every 2 tr cluster, and a ‘short arm’ in every ch 4 gap. Next up, then, it’s time to work a ‘short arm’.

To set up the short arm, you need to work 2 dc under the next ch 4 from Round 2. To do this, insert your crochet hook from front to back through the gap made by the ch 4, as pictured.

Pick up a loop of your working yarn with the hook and bring it back through to the front.

Then, pick up another loop of the working yarn (over the top of the ch 4, this time) and draw it through both of the loops on your hook to make a double crochet.

Work another double crochet in the same way, so that you have 2 dc around the ch 4.

Now it’s time to make the ‘short branch’. Start by working 6 chains. This slightly longer chain length helps to offset the ‘short arm’ with the ‘long arms’ on either side of it, so your snowflake coaster will lie flat more easily and look nice and even.

Just like with the ‘long arm’, you’ll always start by working into the 2nd chain from the hook.

Starting with the 2nd chain from the hook, slip stitch into each of the next two chains to make the first ‘branch’.

Then, chain 4 to begin the top of the ‘short arm’.

Starting with the 2nd chain from the hook, slip stitch into each of the next 3 chains. This makes the top of the ‘short arm’.

To make the final branch, chain 3.

Starting with the 2nd chain from the hook, slip stitch into each of the next two chains. This makes the final branch, which will sit opposite the first branch on this arm. To anchor it to the other side of the arm, just like with the ‘long arm’, you need to slip stitch into the remaining chains from the initial ch 6 (i.e. the first 3 chains from that ch 6). The first of these stitches is indicated here by the needle.

Slip stitch into the three remaining chains from the initial chain 6 to finish off the ‘short arm’.

To finish off this section, work 2 more dc over the ch 4, so that your ‘short arm’ sits in the middle of 4 dc in total, which, in turn, sit over the ch 4 from Round 2.

Then, slip stitch into the top of the next treble crochet.

This sets you up for the next ‘long arm’, which you can work in exactly the same way as the first.

Like so!

After the 2nd ‘long arm’, work a second ‘short arm’, making sure to work 2 dc over the ch 4 from Round 2 before and after working the arm.

Like so!

Keep repeating that process, alternating between ‘long arms’ (on top of the 2 tr clusters) and ‘short arms’ (on top of the ch 4s), until you’ve worked right around the snowflake and come back to your first ‘long arm’.

Finish off by slip stitching to the top of the ch 3 from Round 2 (i.e. where you started that first ‘long arm’, indicated here by the needle), then cut the yarn and fasten off.

And that’s it! Your snowflake coaster is done. All you need to do now is weave in both ends and block the coasters to help them lie flat (the instructions for that are below).

Blocking the Coasters

Blocking the coasters helps them to lie flat and look more even. You can block them in whatever way you usually block projects made with cotton yarn, but I’ve used steam to block these ones!

To steam block your coasters, do the following:

Using a steam iron/clothes steamer, briefly steam the coaster.

Pin the steamed coaster onto a blocking mat. Place one pin at the top of each ‘long arm’, making sure they are nice and straight.

Give the pinned coaster another brief blast of steam, then leave in the pinned position overnight to set.

After that, you can unpin the coaster and start using it! The finished, blocked coasters are about 10cm in diameter.

Final Thoughts

I hope you’ve enjoyed this Snowflake Coaster pattern: it’s such a quick, easy project to whip up, especially once you get the hang of the repeating pattern. I’ve actually made 7 of these coasters for our Christmas table this year, which I just know is going to look so lovely and festive!

As I mentioned earlier, you can find this pattern on Ravelry, so you can easily add it to your festive queue/favourites for next year, if you don’t have time to whip some up this year!

Gemma

xxx

Anddddd we’re back with another instalment of my Baking Around the World series, where I (attempt to) bake delicious, sweet treats from around the globe, in an attempt to broaden my foodie horizons! This time, we’re off to Iceland, with these Marens-Kornflexkökur.

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

• Marens-Kornflexkökur: Explained
• Ingredients
• Making Marens-Kornflexkökur
• Final Thoughts
• Recipe
• Sources Used

Marens-Kornflexkökur: Explained

These Icelandic treats are really super simple— they’re just regular meringues, flavoured with a little vanilla extract and studded with chopped dark chocolate and cornflakes. I realise that sounds a bit wacky, but they actually taste really good! You don’t bake them in quite the same way as you would a normal meringue, so they don’t fully dry out and stay nice and chewy on the inside, but crisp on the outside, so you can eat them on their own, like a cookie!

I’ve had meringues containing chopped dark chocolate in in the past, so I wasn’t too fazed by that part, but I have to admit, the cornflakes were a little bit of a curveball (and the thing that drew me to this recipe in the first place)! They go quite chewy in the meringue and add a nutty (corn-y?) taste. They’re not for everyone (not all of my family members were on board with this particular bake), but I really like them!

Strangely, it’s quite hard to find information about these cookies (from authentic, Icelandic sources) online. I wonder if, because they’re so simple (only 6 ingredients!) they’re more of a passed-down-through-families kind of recipe, kind of like how we have chocolate cornflake cakes in the UK? I’m not sure, but I do know that I ended up in the deepest depths of the Icelandic baking forums in my attempt to confirm that these were, in fact, a classic, Icelandic cookie (and they are! Though, like most traditional cookies, they seem to come in various different forms).

Traditionally, Marens-Kornflexkökur are made using the French meringue method, which is the simplest of the meringue-making styles. In this method, you add the sugar to the egg whites gradually, whisking all the time, until fully incorporated and the sugar has dissolved. I, however, seem to have a curse that prevents me from being able to make French meringue successfully, so I have adapted the process ever so slightly, taking inspiration from the meringue-making method created by the Meringue Girls. The only difference is that you warm the sugar slightly before adding it to the egg whites, which helps it to dissolve more quickly and create a stable meringue. It is a little extra step, but it’s really changed the meringue game for me!

As you can see, the Marens-Kornflexkökur do still bake up with some pretty dramatic cracks, but I think that’s inevitable with so many extra ingredients mixed in (or at least, I’ll tell myself that to avoid yet another French meringue-induced breakdown…)! Anyway, I think it kind of adds to their charm, so I’m not mad about it.

Ingredients

Marens-Kornflexkökur only require 6 ingredients, which is part of what makes them so simple and easy to make! You will need:

• Caster sugar

It’s important to use caster/superfine sugar, so that it dissolves quickly and evenly into the meringues.

• Egg whites

Make sure that you don’t get any yolk in your egg whites when you separate them, or you’ll have to start over. As always, I use large eggs.

• Salt

A small amount of fine sea salt is added to the egg whites as they whip, to help give them structure. I also like to sprinkle a small amount of coarse sea salt onto the meringues, once they’re baked (and drizzled with chocolate). However, if you plan to store the meringues for a while, I would skip this step, as the salt crystals do have a tendency to leave weird, salty, water-y droplets on top of your cookies over time!

• Cornflakes

Just regular old cornflakes! Use your favourite brand (or whatever’s on offer…).

• Dark chocolate

Use a good quality dark chocolate for the best results. I use this in two ways: firstly (and more traditionally) chopped into chunks and mixed into the macarons, then secondly (less traditionally, but very deliciously) melted and drizzled on top of the finished cookies. I took inspiration from Kate from veggiedesserts.com for this step!

• Vanilla extract

As with the dark chocolate, good quality vanilla extract will give the best flavour. You only need a small amount.

You will also need a small amount of vinegar (I use white wine vinegar) to wipe down the bowl/whisk attachment of your stand mixer. This is an important step, because it removes any little traces of fat in your machine, which might otherwise prevent the egg whites from whipping up properly!

Making Marens-Kornflexkökur

To make the Marens-Kornflexkökur, start by preheating the oven to 135°C. Line a tray with baking paper and set aside.

As I mentioned, I used a slightly adapted version of the French meringue method for this bake, so stay with me on this one! The first thing you want to do is to put the caster sugar into a frying pan. Shake it out into an even layer, then set over a low heat to warm gently.

You don’t want the sugar to melt, you just want to warm it slightly so that it dissolves into the egg whites more easily. Let it warm while you get everything else ready and it will be perfect. If you give it a shake, you might notice it sticking to the pan ever so slightly, like in the photo above.

With the sugar warming, you can get on with preparing the chocolate and the cornflakes. Finely chop the chocolate. Aim for small chunks— you want pockets of chocolate-y goodness, but you don’t want the chunks to be so big that they sink in the meringues.

Then, lightly crush the cornflakes. I just used my hands, but you could also do this with the back of a spoon, the end of a rolling pin, or even in a mortar and pestle! You just want to break them up a little bit, so that they can be distributed more evenly throughout the meringues and don’t get too chewy (you want them to be chewy, but not unswallowable).

With those ingredients prepared, it’s time to get on with the meringue.

Start by wiping out the metal bowl and the whisk attachment of a stand mixer with a little vinegar (I use white wine vinegar). This helps to clean the utensils by removing any traces of fat, which will prevent the egg whites from whipping up properly. It’s important to use a metal bowl, because that helps the egg whites whip up too!

Place the egg whites, along with a pinch of salt, into the mixer bowl and fit the whisk attachment.

Whisk on high speed until the egg whites reach soft peaks.

At this point, remove the frying pan from the heat and begin adding the warm sugar to the mixer bowl, a little at a time, while whisking on high speed.

Once all of the sugar has been added, stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl, so that all of the sugar crystals are in the meringue mixture.

At this point, the meringue will be very shiny and glossy, but not overly stiff, so keep whisking on high speed until the meringue holds stiff peaks.

Once the meringue has reached stiff peaks, it’s ready! If you rub a small amount of the mixture between your fingers, you shouldn’t be able to feel any sugar crystals.

Now, you can mix in the other ingredients. Start by folding in the vanilla.

Then, add the crushed cornflakes and the chopped chocolate.

Fold through again, and the mixture is ready!

Drop tablespoon-sized dollops of the mixture onto the lined baking tray. Don’t worry about getting them perfect— they’re supposed to look rustic, like snowy mountains!

Once you’ve used all of the mixture, place the tray into the preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the surface of the meringues is crisp and the cookies are holding their shape.

Allow the Marens-Kornflexkökur to cool completely on the trays, then serve as they are, or decorate them by drizzling with a little melted dark chocolate and sprinkling with coarse sea salt. Allow the chocolate to set at room temperature before serving.

Stored in an airtight container at room temperature, the cookies will keep for about 2 weeks. If you plan to make these in advance, I would recommend not sprinkling them with the coarse sea salt, as it can cause little droplets of water to form on the chocolate if left for too long!

Final Thoughts

These Marens-Kornflexkökur are made with a combination of ingredients that I would never have thought to combine, but I actually really like the results! The cookies are chewy, crispy and super tasty. They also taste super festive, despite not containing any of the classic Christmas spices I associate with ‘tasting festive’.

They’re super easy to make, but it did take me a few tries to nail this recipe (mainly as a result of my French meringue curse)! You want to bake them for a short enough time that they stay nice and chewy, but it is also easy to underbake them, which can lead to squidgy cookies that don’t hold their shape. I’m glad I stuck with them though, because I think I’m finally making a breakthrough with meringue!

As I mentioned, these probably aren’t for everyone. The texture of the cornflakes is quite unusual and, overall, they are a pretty sweet cookie (even with the dark chocolate!), which makes them perfect for me, but not so perfect for those who don’t have much of a sweet tooth. I liked them, but, much like the Indian Kulkuls, I’m not sure they live up to the dreamy, almond cookies of last year’s festive, Baking Around the World instalments!

Have you ever had eeMarens-Kornflexkökur before? Or have you ever tried meringues with cornflakes mixed in? Let me know!

Gemma

xxx

Recipe

Print

Marens-Kornflexkökur

These Icelandic, festive meringue cookies are flavoured with vanilla and studded with chopped dark chocolate and crushed cornflakes. They're crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside and super easy to bake, making them a perfect sweet treat.

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine Icelandic

Keyword Cornflakes, Dark Chocolate, Meringue, Vanilla

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 12 cookies

Ingredients

• White wine vinegar, for wiping down the bowl/whisk.
• 150 g caster sugar
• 2 egg whites (I used large eggs).
• 1 pinch fine sea salt
• 1 splash vanilla extract
• 60 g dark chocolate
• 30 g cornflakes

To decorate (optional):

• 15 g dark chocolate, melted
• Coarse sea salt

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 135°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper and set aside.
• Place the sugar into a frying pan, shaking it out into an even layer. Place over low heat and leave to warm while you prepare the other ingredients. You don't want the sugar to melt, just to warm up slightly so that it dissolves into the egg whites more easily.
• Finely chop the dark chocolate and lightly crush the cornflakes.
• Wipe down the metal bowl and whisk attachment of a stand mixer with white wine vinegar to remove any traces of fat. Place the egg whites in the bowl, along the fine sea salt.
• Whisk the egg whites on high speed, until they reach soft peaks.
• Once all of the sugar has been added, turn off the mixer and use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Then turn the mixer back on to high speed and whisk the meringue until stiff peaks form. When it's ready, you should be able to rub a small amount of the meringue between your fingers without feeling any sugar crystals.
• Fold the vanilla extract into the meringue, then add the chopped dark chocolate and crushed cornflakes and fold again, until evenly distributed.
• Place tablespoon-sized dollops of the meringue mixture onto the prepared baking tray. Once you have used up all of the mixture, place the tray into the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the surface of the meringues feels crisp and the cookies hold their shape.
• Allow the meringues to cool completely on the tray before serving/decorating. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

To decorate (optional):

• Drizzle the cooled meringue cookies with the melted dark chocolate, then sprinkle with coarse sea salt (see Note 1). Allow to sit at room temperature until the chocolate has set, then serve.

Notes

1. If you are decorating the cookies in advance, I would recommend skipping the coarse sea salt. The salt crystals can cause little droplets of water to form on the surface of the chocolate if left for too long, which, while they don’t affect the taste, don’t look super pretty!

Sources Used

Saveur: Christmas in Iceland

Saveur: Icelandic Chocolate Cornflake Cookies

Guide to Iceland: Icelandic Sweets and Confectionery

Artic Adventures: Traditional Icelandic Christmas Food

Bland: Marengs Kökur

Gulur Raudur Grænn & Salt: Kornflex smákökur

Veggie Desserts: Icelandic Christmas Meringue Cookies

Baking with Nessa: Icelandic Christmas Cookies “Marens-Kornflexkökur”

Arctic Adventures: Icelandic Christmas

Roaming Taste: Marens-Kornflexkökur

Setting up the initial pages of my bullet journal can feel like such an overwhelming task, because a) I’m not known for my moderation, so there’s always SO MANY pages to create and b) it has to be done alongside a monthly setup. I wanted to keep the design for this setup really simple and easy to create, both to make the task feel a little less overwhelming and to allow me to focus on the function of the spreads themselves, to ensure that these pages are super helpful and useless to me.

I opted to use my pastel Kuretake dot pens to decorate all of the spreads in this setup, using them to create boxes, borders and even headings. I went for a simple, block capital font and used only one, black fineliner for all of the writing. I tried to keep the setups looking clean and minimal, but also colourful and happy, which I think will be just what I need going into the new year.

Table of Contents

• Journal
• Equipment
• Nameplate
• Cover + Quote Page
• 2025 Goals
• Future Log
• Tennis Schedule + Results
• Year in Dots
• Appointments + Prescriptions
• Blog Planning
• Ideas
• Bullet Journal Planning + Wishlist
• Finance + Knit & Crochet
• TV + Reading Trackers
• Final Thoughts

Journal

For the next 6 months, I’ll be using the Snowflake Polaroid A5 Dot Grid Journal from Coral and Ink (I purchased a B Grade version, for a discounted price).

This journal is a lovely blue colour— almost a cross between a cloud blue and a periwinkle. The pages have gilded edges and the front cover features a gold foil design of a polaroid and some snowflakes. The journal also has an elastic closure, pen loop, two ribbon bookmarks and a back pocket, for storing any journalling essentials.

Equipment

To create this setup, I used the following equipment:

• Sakura Pigma Micron fineliner, black 01 (0.25mm).
• Kuretake clean colour dot pens, mild colours.
• Tombow ABT dual brush pen, N89 (I got mine in this multipack).
• Scissors.
• Corner rounder.

Nameplate

I wanted to keep my nameplate for this journal in line with the theme of the other spreads, so I used my Kuretake pens to add 5 little dots of colour, before writing my name over the top (one letter per dot).

Cover + Quote Page

Like every spread in this setup, I wanted to keep the Cover Page super simple. I used a repeating sequence of the Kuretake pen colours to make a border around the page, then applied slightly more pressure to make 4 bigger dots in the centre of the page, on top of which I wrote ‘2025’.

For my Quote Page, I chose a quote from a poem I saw recently on Instagram, that really struck a cord with me. The poem was written by Josie Balka, and you can find it here.

2025 Goals

I have an on-off relationship with ‘goals’, because I’m not particularly good at following through with them and I always end up being either too ambitious or not ambitious enough with them. However, this time of year, as New Year’s Eve draws closer, I always find myself craving a little life reset and enjoying the prospect of making small, manageable changes that help me to feel happier and more aligned, so I’ve opted to include a Goals Page in this setup.

I have space in this setup for 6 separate goals and I made sure to give each one plenty of space, so that I can write down some actionable steps for each one, in the hopes that, for once, I might actually work towards them!

Future Log

Onto one of the most important spreads in my biannual setups now: my Future Log. This is essentially a yearly calendar, where I can see all of my appointments (of which there are usually very many), events (of which there are usually very few) and just a general outline of the year ahead. I set up two Future Log spreads in this journal: one for the months this journal covers (January to June) and one for the remaining 6 months of the year, so that I don’t feel completely overwhelmed and unprepared when June comes to an end.

I like to have a really clear, visual representation of the year ahead, so I use multiple calendar layouts within my Future Log spreads: there’s a mini calendar at the top of each month, so I can see the structure of each one easily, then I have a vertical calendar beneath to write in any important dates. On that vertical calendar, I like to highlight the weekend dates, just to help me visualise each week. In this particular edition of my Future Log, I used a different colour for each month, to help separate them out.

Tennis Schedule + Results

Now, onto my beloved Tennis Schedule/Results spread, for which I use 3 whole double-page spreads in my journal (worth it). I trimmed down the centre pages and rounded out the corners using a corner rounder (much easier than trying to use scissors!). I then wrote the heading for the whole spread across those two trimmed down pages, as pictured above.

I used the same layout for my tennis spread as always: ATP tournaments are on the left-hand side, while WTA tournaments are on the right. The numbers down the middle represent the weeks of the schedule, then I write the specific start dates of the respective tournaments in the columns on either side. I write the location/name of the tournament in the next column out, then the final column on each side is left empty for the surname of the respective winners.

Because there are so many tournaments in a year, I spread this table out over both remaining pages of the spread: so January-March is on the left-hand spread, while April-June is on the right-hand spread.

I also added in my code for what level of tournament each one is (plus a little added colour, to match in with the rest of the spread): 1/4 circle = a 250 tournament, 1/2 circle = a 500 tournament, 3/4 circle = a Masters 100 and a full circle = a Grand Slam. A star represents a different format of tournament, such as the United, Davis or Billie Jean King cups.

Year in Dots

I didn’t set up a Year in Pixels spread in my last journal, because I just wasn’t keeping up with it, but it is something I enjoy doing and I like having it there for reference, particularly in terms of my physical/mental health, so I’ve decided to give it another go this time around.

I’ve changed up the layout slightly by using these mini calendars, rather than one big grid— a bit like a habit tracker. I feel like I’ll be able to fill in the spread more efficiently this way, but we’ll see how it works out. Because I’ll be using my Kuretake pens to fill this out, each ‘pixel’ will be more of a ‘dot’, so I’ve opted to call this spread my ‘Year in Dots‘ instead.

One of the problems I found with the Year in Pixels spread was that when I’d have longer periods of ill health, I’d have to keep the context surrounding that period in my head, as I had nowhere to note it down. For example, I might have had 7 ‘ill’ days in a row, but it would be because I had a virus or because I had had a particularly busy day the week before. I decided to use the right-hand page of this spread to write down any of this information, so I can keep everything in perspective.

Appointments + Prescriptions

Next up, we have a page for keeping track of my Appointments. In this table, I can write down the date of the appointment, the type of appointment and any notes on what was discussed, management plans and the like.

Next to that, I have my standard Prescriptions page. It can be hard to keep track of prescription medications: when you’ll run out of them and when you need to reorder them from the pharmacy, so this spread helps me do that. On the coloured dots on the far left, I’ll write in the date that I am filling out the table. After that, each medicine is assigned to a column, in which I fill out the number of tablets I have left, the number of days that corresponds to and the date that I will run out of my supply.

This takes a little while to setup, and a little while every now and then to fill out, but I just do it whenever I get a new set of prescriptions, so I can always feel confident that I’m not about to run out without realising! It really does make a huge difference.

Blog Planning

Next, we have my Blog Planning spreads. On the left-hand page, I keep track of some general, blog-related info. I like to keep a note of my Instagram growth every month, so there’s a section for that on the left, and the HEX codes of my blog colours, so they’re always accessible if I need to make any graphics (the section for that is on the right). Beneath that, I have a space for any general notes.

On the right-hand page, I have my master list of blog posts. In the first column, I’ll write in the post date, then, in the second column, I’ll write in the title of the post.

Ideas

I don’t like too much structure when it comes to my Ideas spread, so I’ve kept this one super simple: just a simple border, with the title written on it. I use this as a kind of ‘brain dump’ style spread, so I can just jot down any ideas I may have, at any point, without worrying about making it looking neat or orderly.

Bullet Journal Planning + Wishlist

Now we come to my Bullet Journal Planning page, where I can note down any potential theme ideas for the year ahead. I sometimes find it hard to pick a theme, so having a list that I can create/add to throughout the year makes it much easier. A lot of my theme ideas are month-specific, so I laid this spread out as a table, with one box for each month of the year. However, I also have a space for ‘miscellaneous’ spread ideas at the top, in case I have any ideas that don’t necessarily have to be used for a particular month.

Next to that page is my Wishlist spread. Unlike my Ideas spread, I do like to separate my Wishlist out into categories, so I’ve separated this spread into 6 boxes: one each for stationery items, entertainment products, hair/skin products, clothing, homeware and other, miscellaneous products.

Finance + Knit & Crochet

I like to keep a general record of my Finances, so, on this next page, I have one table to keep track of my savings and one to keep track of my income streams. In the savings table (top), each row corresponds to a month, then there are columns for income, expenses, the amount I have saved that month and the total sum of my savings since January. In the income stream table (bottom), I just have 6 spaces (one for each month of the year), to note down where my money came from each month.

Alongside my Finance page, I have a space to keep track of my Knit & Crochet Projects. While I do use Ravelry to keep detailed notes of each project, I do also like to keep a general record in my bullet journal as well, so that I can easily look back over all of the projects I have completed/started in each 6-month period.

TV + Reading Trackers

Finally, I have my Entertainment trackers. On the left-hand page, I have my TV Tracker, where I keep track of the TV series that I’m watching and how far along in them I am. For each series, I’ll write down the title of the show, then use my Kuretake pens to add a corresponding number of dots to the number of seasons it has. As I watch each season, I tick it off.

Then, I have my Reading Tracker. I mainly use Storygraph to keep track of my reading habits, but I do like to have a record in my planner too. I’ve set this one out in a table format, so the first column is for the number of the book (I record this starting in January, so the first book I read in the new year will be #1, the second #2 and so on), the second column is for the title, the third for the date I started reading it and the fourth for the date I finished it.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I’m so, incredibly happy with how this setup turned out. It feels like the perfect balance of colourful and minimal, fun and useful, so I’m really excited to see how it works for me over the next 6 months. While it did take a little while to stamp all the little dots, I actually found the process quite therapeutic— I just put the TV on and stamped away in a little repeating sequence of the colours and, once I’d done that, each spread was super quick and easy to finish off.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my 2025 setup! Let me know if it gave you any ideas for spreads in your own bullet journal!

Gemma

xxx

This no-bake, Small Batch Festive Chocolate Biscut Cake is basically a Christmassy, slightly more grown-up version of Rocky Road. Made with a combination of milk and dark chocolate for the perfect combination of bitter and sweet, it also includes crumbled amaretti biscuits, roasted, salted almonds and dried cranberries. The whole thing is finished off with a drizzle of white chocolate to make the bars look super pretty on your festive table this year!

Because there’s always so much chocolate and so many sweet treats around this time of year, I developed this as a small batch recipe: it only makes 12 small pieces (though it’s pretty rich, so that’s perfect!), so you can don’t feel overwhelmed by yet another chocolate-y treat! If you’d like to make a bigger batch, feel free to scale up the recipe and use a bigger tin.

Table of Contents

• Ingredients
• Method

Ingredients

To make this festive chocolate biscuit cake, you will need the following ingredients:

• Dark, milk & white chocolate

This biscuit cake uses a combination of dark and milk chocolate, for the perfect, sweet, but not-too-sweet combination. If you prefer, you can use all dark, or all milk. You will also need a small amount of white chocolate to drizzle over the top of the bars, but this is an optional step (it just makes the bars look SO pretty!).

• Golden syrup

Golden syrup is melted with the chocolate to make the bars slightly soft and fudgy (and easier to slice!).

• Unsalted butter

Like the golden syrup, this is combined with the chocolate to keep the bars nicely fudgy and sliceable, but it also makes them extra rich. I would recommend using unsalted butter, because there are already other salty elements in the recipe— it’s still a sweet treat, after all!

• Amaretti biscuits

These are crisp, Italian almond biscuits that are often served alongside coffee. They’re readily available in supermarkets across the UK these days and they add great crunch and flavour to these bars.

• Roasted, salted almonds

To echo the almond flavour of the amaretti, I’ve used almonds in this biscuit cake (though you could substitute them with another nut (or even just more biscuits), if you prefer). Using roasted almonds helps to ensure the bars have a really nutty flavour, while the saltiness really help to balance out the sweetness of the bars.

If you only have plain almonds, you can turn them into roasted & salted almonds super easily! Dissolve a generous pinch of sea salt in 1 tsp of hot water, then toss with the almonds, until they are completely coated. Bake the almonds at 180°C for about 5 minutes (or throw them in the airfryer at the same temperature, for the same amount of time), until golden and nutty-smelling. Allow them to cool before chopping and using in the bars.

• Dried cranberries

What could be more festive than cranberries? Traditionally, biscuit cake contains raisins, but cranberries add the same chew with extra festive-ness, plus, they’re more tart than raisins, so they help to make sure these bars aren’t too sweet. I recommend using unsweetened dried cranberries, if you can find them.

• Coarse sea salt

This is optional, but I like to sprinkle a small amount of coarse sea salt over the top of the bars before they go into the fridge to set. This echoes the saltiness of the almonds and makes these bars feel extra grown-up and delicious!

Method

To make the bars, start by preparing your tin. Like with my small batch pecan bars, I’m using a 900g (2lb) loaf tin (21cm x 11cm x 7cm), but you can use any shape tin, as long as it’s a similar size. Line the tin with baking paper, so that the chocolate mixture doesn’t stick to the sides of the tin and you can remove it easily.

Next, prepare your mix-ins. First, crumble up the amaretti cookies. Aim for small chunks— too big and your bars won’t be even, too small and you won’t get that nice, crunchy texture! Amaretti cookies are quite fragile, so it shouldn’t require too much force to break them.

Chop the almonds roughly. Again, you don’t want them too big or too small (though honestly, it doesn’t really matter— the bars will still taste great, so do whatever you feel like!)

For the cranberries, just leave them whole.

Next, prepare the chocolate mixture. Place both the milk and dark chocolate, along with the butter and golden syrup into a small saucepan and set over a low heat.

Stir frequently as the chocolate and butter melts.

Once you have a smooth mixture, remove the pan from the heat. It’s important that you don’t overheat the chocolate, because it might seize (at which point you’d have to start all over again!).

Pour out about 50g of the chocolate mixture into a separate bowl. Set this aside for later, when you’ll use it to level out the top of the bars, to make them extra pretty!

To the rest of the chocolate mixture in the pan, add the crumbled amaretti cookies, the chopped almonds and the dried cranberries.

Mix everything together thoroughly, until all of the mix-ins are completely coated in the chocolate mixture.

Tip the mixture into the lined tin and spread out into an even layer. It will seem like there’s not a lot of mixture, but just spread it out evenly— because these bars are small, they don’t need to be too deep to look proportional.

Pour the reserved 50g of the chocolate mixture all over the top of the bars, and gently spread it over the surface to fill in any gaps and level everything out a little.

Now, it’s time to decorate. Drizzle some melted white chocolate all over the surface of the bars— the messier the better!

Sprinkle over some coarse sea salt while the chocolate is still wet, so that is sticks.

Put the whole tin into the fridge to firm up for at least 3 hours, or until firm enough to slice. Once it’s chilled, remove it from the tin and transfer it to a chopping board.

Once chilled, cut the biscuit cake into 12 small bars and dig in!

The bars will keep in an airtight container at a (cool) room temperature for 4-5 days, but, if your house is particularly warm, I’d recommend storing them in the fridge to prevent the chocolate from melting!

Print

Small Batch Festive Chocolate Biscuit Cake

This rich, grown-up version of Rocky Road contains a 50/50 blend of milk and dark chocolate, alongside crumbled amaretti cookies, salted almonds and dried cranberries. The perfect, quick and easy, no-bake recipe for Christmas!

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine British, Italian

Keyword almond, Amaretti, Cranberry, Dark Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, White Chocolate

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Chill Time 3 hours hours

Total Time 3 hours hours 25 minutes minutes

Servings 12 small pieces

Equipment

• 1 900g (2lb) loaf tin (21cm x 11cm x 7cm)

Ingredients

• 90 g milk chocolate, roughly chopped.
• 90 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped.
• 60 g unsalted butter
• 50 g golden syrup
• 70 g amaretti biscuits, broken up.
• 40 g roasted, salted almonds, roughly chopped.
• 30 g dried cranberries

To decorate:

• 15 g white chocolate, melted.
• Coarse sea salt, for sprinkling.

Instructions

• Line the tin with greaseproof paper and set aside.
• Place the milk and dark chocolate, unsalted butter and golden syrup into a small saucepan and set over low heat. Stir gently while the mixture melts together.
• Once the mixture is smooth and completely melted, remove from the heat immediately. Pour about 50g of the mixture into a small bowl for later.
• To the remaining chocolate mixture in the pan, add the crumbled amaretti cookies, the chopped almonds and the dried cranberries. Mix well to coat everything in the chocolate mixture.
• Tip the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth out into an even layer. Pour over the reserved chocolate mixture and smooth over to level out the surface.
• Drizzle the melted white chocolate all over the surface of the bars, then sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
• Place the bars into the fridge to chill for at least 3 hours, or until firm enough to slice. Remove from the tin and slice into 12 small pieces to serve. The bars will keep at room temperature, in an airtight container, for 4-5 days (though, if the weather is warm, I would recommend storing them in the fridge).

The Stjärna pattern by Karolina Eckerdal is such a popular design, and is one I’ve had my eye on for a good few years, but, up until now, I was always too intimidated by it to give it a go. I’ve spoken before about my fear of DPNs and this pattern feels like the epitome of DPN-knitting, which made me very reluctant to try it out. However, this year, having embarked upon a DPN-fear-conquering journey, I finally decided to be brave and give it a go!

I ended up making 4 Stjärna ornaments, so I thought I’d share a bit about my experience making them!

Table of Contents

• The Pattern
• The Yarn
  • Drops Merino Extra Fine: Mini Review
• The Knitting Process
  • Barber Cord Cast-On Method
• Star A vs Star B
• Final Thoughts

The Pattern

The Stjärna pattern is a FREE pattern by Karolina Eckerdal. It uses DK weight yarn and 3.00mm needles (6 DPNs + a pair of circular needles). You work one side of the ornament at a time, working from the edge of the ornament inwards, decreasing as you go to give it the star shape. You then pick up the stitches around the perimeter and knit the other side of the ornament in the exact same way. The ornament is stuffed and a loop of yarn is attached to the top to hang it from.

The pattern offers two variations for the Stjärna ornaments: Star A uses slightly fewer stitches and makes for a slightly softer-edged, puffier star. Star B uses more stitches and introduces a series of purl stitches to help define the star shape and make the points, well… pointier. I made two ornaments following the pattern for Star A and two following the pattern for Star B, just to get the full experience.

The Yarn

For once, I actually used the yarn that the pattern calls for: Drops Merino Extra Fine. I used the shade Off White 01, to make neutral-coloured stars like the ones in the pattern. I’ve also seen some projects on Ravelry where people have used multiple colours to make a rainbow of Stjärna ornaments, which I think would be so fun!

Drops Merino Extra Fine: Mini Review

I’ve actually used this particular yarn before (albeit in the shade Amethyst 36), for my Daphne Top (the very first knit in my Project Knitwear series!). I didn’t remember much about my experience using it, so it felt a little like trying out a new yarn for the first time. It is quite a soft, smooth yarn, but I did struggle a little bit with how split-y it was— particularly when picking up the stitches for the second side.

From 1 x 50g ball of the yarn, I was able to make 4 Stjärna ornaments, with some yarn left over (each ornament took about 10-12g of yarn). Each ball is £3.50, which works out at under 90p per ornament, which I think is pretty good value!

The Knitting Process

These Stjärna ornaments are… fiddly, to say the least. They definitely got easier to make as I got used to the process and made more of them, though. The fiddliest part for me was picking up the stitches before knitting the second side— I just couldn’t seem to get this right, so I actually ended up finding a bit of a workaround for this, which I will share in a second.

The pattern contains full instructions for a Two-Way Cast On, which apparently helps to eliminate the half-stitch jog between the front and back of the ornament. Sadly, I could not for the life of me get the hang of this technique, so I ended up using a regular old provisional cast on instead, and just had to make my peace with the jog (which, honestly, isn’t even that noticeable). I think my problem might have been that I was casting on too tightly, but it was all such a faff that I don’t think I can face trying it again…

Once the first few rows on each side are complete (and before you get to the fiddly bit at the centre of each side where you’re juggling lots of DPNs with very few stitches…) the knitting process is actually super straightforward— it’s simple and repetitive, so, strangely enough, I actually enjoyed the majority of the knitting process.

Barber Cord Cast-On Method

Back to the less than enjoyable part then… the picking up of the stitches. Whether you’re using a provisional cast on or the special, Two-Way Cast On from the pattern, you have to pick up the stitches around the perimeter of the star at some point, so that you can knit the other side. Picking up the stitches was the worst part of this pattern for me— even with the provisional cast on, which should have made it super easy, I really struggled to pick up the right number of stitches around the decrease columns (where the centred double decreases are worked). Picking up the stitches is also quite fiddly, because of the star shape, so I began trying to think of a way to avoid the whole picking-up part.

In the end, I decided to try a slightly different cast on method. I just used a regular, cable cast on, but I set it up over both the circular needle AND a barber cord. To do that, I just attached one end of the barber cord to the tip of the needle I was casting on onto, and held it down alongside the needle. I then cast on over both the needle and the cord, making sure to keep it nice and loose. Once I was finished, I disconnected the barber cord from the tip of the needle, then knit the first round of the pattern onto the DPNs, only working off the needle (NOT the barber cord), so that the cast on stitches remained anchored on that. I knit the whole first side of the star, then, when it was time to pick up the stitches for the second side, I just slipped them from the barber cord to my DPNs and went on my way.

There are pros and cons to this method— it is by no means a perfect solution! While it is easier to work up, it does leave a slight ‘seam’ (it looks a little like a series of whip stitches?) and it does make the stars a little chunkier (though this could also be because I was getting more relaxed with my knitting, so my tension might have been looser?). Honestly, though, I’m willing to forgive all that for the EASE.

Also, a couple of notes on this method: firstly, you might need to sew the two sides of the star together with a couple of little stitches, just at the start of the round— I found I tended to get a little hole in the seam around here, but it was easily fixed with a darning needle and the yarn end that’s already there.

Secondly, if you’re making Star B, remember that the pattern is not symmetrical on each DPN, so it does matter which way you ‘pick up’ the stitches. I forgot this, and ended up having to reverse the pattern on the second side (i.e. purling the stitches at the end of each needle, rather than the start), which wasn’t the end of the world, but did take me a minute to realise!

Star A vs Star B

Before I made my own Stjärna ornaments, I was fully expecting Star B to be my favourite, because I liked the extra definition of the star shape. However, after making them, I think I actually prefer the softer, more seamless look of Star A! I think, because they’re knitted and stuffed, the pointier look is almost at odds with the object itself, while the puffy look just feels right.

As much as I love the neat, seamless look of the Star A that I knit as instructed, it was definitely a struggle to pick up those stitches (and I did have to do a bit of fudging to get the right stitch count…). It worked out for me here, but I know that picking up stitches in the wrong place could make the half-stitch jog even worse, so it’s a bit of a risky technique (for me, at least)! The Star A that I made using my Barber Cord Cast-On Method isn’t quite as neat, and does have a noticeable half-stitch jog, but it was just so much quicker and easier to make, I still think I’d use that method again if I were to make another Stjärna!

Final Thoughts

Overall, I’m really happy with my Stjärna ornaments. They were fiddly to make, but no more fiddly than I expected (though I didn’t have high expectations). As I mentioned, I do prefer the style of Star A— I just think the softer, plushier look works better with the whole knitted, stuffed ornament vibe. Once I got the hang of them (and worked out a way to avoid picking up the stitches), these were actually super quick little knits (and they felt even faster than they were, because you’re always working from the outside in and decreasing, so the rows get shorter every time!).

Long story short, I’d definitely make more of these in the future, but, after four in a row (and a lot of DPN knitting in general), I think I’m due a little break. I continue to dream about making a rainbow of Stjärna ornaments (perhaps for a fun, festive garland?!), but I think I’ll store that idea away for another day…

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post! Have you ever made a Stjärna ornament? Let me know!

If you're interested...

You can find the FREE Stjärna pattern by Karolina Eckerdal on Ravelry here.

You can find my Stjärna Ornaments project page on Ravelry here.

Gemma

xxx

If you’ve been here for a while, you might know that every year I like to drag my parents (or at least one of them) to a Christmas light trail in late November, to get us into the festive mood. This has been a tradition that has emerged over the last couple of years, so it only felt right to continue with it this and where better to go than the home of Mr Darcy himself (in the 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, anyway): Chatsworth House. I’ve actually been to Chatsworth once before, a good few years ago now, but I’ve never been at Christmas, so I was really excited to go and see it in all its festive glory!

In the past, we’ve had great luck with our festive trips: the weather’s been good, things haven’t been overly busy— you know, all the important things. Unfortunately, 2024 decided to humble us, because our trip this year was very soggy and very busy. Welcome to a Great British Christmas, ladies and gentlemen! Also, it turns out Christmas at Chatsworth isn’t really a light trail— there are some lights and there is a projection display on the facade of the house itself, but, really, the main attractions are the Christmas Market and the decorated interiors of the house.

Anyway, despite the rain, the crowds and my ever-fading willingness to take my hands out of my pockets to brave getting my phone out, I did take a few pictures of the experience, so I thought I’d share them with you, to bring a little bit of festive opulence to your screens! Here, then, are my Postcards from Christmas at Chatsworth 2024…

There were displays cases inside the house that were filled with antique baking equipment, used at Chatsworth over the years. Of course, this was very exciting to me.

I particularly liked the copper jelly moulds and mussel shaped chocolate moulds!

There was also this absolutely massive (truly— it was the height of a small child) geode. Not overly festive, but very shiny!

Again, not particularly festive, but the classicist in me was very excited by this bronze copy of Schwanthaler’s Shield of Hercules.

This was the big tree in the main hallway (which is actually not as big as it looks in Pride and Prejudice— they must do some sort of perspective magic in the film, because the shots taken in this exact hallway always make it look so huge and airy!).

I was very excited by the gummy bear ornaments on this particular tree— there was a whole rainbow of them (though I only managed to snap a photo of the orange one), and they had this perfect, sugared look. I also very much enjoyed the carrot ornaments, but that I think that might just be the Jannik Sinner fan in me.

I loved the little copper ball string lights on this tree— they remind me of little lanterns and bring such warmth to an otherwise pretty cool-toned colour scheme!

Ah, now we come to one of my favourite parts: the tale of a wreath mouse and his mince pies, told along one of the corridors of the house. First, we have the festive mouse, happy, but hungry.

Then, the mouse has found a mince pie and is even happier.

Then, the mouse has hit the mince pie jackpot and is making a break for it.

Okay, okay. I realise these are probably supposed to be three separate mice (based on the fact they’re all wearing different outfits), but I think it’s much more entertaining to imagine it as one mouse on a quest for festive snacks, disguising himself each time to go back to the buffet for extra helpings (very relatable behaviour from the mouse).

This was my mum’s favourite tree, when we showed her the photos. I like to think that’s a touch of lingering nostalgia from the time I became obsessed with having a copper colour scheme at Christmas and convinced her to buy a whole new set of baubles (which I promise, we still use!). Ah, good times.

This long study was roped off, so you couldn’t enter it, but the doors were left open so you could see it all festively decorated. This was my dad’s favourite room in the house, and I like the way it seems to stretch out for miles. I figure even working at Christmastime would be quite nice, if this was your office!

Then, we came to the iconic Veiled Vestal statue by Raffaelle Monti. This statue features in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice film, and is a particular favourite of my mum, so I made sure to take a photo to show her! This had moved from the last time I was at Chatsworth— it now stands (kneels?) in an alcove all of its own! This statue is so famous that the gift shop actually sells miniature busts of it, but they’ll set you back £130 🙁 …

“Gemma, why have you taken a photo of a ceiling?”

I know, I know, but a) this ceiling is a beautiful ceiling and b) it reminds me SO much of the African flower crochet blankets! I’m thinking this ceiling could be a great form of inspiration for a new crochet blanket, so I’m stashing this one away under Potential Future Projects…

This room was, admittedly, a little odd, because it was filled with lots of very obviously fake food… Not that I’d expect them to leave real food out for two months, but… the fake turkey does kind of freak me out. I am, however, a BIG fan of the mince pie tower: I think this would be a great idea for a Christmas party/event. It reminds me a little of a Scandinavian kransekake, only made up of mince pies, instead.

There was also a ‘gingerbread’ version of the house itself, which I felt very inspired by (but also, I felt they could have gone a little further with it! Give me some opulence! Some drama! Some… actual gingerbread?).

Next up was the iconic Sculpture Gallery (as seen in Pride and Prejudice, too!). I thought the monochrome, paper decorations in here really suited the room, while still feeling festive.

Finally, we came to the gift shop, where I found the iconic Mr Darcy/Matthew MacFadyen statue from Pride and Prejudice. The sign below reads ‘Please do not kiss!’, which is equal parts funny and concerning…

Had to give you all the angles— how bewitching.

And those are the postcards from inside the house! I don’t have a ton of photos from outside, because the Christmas market was absolutely HEAVING and the rain made it difficult to take photos in the gardens (which are lovely), but I did snap a couple, if you’ll forgive the grey skies…

The facade of the house (though I think it’s really the back, even though it looks like it should be the front, so I guess that means it’s not a facade…?). Can you spot the balcony where Elizabeth and Darcy had that really awkward chat when he caught her hanging around his house? What an iconic (super cringey) moment.

This is the same side of the building, later on in the day during the projection display.

So that was our very soggy, very busy, but very Pride and Prejudice-inspired, festive trip to Chatsworth. A month later, I think I’ve finally dried out again.

Gemma

xxx

Today’s post isn’t particularly Christmassy, but, seeing as we’re in the last month of the year now, it’s time to finish off my 2024 bullet journal so that I can start a new one for 2025. In today’s post, I’ll be chatting about the final two spreads in my journal: my 2024 Review spreads! You might remember that I did this kind of thing in my journal last year, but I went in a slightly different direction this year.

Attending the Eras Tour was the biggest highlight of my year, so I used it as the theme for these spreads. I actually did a whole monthly setup with an Eras Tour theme back in June, which was one of my favourite setups I’ve ever done, so I used that as inspiration for these spreads!

Table of Contents

• Equipment
• 2024 Memories
• 2024: Spotify Wrapped

Equipment

To make these spreads, I used the following equipment:

• Uni Pin Fine Line pen: 0.5, sepia.
• Coloured pencils.
• Pencil.
• Eraser.

I wanted to keep these spreads soft and colourful, so I opted to use a brown fineliner, instead of my usual black one. Otherwise, the equipment list for this one is pretty basic!

2024 Memories

This year has been a strange one for me, so I didn’t really fancy doing a super in-depth review spread this time around. Instead, I thought it would be nice to make a more visual spread, full of memories from the year gone by.

I decided to use the same friendship bracelet doodle decoration as my June setup, with little round, heart & star-shaped ‘beads’, in all of the colours associated with Taylor Swift’s album eras. As with my monthly setup, I used the following shades of coloured pencils to correspond with each era:

• Taylor Swift – pale green
• Fearless – gold/deep yellow
• Speak Now – lilac
• Red – red (astounding, I know)
• 1989 – pale blue
• Reputation – dark grey
• Lover – pale pink
• Folklore – grey
• Evermore – beige
• Midnights – dark blue
• The Tortured Poets Department – black

I had the idea to fill this spread with one massive friendship bracelet, fitted with multiple ‘charms’ that represent significant memories for me this year. I’m not the best at drawing/doodling, so I was a bit nervous about drawing the charms, but I just went in with a pencil and eraser first, before inking over the lines, to take the pressure off.

I won’t go into detail on every charm, because I’d like to keep some memories just for me, but here’s what a few of my charms symbolise:

• Pink disco ball: This was the charm I chose to represent the Eras Tour! I wore a sparkly pink dress (that I made myself!), Taylor swift has a song called mirrorball and I danced a lot, so it felt fitting.
• #1 red & green tennis ball: My favourite tennis player, Jannik Sinner, reached #1 in the world this year, so this charm is to commemorate that and how much fun I had watching all the matches over the past season! Sinner is Italian, so I used red and green for the colours of the ball (though, now that I think about it, I feel blue might have been a better fit here, because the Italian players wear blue in the Billie Jean King/Davis Cups (which, coincidentally, Italy also won!).
• Pig in blanket: Ever since last Christmas, I’ve been in a major Pig in Blanket era, which is kind of random, but obviously had to be commemorated.
• Ball of yarn: I’ve been really getting back into my knitting this year, particularly with my Project Knitwear series, so I wanted to draw a charm to reflect that. However, I also wanted to commemorate the Paris Olympics that took place this summer (and forgot to give it a charm of its own), so I opted to use the colours of the Olympic rings for this yarn ball charm. I think this worked out pretty perfectly, because my biggest yarn-y project this year was my Grace Blanket, which I made while watching the Olympics.
• Golden bee: I couldn’t summarise my 2024 without a reference to Bridgerton, after the release of Season 3 and my Bridgerton Watch Party series here on the blog. The bee is a classic symbol of the show and I chose to make it gold to reflect the green & gold colour scheme of the promo material for Season 3.
• Aurora borealis: I would forgive you for not knowing what this one was, because my artistic skills leave much to be desired, but I actually managed to see the aurora borealis on two (!) separate occasions this month, right on my doorstep, which was very magical.
• Ink pot & quill: With my Taylor Swift theme, I couldn’t leave out the latest album/era: The Tortured Poets Department. It’s not my most favourite era, but I still love it (and I just got an Anthology vinyl, which is SO exciting!).

In the centre of the page, I also sketched out the numbers in ‘2024’. The aim was to make these also look like charms, so the whole thing is one, big, ‘2024’ charm bracelet. My skills at 3D-ifying things are evidently still a work in progress, but I still like the effect here.

After I’d sketched everything out, inked all the lines, coloured in all of the charms and added in the smaller beads, the spread was basically finished. However, there was a little space in both the bottom left and the top right, so I couldn’t help myself from adding in one of my favourite Taylor Swift lyrics (which is always very fitting for these types of spreads): “Hold on to the memories they will hold on to you” from New Year’s Day (which Taylor Swift JUST sang as one of the surprise songs at the last ever Eras Tour show in Vancouver so… it’s kind of meant to be!).

2024: Spotify Wrapped

Let’s be real: Spotify Wrapped this year was… kind of a let down. However, I wait all year to have my listening habits broken down into fun statistics, so I still wanted to pay homage to it here. I love to look back over my Spotify Wrapped from years gone by and see how my likes/dislikes have changed (though, let’s be real, Taylor Swift is always my #1 artist). I figured where better to store this info than in my bullet journal, so I made a spread for it here.

Again, I’m keeping with that same friendship bracelet, Eras Tour theme, using my brown fineliner to keep everything soft and light. I wrote the heading for this spread on little alphabet ‘beads’ (i.e. circles that I drew with the fineliner). I then drew little corner frames for each section and filled the rest of the space with coloured pencil doodles (with varying degrees of success: my TTPD space ship looks more like a Picasso eye and my guitar has a slight lyre vibe to it…).

My music listening this year has definitely taken a bit of a hit— honestly, most of the songs in my Wrapped playlist are the ones I listen to to fall asleep! I very much enjoyed seeing my April phase though (Royalcore String Quarter Classical Pop): you can tell how excited I was for Bridgerton Season 3 coming out in May! My biggest listening day being the day before my Eras Tour show was also very fitting. I’ll have to work on my Swiftie credentials though— I’ve dropped from being in the top 1% of Taylor Swift listeners a couple of years ago to the top 3%! Sigh.

Anyway, those are my Eras Tour-themed, 2024 Review pages in my bullet journal. Now, it’s time to start on my new, 2025 bullet journal! Watch this space!

Gemma

xxx

In this post, as always with my 'Making a...' series, I'll be chatting about my experience making this pattern, as well as detailing any changes/adaptations I made. If you want to make your own Christmas Bear, you can purchase the pattern from the designer here!

Table of Contents

• Pattern Variations
• Materials
  • Yarn
  • Notions
• Adaptations
• Final thoughts

Pattern Variations

The pattern contains instructions for making two different styles of bear: a polar bear (i.e. all white) and a brown bear (i.e. with a different colour muzzle), though you can obviously use whatever colours you want! I opted to make a polar bear, just to really drive home the whole ‘Christmas Bear’ vibe (and, as an added bonus, it meant I only had to buy one colour of yarn…).

Another customisable element of the pattern is the outfit you make for your bear. Instructions are given for both a romper (with individual leg holes) and a dress, though the design of both is exactly the same (as with the bear, colours can be changed). I opted to make the dress, using the same green/brown colour scheme as the outfit on the main pattern photo, because I thought it was really cute and very Christmassy!

Finally, the pattern comes with two separate sets of instructions: one for knitting the bear flat (on straight needles) and one for knitting the bear in the round (on DPNs). I actually didn’t realise this at first, so I could have just knitted this little bear flat, but I’d already committed to facing my fear, so I stuck with my plan to knit it in the round.

Materials

Yarn

For this project, I used the following yarns:

• Drops Lima Uni Color, in the shade Off White (0100).

I used this yarn for all of the bear’s body pieces. I bought 1x50g ball (despite the pattern calling for 55g…) and I had just enough to make the whole toy (yarn chicken success!).

• Rowan Felted Tweed, in the shades Pine (158), Camel (157) and Ginger (154).

I used this yarn for the bear’s dress: Pine for the bodice/sleeves, Camel for the skirt and Ginger for the reindeer’s nose.

• Oddments of fingering weight yarn, in Black and Brown.

I used the black yarn for embroidering on the bear’s face and the reindeer’s eyes (the pattern suggests using beads for this, but, since I already had the yarn to hand, I just used that!). I used the brown yarn to crochet the little reindeer antlers.

Notions

I used the following needles/hooks:

• 5x 2.75mm DPNs

Used for the bear’s body pieces.

• 2.75mm circular needles

Used for the bear’s dress.

• 2mm crochet hook

Used for crocheting the reindeer’s antlers.

• Darning needle

For sewing up.

• Fine sewing needle

For embroidering/attaching buttons.

I also used the following extra materials:

• Lockable stitch markers

Essential for toy-making!

• Toy stuffing

I like to stuff knitted soft toys quite firmly, because I think it gives them the most professional look, so I always use quite a bit of toy stuffing (though it is possible that I overstuffed this particular bear— she’s definitely on the tubby side).

• Two 20mm coconut shell buttons

For attaching the legs to the body.

• Two 11mm wooden heart buttons

For the dress closure.

Adaptations

While I didn’t make any changes during the actual knitting process (your girl is not confident enough for that… yet), I did make a few adjustments when it came to sewing the bear together/embroidering on all the details:

• Head

I sewed the head on to the body using quite a wide circumference on the body, to make sure the neck was nice and sturdy (no lolling heads here!). I went around the head once and it was still quite flimsy and floppy, so I went round again, a little further out, and it was much more secure.

• Nose

After using the cast on thread for the head to sew the nose shut (as instructed), I didn’t cut it off, so I could use it to do the nose shaping later on. The pattern suggests using embroidery thread for this stage, but I felt lazy and found the matching thread worked just as well.

I also used the Camel shade of the Rowan Felted Tweed (the same one I used for the dress) to embroider the nose, instead of embroidery thread. When stitching the nose, I started in the centre, rather than on one side, to ensure the nose was centred and symmetrical.

• Eyes

I did not use French knots for the bear’s eyes as instructed— I really struggled with them and definitely couldn’t get anything that resembled the cute eyes from the pattern! Instead, I used the black fingering weight yarn and my 2mm crochet hook to make a magic ring (6 dc— as always, British crochet terminology) and stitched that on. Having said that though, I’ve actually been working on my French knots since this and I think I’m starting to get the hang of them now? Nevertheless, the magic ring-style eyes worked really well, so I’m still happy with them!

• Arms

I didn’t gather up the cast on edge at the top of the arm as instructed, but instead sewed the stitches together so that I had a flat edge to sew onto the bear. This meant that I could kind of tuck the arms in between the body and the head, which I felt gave a better, cleaner finish. The arms need to be quite high up on the body, so I found this helped them to sit more neatly.

I realised that it was super important that the arms lined up with the dress, so I actually put the arms ‘into’ the dress, then put the dress on the bear to see where they needed to sit before stitching them on (otherwise the dress wouldn’t fit right!). I ended up sewing the shoulder seams right into the crevice between the body and the head.

• Legs

The buttons I was using to attach the legs had four holes (as opposed to two), so I had to do some more stitches than instructed to attach the legs. I went through the first leg (and one button), went back in through another hole on the button, then pushed the needle right through to the other side, through the other leg (and other button), then repeated the process until all of the button holes had been stitched through. This makes the legs move together, which I think (?) is what the pattern suggests.

• Dress

I used heart-shaped buttons for the dress, because I thought they were cute. I did make my button holes 5 chains long (instead of 6), because my crochet hook was slightly larger than the one suggested in the pattern, but I think I could have gone down to 4 chains for a closer fit to my buttons.

Final thoughts

Phew… my first, proper, DPN-knitted toy and I think it turned out super well! I’m actually so happy with it— there’s always that worry when you make a handmade toy that it won’t turn out as cute and perfect as it looks in the pattern, but I think this one is pretty close! I admit, knitting on DPNs is a bit of a trial, but it wasn’t as completely impossible as I thought it would be and it does give a really lovely, polished look.

I thought the pattern for this bear was super clear and detailed— I really enjoyed making it. I would have loved a little bit more guidance on specific placements for each of the body parts, just to make sewing up the bear that little bit easier, but I’m really happy with how my bear turned out, which, to me, is a sign of a good pattern.

I was a little sceptical about the button-leg-joint situation, just because it was kind of giving Coraline vibes which freaked me out a little bit, but I actually really love that feature. It makes the bear much more agile and manoeuvrable, so it can be positioned easily. I also think it actually looks quite cute in real life (but the dress covers the buttons anyway, so you can always just pretend the buttons aren’t there!).

Speaking of the dress… it is quite short! I feel like my little Christmas Bear is a bit exposed… If I were to make the dress again, I definitely add a few more rows (maybe 3-5?), just to give my bear a little more modesty. This dress was actually my very first time knitting Raglan lines, which means this project is kind of, almost, a Project Knitwear instalment? In mini, bear form? I learned about M1T and M1A, but it did take me quite a bit of getting used to and, honestly, I don’t think I could remember how to do it now, so I might need a little bit more practice on that one!

On the topic of what I’d do differently next time, if you’re making a polar bear, I’d also recommend placing a stitch marker on Round 9 of the head when the pattern says to change from Yarn B to Yarn A. Because there isn’t the same colour distinction with the polar bear as with the regular bear, I found it really hard to figure out where the nose was after I stuffed the head!

Overall, I am SO happy with how this Christmas Bear turned out! I think it’s such a cute, neat pattern and I’m really proud of my bear. I’d love to make more bears (I saw the cutest ‘Autumn Bear‘ variation!), but I think I’d need to gear myself up a little bit before going in for Round 2— I may have faced my DPN fear, but I don’t think I’ve quite conquered it yet!

If you're interested...

You can find the Christmas Bear pattern by Ekaterina Popova here.

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

Gemma

xxx

If you know me, you’ll know how I feel about macarons (spoiler alert: I LOVE them). Last year, for Christmas, I made these Christmas Pudding Macarons, which were chocolate macaron shells, filled with a milk chocolate ganache and decorated with melted white chocolate to resemble little Christmas puddings, and these Reindeer Macarons, which were decorated to look like, well, reindeers (and, admittedly, look a little cursed, but we move. This year, I’m expanding my festive macaron horizons with these Polar Bear Macarons.

These macarons are made with a basic macaron shell recipe, which is piped into the shape of little bear heads before baking. The shells are sandwiched together with a minty, white chocolate ganache filling, then decorated with giant white chocolate buttons (for the muzzle) and melted dark chocolate. They’re cute and festive, but they’re also super customisable— you can experiment with different flavours/colours of macaron shells to make different colour bears, easily adapt the facial features and change up the flavours of the filling to make these bear macarons perfect for any occasion, be that the holiday season, a birthday party, or even a baby shower!

I’ve done lots of posts about macarons here on the blog, so I won’t be doing an in-depth tutorial for making the macaron batter in this post (you can find a super detailed tutorial for that here!). Instead, we’ll be focusing on how to make the mint filling, how to pipe the perfect, bear-shaped macaron shells and how to decorate the macarons to resemble polar bears!

Table of Contents

• Mint & White Chocolate Ganache
  • Ingredients
  • Method
• Piping Bear-Shaped Macaron Shells
• Assembling the Macarons
• Decorating the Macarons
• Recipe

Mint & White Chocolate Ganache

The ganache filling needs a few hours to chill in the fridge, so it’s best to make it before you make the macaron shells.

Ingredients

You only need three ingredients to make this filling:

• White chocolate

Use a good quality white chocolate for the best results!

• Double cream

You need a smaller amount of cream for white chocolate ganache (compared to milk/dark chocolate ganache), to ensure the ganache sets firm, because white chocolate does not contain any cocoa solids.

• Peppermint extract

Peppermint extract is readily available in most supermarkets and is the easiest way to get a minty flavour into your baked goods. Usually, you only need a couple of drops for an intense, minty flavour, but I find you need significantly more when using it to flavour white chocolate ganache! As with all flavourings though, it’s best to start small and gradually increase the amount of extract, until you’re happy with the flavour (and also bear in mind that the flavour will intensify while the ganache chills!).

Method

Because there’s such a small quantity of cream compared to the amount of white chocolate, I find that the best way to make a smooth, white chocolate ganache is to heat everything together (as opposed to heating the cream and using that to melt the chocolate gently).

To make the ganache, start by finely chopping the white chocolate. This will ensure it melts quickly and evenly, so you won’t be left with any lumps of unmelted chocolate in your ganache.

Place the cream and the finely chopped chocolate into a heatproof bowl and warm gently. I do this in the microwave, on the lowest setting, in 1 minute intervals, stirring between each burst, but you could also do it over a bain-marie, if you prefer.

Once the chocolate has completely melted, your ganache is ready!

To make the ganache into mint chocolate ganache, add the peppermint extract and stir through well. As I mentioned earlier, you don’t want to add too much extract, or the mint flavour will be overpowering, but this ganache does seem to require more extract than other bakes to get a good flavour! Start with a splash, then work your way up. I ended up using about 1/8 tsp in total.

Now, just cover the filling with clingfilm, making sure to press the clingfilm directly onto the surface of the ganache (this will prevent it from forming a skin). Allow the ganache to cool slightly before putting it into the fridge to chill for at least 3 hours, until firm. Once chilled, you can use it to fill your macarons.

The longer you leave the ganache in the fridge, the firmer it will get. If you leave it for too long, it will become too firm to be piped/spread! That’s okay though, just gently warm it in the microwave/over a bain-marie again, stirring frequently, until it comes back to a spreadable consistency.

Piping Bear-Shaped Macaron Shells

Piping the macaron shells into these little bear shapes may look complicated, but it’s really not!

Essentially, the bears are made up of one regular macaron-sized circle (with a little extra on each side, for the cheeks!), along with two smaller circles on top, for the ears. I recommend using a small(ish) round tip for piping the macarons, so that you have plenty of control when it comes to piping the ears.

I’ve also created a little template, which you can download for free to use for your own macarons! While a template isn’t strictly necessary, it is helpful to ensure all of the ears are in the same place, so that all of your macarons line up with each other when sandwiched together.

Start by fitting your piping bag with a small(ish) round nozzle. I like to put my piping bag in a large glass and fold the edges down over the rim, just to make it easier to fill with the macaron batter. Fill the bag with the batter, then lay the piping bag flat on the work surface and use a dough scraper/palette knife to push the batter down towards the tip, then to pat the bag down flat. This will get rid of any extra air, ensuring your macarons bake up perfectly.

With the piping bag filled, you can get to piping your macarons. Line a baking tray with baking paper and place the paper macaron template (if using) underneath the baking paper. You should be able to see it through the semi-transparent paper, but it should not be touching the actual macaron batter.

For each macaron shell, start by piping the smaller circles for the ears. Hold the bag vertically, slightly above the surface of the tray, in the centre of each circle and apply gentle pressure, until the batter has filled the ear section of the template, then release the pressure to stop piping. The ears are small, so you won’t need to apply pressure for long at all!

Next, pipe the rest of the head. Holding the bag vertically again, start in the centre of the bear’s face. Keeping the bag vertical, guide it up ever so slightly towards the gap between the ears, before coming back down and guiding it to one side (to make one cheek). Move in a shallow arc to the other cheek, continuing to apply a constant, gentle pressure, then return to the middle of the macaron before finishing it off.

This piping technique is just a guide, though, so pipe the macarons in whatever way you find easiest. All that matters is that you create the shape of the template below (or even just a general bear shape) with your macaron batter.

Once you have piped a full tray of macarons, make sure you tap the tray firmly on the work surface a couple of times, then use a small, sharp knife/skewer to burst any air bubbles that rise to the surface, allowing the batter to fall back on itself, before leaving them at room temperature for about 30-40 minutes, until a skin forms, before baking.

Assembling the Macarons

Once the macaron shells are baked and cooled, and the ganache has firmed up nicely in the fridge, you can assemble the macarons. Start by pairing up the macaron shells, matching them as accurately as possible in terms of shape/size.

You can either pipe the ganache onto the shells, or just spread it on with a knife/the back of a spoon. Add a layer of ganache to the underside of half of the macaron shells (one from each pair).

Once you have added the ganache, sandwich the corresponding macaron halves together by gently pressing the other macaron shell down, rounded side up, onto the ganache. Macaron shells can be quite fragile, so be gentle here.

Decorating the Macarons

Now it’s time to decorate the Polar Bear Macarons! For this, you will need:

• Giant white chocolate buttons
• Melted dark chocolate (slightly cooled, so that it is a little thicker).

Place the dark chocolate into a piping bag, fitted with a fine, round nozzle. We will use this to attach the chocolate button and to pipe the facial features of the bear.

Use a small amount of chocolate to stick one chocolate button onto the lower portion of each bear’s face. This will act as the muzzle.

Then, use the remaining chocolate to pipe little faces on each bear. Place two eyes above the muzzle, then add a nose onto the muzzle itself.

Set the macarons aside at room temperature until the chocolate has hardened completely, then serve. Filled macarons are best kept in an airtight container and stored in the fridge, where they will keep for about 5 days, but they can be stored at room temperature for 2-3 days, if needed. Unfilled macaron shells can be kept in an airtight container for about 5 days, but will become brittle and less deliciously chewy if left for too long.

Recipe

Print

Polar Bear Macarons

Bear-shaped macaron shells are sandwiched with a minty, white chocolate ganache filling and decorated with giant white chocolate buttons and melted dark chocolate to make these super cute, festive treats!

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine French

Keyword Italian macarons, macaron, Peppermint, Polar bear, White Chocolate

Prep Time 2 hours hours

Cook Time 11 minutes minutes

Chill Time 3 hours hours

Total Time 5 hours hours 11 minutes minutes

Servings 11 macarons

Equipment

• 2 piping bags
• 1 small(ish), round piping nozzle
• 1 fine round piping nozzle

Ingredients

For the mint & white chocolate ganache:

• 200 g white chocolate, finely chopped.
• 90 ml double cream
• 1/8 tsp peppermint extract, or to taste.

For the macaron shells:

• 95 g ground almonds
• 103 g icing sugar
• 72 g egg whites (split into 2 x 36g portions).
• 95 g caster sugar
• 30 g water

To decorate:

• 22 giant white chocolate buttons
• dark chocolate, melted and cooled slightly.

Instructions

Make the mint & white chocolate ganache:

• Place the chopped white chocolate and cream into a heatproof bowl. Heat gently (in the microwave, on low heat, in 1 minute intervals, stirring in between each burst, or over a bain-marie, stirring frequently) until the chocolate has completely melted.
• Add the peppermint extract (adding a little at a time, tasting frequently to check the level of mint flavour) and stir through well.
• Cover the filling with clingfilm, pressing it directly onto the surface of the ganache, so that a skin does not form. Allow to cool slightly before putting into the fridge to chill for at least 3 hours.

Make the macaron shells:

• Line 2 baking trays with baking paper and place the printed templates (if using) underneath the paper. Fit a piping bag with a small(ish) round nozzle and set aside.
• Place the ground almonds and icing sugar into a food processor. Pulse 10 times, then sift into a large bowl, discarding any lumps. Repeat this process once more, so that you are left with a very fine powder.
• Add one of the 36g portions of egg white to the almond/icing sugar mixture. Mix well to form a thick paste, then set aside.
• Place the remaining 36g of egg white into the clean, metal (see Note 1) bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment. Leave aside while you make the sugar syrup.
• Place the caster sugar and water into a small saucepan. Place over a medium heat and bring to a boil. Do not stir (swirl gently if necessary). Allow the syrup to continue bubbling, while monitoring the temperature with a digital sugar thermometer.
• When the syrup has reached 114°C, turn the stand mixer to high speed and begin to whip the egg whites to soft peaks. Keep the syrup over the heat as you do this.
• When the syrup has reached 118°C, the egg whites should have reached soft peaks. With the mixer still running on high speed, carefully pour the syrup down the side of the bowl in a slow, steady stream. Once all of the syrup has been added, turn the mixer up to full speed and beat until stiff peaks are achieved and the metal bowl has come to room temperature (about 5 minutes).
• When the meringue is ready, add 1/3 of it to the almond paste mixture. Mix vigorously to combine the two mixtures and loosen the thick paste slightly.
• Add the rest of the meringue and fold it in, using a figure of eight motion, until the mixture is homogenous and comes off the spatula in ribbons— if you leave those ribbons for 30 seconds, they should level themselves out into the rest of the mixture.
• Transfer the macaron batter to the prepared piping bag. Lay the bag flat on the work surface and use a dough scraper/palette knife to push the batter down towards the nozzle end, to push out any air. Flatten out the batter using the scraper too, to knock any remaining extra air bubbles out.
• Holding the bag vertically, just above the baking tray, apply gentle pressure to pipe the two ears. Then, fill in the rest of the bear shape with the batter.
• Once the macarons are all piped, lift the whole tray and drop it down onto the work surface a few times to bring any air bubbles to the surface. Use a sharp knife/cocktail stick to burst the bubbles, letting the mixture fall back on itself.
• Set the macarons aside at room temperature to form a skin- on a relatively dry day, this should take about 30-40 minutes, but can take less time on drier, warmer days and more time on cold, humid days. Check on the macarons every 10-15 minutes or so, if unsure. The macarons will be ready when you can gently touch their surfaces without any batter coming off on your finger.
• When the macarons are almost ready, preheat the oven to 165°C fan. When the macarons are ready and the oven is hot, bake the macarons in the centre of the oven, one tray at a time, for 11 minutes. To check if they are done, place a finger on top of the shells and wiggle gently. When done, the tops of the macarons should not wobble. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on the tray before assembling.

Assemble the macarons:

• Once the macaron shells have cooled completely, you can fill them with the chilled ganache. Pair the macaron halves up, matching them as much as possible in terms of size/shape.
• Spread/pipe the chilled ganache onto the underside of half of the shells. Place the corresponding half of each macaron on top and gently press down to sandwich them together.

Decorate the macarons:

• Place the melted dark chocolate into a piping bag, fitted with a fine round tip. Use a small amount of the chocolate to stick a giant white chocolate button onto the lower portion of one side of each macaron, to act as the muzzle.
• Using the remaining chocolate, pipe the facial details (two eyes above the muzzle and a nose on the muzzle) onto each macaron. Set aside to harden at room temperature, then serve.
• The macarons are best eaten immediately, but can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days, or at room temperature for 2-3 days. You can also keep the unfilled macaron shells in an airtight container, at room temperature for about 5 days, before filling.

Notes

1. It’s important to use a metal bowl for this, as not only will the egg whites whip up better, but you will be able to use the temperature of the bowl as an indication of when the meringue is ready. It’s also important that the bowl (and whisk) are completely clean. To clean them, rub a small amount of white wine vinegar over them using a piece of kitchen roll. This will remove any traces of fat/residue that will prevent your egg whites from whipping up properly.