I spent an evening this week baking enough Christmas cookies to sink a ship (or host a Finishing School Christmas party). If you’d like to have a go at making your own, here’s my nan’s recipe. You might want to kit yourself out with a nice set of cookie cutters before you start and these vintage metal ones I found on Etsy are absolutely perfect. The Cakes, Cookies and Craft Shop also do a great set in the shape of Christmas baubles.
Preparation time: 20 minutes – or more if you’re singing along to a Christmas compilation Cooking time: 10 minutes Total time: 30 minutes – or more if you’re like me and get carried away and baking several batches! Makes: 25 gingerbread figures
Ingredients
125g unsalted butter
100g dark muscovado sugar
4 tbsp golden syrup
325g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamonMethod
Preheat the oven to 170°C, gas mark 3. Line baking trays with baking paper. Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a medium saucepan, stirring occasionally, then remove from the heat.
Sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger into a bowl and stir the melted ingredients into the dry ingredients to make a stiff dough.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and roll to a thickness of about 5mm. Dip biscuit cutters into flour before cutting the dough. Place the shapes onto the lined baking trays and bake, in batches, for 9-10 minutes until light golden brown.
Remove from the oven. While still warm, and using a skewer or chopstick, make any holes that you will need to hang up the biscuits with ribbon or to make a yuletide garland. If you are decorating your Christmas cake with gingerbread people, make the holes in their arms so that ribbon can be threaded through at a later stage.
When completely cool, decorate with the icing. The gingerbread biscuits can be stored in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
And for the finishing touches: Writing Icing; sweets; sparkles; and ribbon.
Here are some statistics from Finishing School’s lesson in lino-cutting and fabric printing night that took place at our brand new venue the Island Queen on 26th October.
Teacher = 1. East London printmaker Catherine Walsh was on hand to suggest block carving techniques and provide design inspiration for all. Head over to her webpage for details of her upcoming classes if you want to hone your skills further.
Attendees = just the right number (to allow for elbow room and no arguments over paint rollers).
Injuries = 2. There are many dangers in this world and it turns out that lino cutting is one of them. For other crafting dangers click here (at your peril).
Plasters used = 8. Gougers are sharp, kids.
Litres of fabric paint = 1.5. The messiest session so far!
Successful nights = 1. Everyone took home a tea towel and tote bag decorated with their own stamp (or a stamp nabbed from another student as everyone had such great ideas it was a shame not to share!). Check out our flickr for more pictures of the evening.
Thanks to everyone who turned up and had a go at creating some really original prints. I went out the following day and purchased my own set of tools from a lovely art shop in Clerkenwell and I know for a fact that Atlantis Arts does a good range of lino so that’s Christmas sorted then.
If you had as much fun as we did (or frustratingly missed out on space this time) do keep a keen eye on our facebook page and our events page for details of November’s session. See you soon x
Finishing School lesson three (needle felting) was a great success thanks to Susanna Wallis and, of course, our ever-expanding band of eager students.Thanks to everyone who turned up and vented their frustrations by repeatedly stabbing a tiny ball of wool. I’m sure it was 90% creativity, 10% therapy for most!
There were some really interesting creations from tiny teacups, to felty-beads to badges featuring all manner of animal, vegetable and robot.
We had such a great time and hope you did too. Actually, we’ve heard that many of you have caught the needle felting bug and are pursuing your own projects with the materials we sent you away with. This is really exciting and, of course, what Finishing School is all about. Feel free to bring in/wear/show off any finished trinkets at our next session! And, if you’re after more wool or needles – or any other textile craft odds’n'ends for that matter – you might want to check out Susanna’s recommendations of the Handweaver’s Studio (which opens the doors to its charming new premises on 140 Seven Sisters Road, N7 7NS on 21 August) and Wingham Wool.
As usual, keep an eye on our facebook page and our events page for photos of the evening and details of September’s session.
The more time I spend on Etsy, on reading blogs, and chatting to people about Finishing School, the more I realise there’s a massive community of crafters out there. The world is full of people making their own things to sell or to enjoy, as well as talking to each other, sharing ideas and basically making craft a pretty cool and enjoyable thing to do.
The great side effect of all this is that it makes it all the more accessible to recovering no-hopers like me. So, I hope you don’t mind me sharing this trailer, but I can’t wait to see this documentary HandmadeNation focused on the DIY crafts scene in America.
Method
Thanks to everyone who turned up and vented their frustrations by repeatedly stabbing a tiny ball of wool. I’m sure it was 90% creativity, 10% therapy for most!
There were some really interesting creations from tiny teacups, to felty-beads to badges featuring all manner of animal, vegetable and robot.
We had such a great time and hope you did too. Actually, we’ve heard that many of you have caught the needle felting bug and are pursuing your own projects with the materials we sent you away with. This is really exciting and, of course, what Finishing School is all about. Feel free to bring in/wear/show off any finished trinkets at our next session! And, if you’re after more wool or needles – or any other textile craft odds’n'ends for that matter – you might want to check out Susanna’s recommendations of the