Winter Solstice Cake

Today 21st December, marks the Winter Solstice. The shortest day of the year, with the least light, the sun will set just before 4pm and the longest night of the year will begin. It also heralds the returning of the light, as the days begin to slowly lengthen in the rise up to mid summer at the Summer Solstice.

As cyclical beings we are used to light and dark, just like the moon waxing and waning, and our menstrual cycle having two very different energetic events of ovulation and menstruation.

So the Winter Solstice is the death moment in the cycle, where time and movement is held, an ending and a beginning. Time stands still, like the space between an exhale and an inhale. On the surface of things it may feel dark, deathly and frozen, and yet underneath a new life is forming and percolating.

As part of my project working on creating the Wild Wisdom Journal with my friend Susanna, we have created a lovely ritual to honor the Solstice. It’s a lovely activity enjoy in the evening once the sun has set. You can do it on your own, or with others, and even adapt it to include your children too if you wish. Click here to download.

I have also made a delicious cake that you can use to celebrate the returning of the light too.

May the nourishment of winter rest & the mystery of the darkness, help deliver abundant summer harvests…. Warm love & Solstice blessings xx

Stained Glass Cookies

We don’t really do Christmas cards, call it laziness or disorganisation, but I do love the sentiment of telling folk we’re thinking of them at Christmas. The idea of getting my kids to write out 30 cards for their schoolmates fills me with dread, so we have started the tradition of offering edible goodies to their classmates at the end of Autumn term. We’ve done gingerbread reindeers, amazing peanut butter fudge, and this year Jacob decided to choose stained glass cookies. We will be popping it up on his youtube channel #JakesBakes just as soon as I get around to it. Please give him a follow here “don’t forget to like and subscribe”

The cookie mix we used is Nigella Lawson’s Butter cut out cookies. It’s a great dough that holds its shape really well and is easy to make too. Just try not to overwork it.

INGREDIENTS

Makes: 30 cookies

• 175 grams soft unsalted butter
• 200 grams caster sugar
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 400 grams plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 packet colourful boiled sweets

METHOD

You will need biscuit cutters and four baking sheets, greased or lined.

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and starting to turn fluffy. Then slowly beat in the eggs and vanilla. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and eggs, and mix gently but surely. If you think the finished mixture is too sticky to be rolled out, add more flour, but do so sparingly as too much will make the dough tough. Halve the dough, form into fat discs, wrap each half in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour or in the freezer for 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, take the boiled sweets and place in a plastic bag. Place on a chopping board and bash roughly with a rolling pin until the sweets are broken into pea-sized pieces.
3. When you are ready to make the biscuits, preheat the oven to 180ºC/160°C Fan/gas mark 4/350ºF.
4. Sprinkle a suitable surface with flour, place a disc of dough on it (not taking out the other half until you’ve finished with the first) and sprinkle a little more flour on top of that. Then roll it out to a thickness of about ½ cm / ¼ inch. Cut into shapes, we chose snowflakes, dipping the cutter into flour as you go, and place the biscuits an inch/3cm apart on the baking sheets. Using a circle cutter or the bottom of a piping nozzle, cut out circles in the centre of each cookie.
5. Fill the centre of each hole with 1 tsp of crushed boiled sweets.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes, by which time they will be lightly golden around the edges and the sweetie centres will be fully melted. Cool on the tray, or slide the parchment onto a rack trying not to disturb the molten ‘stained glass’ and continue with the rest of the dough.
7. Once cool, place in a tin and gift to the lucky recipients. You can also make holes in the tops of the cookies before baking and use a thread to turn into Christmas tree decorations. The cookies will last up to a week in a sealed tin, or can be frozen for up to one month.

For more Christmas recipes, download my 12 bakes of Christmas e-Book here