Christmas Baking

One of my favourite things about Christmas is all the baking. There are so many cookie recipes out there to try and for this post I wanted to share with you three of the treats I made this year. All these recipes are very quick and easy so everyone should be able to do these.

The first batch I made this year were small meringues, these are actually very easy and you only need 3 ingredients!

Recipe:

• 3 egg whites 
• 200 g brown sugar
• Your choice of chocolate or any other sweets (I use chocolate chips and here in Iceland it's popular to put liquorice pieces in as well)

Whisk the egg whites 'til stiff peaks form. Gradually add in the brown sugar and then stir in the sweets.

Bake in the middle of an oven on 150°C for 20 minutes.

Secondly I made gingerbread cookies. This recipe is just something my mum found online and then changed it a bit. Also very easy and such a good recipe for the family to bake together.

Recipe:

• 500 g flour
• 250 g sugar
• 250 g butter or margarine
• 375 g syrup
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp cocoa
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 1 tsp cardamom
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 egg

Blend together all dry ingredients and then using your hands break the butter into the mixture. Add in syrup and egg and knead together. Flatten the dough and cut out cakes. Bake at 175°C for 10 minutes.

This last recipe is from a school book I had in my 5th grade cooking class. It's very easy and also very good.

Recipe:

• 2 dl flour
• 1 dl sugar
• 1 dl corn flakes (crushed)
• 1 tbsp grounded coconut flakes
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• 50 g butter or margarine
• 50 g semi-sweet chocolate
• 1 egg 

Mix together all dry ingredients exept for the chocolate. Grind the butter into the dough with your hands. Next, add in the chocolate and lastly the egg. Roll up into small balls, you should get around 50 cakes. Bake for 10-12 minutes in an 200°C oven.

That's all for this blogpost I hope you liked it and it will come in handy to you for some Christmas baking.

Stella xx

Christmas TV Binge

Can you believe it, there are only 6 days 'til Christmas? Have to admit that I'm not as festive as I want to be mainly because there's no snow, not common in December in Iceland. However, there are a few ways you can put yourself into a more festive mood. One of my favourite ways is watching a movie or a christmassy TV-show and I recently got sent a personalised TV-guide (from Luma, who offer secure surround wifi for your home) that I would love to share with you and I believe these movies and TV-shows will get you into the mood!

Now, these are not in a specific order, just random.

1.  Gossip Girl - OK these don't have a lot to do with Christmas but they do have great Christmas episodes in between and I just think this is a great show to binge over Christmas.
2. SKAM - I have mentioned this show before and I just had to do it again, it's so good! Also I found a place where you can watch it with english subtitles so you're welcome ;) 
3. Home Alone 1&2 - These are classics. I feel like you can't have a proper Christmas without Home Alone
4. Arthur Christmas- Saw this movie for the first time last year and I loved it. Also I'd say it's good for any age.
5. The Grinch- No words needed, love that story.
6. The Holiday- Now this one is also a classic, like Love Actually. I feel like a good way to describe it is: "a very sweet movie"
7. (Gilmore Girls) - Now I know this isn't on the list but I recently started watching this show and I love it so much, very relatable. I used to watch this show when I was small but I can't really remember it so I started again.

Thanks for reading, merry Christmas,

Stella xx

Winter Must-Haves

Hello lovelies. As winter is upon us it means, at least for most of us, that it has gotten a lot colder and a lot darker in the span of a few weeks. So to survive this dark and cold time I've put together a list of things I find necessary to help me to get through winter.

Good skin-care. As the weather gets colder your skin gets dryer as a result (at least for most people). Here's a list (sorry about all the lists in this post) of my must-haves for winter skin-care.

1. A good cleanser. For everyday use I tend to use witch hazel, it can dry out your face but I have oily skin so it works well for me and it helps get rid of blemishes (you can buy it in most pharmacies). 
2. Moisturising. It can sometimes be a bit hard for me to find the right moisturiser because I have quite oily skin but I find that Garnier Moisture+ Matte really works for me (I've mentioned it before in this post). It both moisturises and it doesn't make my skin more oily like some moisturisers. 
3. Face mask. A good face mask can do wonders but they can also dry out your skin if you don't use a one that suits your skin. At the moment I'm trying a new L'Oreal face mask. I still haven't quite made up my mind whether I like it or not but I'll let you know*. So far it does minimise my pores slightly and it makes my skin more matte, but it doesn't make my skin as soft as some other masks have.
   *Update- I've now tried it a couple times and it works really well if I put it on right after I shower.
4. Body lotions and hand creams. I've always liked body lotions and butters and I've tried a lot of types. I used to always buy the ones from The Body Shop because they have many scents that I like and they're affordable. However for the past year I've been trying to use less products that have paraben's as they are not supposed to be good for you. So, I have found a great natural body lotion by Lavera that is honestly the best body lotion I have ever had. I love the coconut scent!
   Hand creams are also so important for me because I get really dry hands in the cold and I think Lush's and L'Occitan's hand creams are the best.

Adding brightness to your life. Winter is in many places a very dark time of the year. Especially here in Iceland where in the summer we have almost 24 hours of sunlight but that means that in the winter we sometimes only get 3 hours of sunlight during the darkest times. This much lack of sunlight can actually make people depressed (very common in Iceland actually) and it can really be depressing when you go out in the morning in the dark and when you go home after school it's dark again. I personally think fairy lights and candles really brighten up your world. You can buy fairy lights in many places this time of year, for example IKEA. 

Dress for the weather. I would personally like to wear playsuits and shorts all year round but I sadly do not live near the equator. However, it is possible to make dressing in winter more fun. You can try all sorts of styles and I do love myself a pair of jeans and to be honest, jeans fit with everything. Christmas jumpers are also the best thing ever so I guess winter does have its perks.

That's all for this post, I hope you liked it and if you did please comment below. <3

Love,

Stella xx