Merry Christmas from snowy France. Hope you’re all having a wonderful magic day!

Here’s the view we woke up to this morning on the slopes of Val Thorens:


So far we have enjoyed a festive breakfast with friends, opened our Christmas stockings - the one tradition hubby and I have no matter where in the world we are on Christmas day, skyped home with our families in New Zealand and had a morning of skiing.

Now we’re off to hit the slopes again!!!

Merry Christmas everyone.

Only a few sleeps to go! Last weekend hubby and I were in Cologne for a whirlwind  trip to visit the Christmas Markets - feasting on bratwurst, potato pancakes, glühwein, waffles, stollen and more delicious things than my waist-line cares to remember. In two days we visited seven Christmas markets in total:

1. Harbour Christmas Market
2. Alter Markt Christmas Market
3. Cathedral Christmas Market
4. Neumarkt Christmas Market
5. Rudolfplatz Christmas Market
6. Stadtgarten Christmas Market
7. “Christmas Avenue” Market

I had a bit of a ‘camera fail’ while away and many of my photos came out dark/out of focus for some strange reason - so I've decided to just share the ‘best of the worst’ in this post. You’ll have to use your imaginations to do the rest…

Harbour Christmas Market

The Cologne Harbour Christmas Market is located on the edge of the Rhine River,  conveniently close to Cologne’s Chocolate Museum and a nice 15 minute stroll along the river from the Central Station.

We decided to begin our Christmas adventure here as we thought we would better appreciate the views of the river during the day and it was fairly close to our B&B. Well, we had a blast! This Christmas Market is one of the most modern in Cologne, with its white marquee tents, pirate ship and nautical theme.

It's the best place to feast on freshly smoked salmon, drink glühwein that’s been heavily spiked with rum, and practice your rrrrrr’s.


Alter Markt Christmas Market

Our second stop was the Alter Markt in the heart of Altstadt – the Old Town. Here we found a maze of Christmassy lanes each themed around a different Heinzelmännchen gnome.

This market had a nostalgic feel – with games, an antique roundabout, nativity scenes, toy stands and a figure-8 ice skating rink. Of course we had to try it out. I must add here that ice-skating when you have drunk a few mulled wines can be risky business! The ice-skating rink was surrounded by timber stalls and fairly lights, which amplified the festive atmosphere as the sun went down.






Cologne Cathedral Christmas Market

200 metres down the road from Alter Markt is the Cologne Cathedral, and the city’s most famous Christmas market at its base. The view of this Christmas Market was absolutely breath taking as we approached - with the largest Christmas tree in Rhineland holding a blanket of fairly lights above a small town of festive wooden pavilions. And in the background the cathedral loomed.

The Cathedral Christmas Market was the most popular of all the markets we visited, and was completely packed by the time we arrived on Saturday night. The variety and amount of food on display was endless, but in the end we settled for a warming, traditional sausage and potato dish.


Neumarkt Christmas Market

Last on our Saturday hit list was the Neumarkt Christmas Market - Cologne's oldest Christmas Market. This was my favourite Christmas Market – with a beautiful starry sky setting and angels wandering between the stalls. Magical.

The Neumarkt Christmas Market also had the best quality products, and it was here that I fell in love with stollen - delicious marzipan filled bread. I can’t believe I’ve never tried Stollen before. I bought a whole loaf bring back to London with me, and have been munching on it all week.



Rudolfplatz Christmas Market

On Sunday we had a small lie in and then set out for The Rudolfplatz Christmas Market - set against the historic backdrop of Hahnentorburg, one of Cologne's three mediaeval gate houses. This Christmas Market is known for its fairy tale figurines that decorate the Christmas stalls and surrounding area. A great Christmas Market for those who are young at heart. We had lots of fun here taking photos of all the humorous figurine displays.


Stadtgarten Christmas Market

A 10-minute walk away was the Stadtgarten Christmas Market – located on the edge of Cologne's oldest park. This was my second favourite market – and a great place to visit during the day. Surrounded by trees the Stadtgarten Christmas Market had a lovely local feel, was more relaxed and slow paced, and very traditional. Having overdone the glühwein the day before I opted for hot cider (and a waffle) :)

“Christmas Avenue” Market

Our last Christmas Market stop before heading back to London was ‘Christmas Avenue’, Colognes gay and lesbian Christmas market. Bright tinselled stalls lined a small street and Christmas music was playing. It was a little subdued when we were there - but I’ve heard that in the evening there’s often cabaret shows and a lively party atmosphere.


All in all, a very fun Christmassy weekend. I would most definitely recommend Cologne to anyone who’s new to the European Christmas Market scene.

Have you been to any good Christmas Markets lately??

These peanut butter and chocolate surprise cookies are a sweet and salty treat all wrapped up in one yummy package :)

They take a little bit of time to put together, but are well worth the effort - and make a great Christmas party gift. Here’s what you need to get your ‘bake on’:

• 50 grams dark chocolate
• 60ml double cream
• 125 grams butter
• 125 grams caster sugar
• 125 grams peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)
• 4Tbsp golden syrup
• 225 grams plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Chocolate filling

To make the chocolate filling begin by breaking the chocolate into pieces and melt slowly in a pot over a low heat. Add the double cream, let it boil briefly and then remove from the heat.

Stir until you have a thick, smooth ganache and then put in the fridge to set while you prepare your cookie dough.

Cookie dough

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius and line a baking tray with grease-proof baking paper.

In a large bowl cream together the butter and caster sugar until fluffy. Then add the peanut butter and golden syrup, and mix well. Next sieve in your flour and baking powder, and mix until you have a thick cookie dough.


Assembling your cookies

Take large a Tbsp of the cookie dough and role in your hands until it forms a nice, firm ball. Place on a chopping board and flatten with the back of a spoon to about 1.5cm thickness.

Drop a tsp of your chocolate filling in the middle of the flattened cookie dough and then fold the cookie dough around it until completely encased. Gently re-roll the cookie in to a ball again.

Finally, place your ‘cookie ball’ on your baking tray and then gently flatten with a fork – being careful no to break the cookie open. Each cookie should be at least 1cm thick.

Repeat until all the cookie dough and chocolate filling has been used up. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, or until lightly golden and then remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. The cookies will be very soft when they come out, but will harden as they cool down.

Serve with a glass of chilled milk or piping hot eggnog and enjoy!!

• Marshmallow reindeer pops
• Buttery Christmas shortbread
• Homemade gingerbread

• Goody goody gum drops
• Orange choc chip
• Mint choc chip
• Raspberry ripple
• French vanilla
• Hokey Pokey

December sure is a sweet month! I was away in Germany this weekend enjoying the Christmas markets in Cologne (more on that tomorrow), but before I headed away I whipped up a batch of these scrumptious Marshmallow Reindeer Pops for a small Christmas party with friends.

The best thing about this Christmas treat is that it requires no cooking - just a pit of patience and creativity!

Marshmallow Reindeer Pops

• Marshmallows
• Pretzels - I went for salt and pepper flavour for some extra zing
• Red Smarties (or M&Ms)
• Edible silver balls
• Milk chocolate for melting
• Some ribbon for decoration
• Cake pop sticks

Lay your ingredients out and get cracking. These guys are a lot of fun to make and see coming together...

...stick your marshmallows onto your cake pop sticks. Melt your chocolate in a pot and then dip in the marshmallows - making sure you have a good coating of chocolate. Set them aside in the fridge to set. Once set use a pair of tweezers to attach the noses and eyes using left over melted chocolate.


Next add the pretzel antlers using even more chocolate. And finally once the chocolate has set (and you've finished licking the bowl) gave each of these cute guys a ribbon bow tie.

• Buttery Christmas shortbread
• Homemade gingerbread

Shortbread is another classic recipe I always like to bake at Christmas. Soft, sweet and buttery - it's the perfect afternoon tea treat, and also makes a lovely gift. Tonight I went for star and heart shaped cutters.

Claire's buttery shortbread

• 225 grams butter 
• 110 grams icing sugar
• 225 grams sifted flour
• 110 grams corn flour

Serve on your best Christmassy plate, and enjoy.

I've got sunshine, on a cloudy day...
When it’s cold outside, I've got the month of… December!!??

Thanks to Lisa from Meanderings, Adventures and Crafty Inspirations for choosing me for the bloggers ‘Sunshine award’.  There’s nothing like a bit of extra sunshine on these cold, dark December days.

For those of you that haven’t heard of the ‘Sunshine Award’ from what I can gather it’s a way to bring bloggers together, share a few random facts about ourselves and then pass the baton on.  If you google 'Sunshine Award' you'll find many blog posts about it from all over the show! Rather exciting.


So without further ado, here are 11 random facts about myself…

1. My favourite musical is Les Misérables – and if asked I could sing you the whole thing, both acts word for word.
2. The only person who’s had to suffer that fate is my husband when we were road tripping a few years ago on a 6-hour stretch in a car with no car radio.
3. I love yakitori chicken hearts.
4. When I was a child (ages 6 – 10) my favourite food was Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup. And for Christmas 1990 it was the only thing I would eat. (Who needs turkey anyway?)
5. I have a degree in music performance – violin – though I haven’t played seriously for about 10 years now.
6. I have terrible handwriting.
7. It looks very similar to my nanas – no one could read hers, and no one can read mine. Thank goodness for computers.
8. I have never broken a bone. Touch wood.
9. I have never been stung by a bee or wasp. Touch wood.
10. I've never been bitten by a snake either. Though I have mistakenly stood on one in Costa Rica.
11. As much as I love travelling, I am petrified of flying.

And here are my answers to Lisa’s questions…

What is one thing you couldn't live without?
Sunlight. I struggle sometimes living in the UK – and can get very grumpy over the winter months.