I got a craving for something sweet and spicy and I thought the Snickerdoodle cookies seemed to be the answer so I had a go at making some. They're nothing fancy kind of like a soft melt in the mouth cookie that's rolled in cinnamon and sugar to make the outside crunchy and as I found when I made them it also makes them mega sweet! Far too sweet for my personal taste so I had another go and tweaked the recipe a bit to make them more grown up. This consisted of adding less sugar and instead of rolling them in a cinnamon sugar coating I mixed up cinnamon and ginger and rolled them in that instead. Just perfect dunked into black coffee - which I think is an essential for any cookie!
The one at the bottom was a first batch one based on the Martha Stewart recipe here. It looks tastier than my cinnamon and ginger ones above it but it was very cotton candy sweet, not what I was after. This was my tweaked recipe if you're interested:
75g butter (or low fat alternative, I like to use Burtoli)
120g caster sugar
1 egg
160g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
2 tablespoons of powdered cinnamon + 1 teaspoon of powdered ginger mixed
Mix the butter and sugar together until really light and fluffy and pale. Stir in the egg. Measure out the flour and add the baking powder to it then stir in a little at a time until you form a sticky dough. If it's mega a sticky just add a bit more flour or pop the mixture in the fridge to firm it up. Make the mixture into balls about an inch and a half in size then roll them in the cinnamon and ginger mixture. Put them on a baking tray leaving a good two inches between each one (they spread out) then squish the tops down with the back of a fork. Bake at 190c for around 10mins. The cookies will spread out and crack more on top so you know they're done. Cool on a wire rack for 10mins then make a coffee sit back and enjoy! :-)
I'm on a mission to make some spicy pumpkin cake next. I've read some recipes and it's basically carrot cake but with pumpkin instead so I'm hoping it tastes as good as carrot cake! Has anyone tried it and can advise?
xx Leo
Next came the fun part of picking out some ribbons to use! These are the colours I went for....
I picked out the 
Now it's time to start playing! I started by using some wired ribbon to make these rose type embellishments. I just twisted one end of the ribbon around my thumb and then took it off and bent the ribbon over to make extra petals then fixed it all together by twisting it at the ends. The buds were made the same way but without the extra petals just twist it around your thumb, pull it off then twist the ends together. It's really fun to have a go at and the wired ribbon makes it easy to 'sculpt' the ribbon into the shape you want. There are lots of wired ribbons to choose from 
Another quick embellishment I made was to tie ribbon around the cinnamon sticks. I grouped together the green leaf colour satin ribbon and one of the brown organza ribbons and tied them in a bow around each of the cinnamon sticks.
To cover the inside of the ring I layered two more of the ribbons from the browns and golds set and tied them together in knots at regular intervals then glued it to the ring all the way around. 
To make extra embellishments I picked out some papers and cut out leaf shapes to layer with the ribbon embellishments.
To fill more of the ring I glued another knotted length of ribbon around the ring. Then started to add more flowers.
Some of the flowers I made with more scraps of patterned paper. These are really simple to make. Just cut out a rough circle of paper and distress the edge.
Cut a spiral into the circle of paper
Then roll it up from the middle to the end, securing the end with a dab of glue.
I made a few of these up in patterned papers that worked with the colours of the ribbons.
Another quick embellishment I made was to use some of the orange organza ribbon looped over and then tying a piece of the brown organza ribbon around the middle to make a different kind of bow embellishment.
Once I'd got a good collection of embellishments made I started to build them up around the ring mixing in some other found objects like the pine cones and the little glittery balls that I found in last years Christmas decoration stash.
The gold mesh ribbon I made into little tiny flowers just by rolling small pieces of the ribbon around and gluing it at the end. They add just a touch of extra sparkle.
To finish off the ring I made a ribbon bow with the red stitched ribbon and glued it to the bottom leaving the ends long to hang down.
This was really lots of fun to make and I love the finished effect.
Posts
