Christmas Biscuits - Do you wanna build a Snowman?

Do you wanna build a Snowman? A Melted Snowman Biscuit? Then look no further!

Who doesn't love a bit of homemade baking at Christmas? Sadly I'll be working on Christmas Day but to brighten our moods and keep the festive spirit alive; my colleagues and I will be making a little Christmas Buffet to enjoy. I thought these would make a cute addition and keep our day feeling Christmassy even though we can't celebrate with our families. If you'd like to make some of these too, keep reading!

You Will Need:

125g/4oz butter

55g/2oz caster sugar, plus extra to finish

180g/6oz plain flour
White Marshmallows
Fondant Icing in white, black, red and orange.
Jam of your choosing (to use as edible glue)
Icing Sugar
Rolling Pin
Paintbrush
Icing Sugar or Sparkling Sugar Dust (Optional)
Some Hungry Tummies

1) Make a batch of biscuits, whatever you'd prefer! They could be cookies or shortbread or even ginger snaps. I'm personally making shortbread using this simple recipe here which you need to make into round flat biscuits, I used a cutter but you could cut them out with a knife for a more rustic look, or use a glass/cup.

2) Once your biscuits have cooled, we move on to the decoration. Firstly, sprinkle some icing sugar onto your work surface and roll out the white fondant icing, the icing sugar will stop the fondant sticking to your work surface.Cut out your round 'bodies' of the Snowmen, here I used a glass of a similar size to my biscuits. You can then spread a thin layer of jam onto your biscuits and place the white fondant on top.

3) Next, take your white marshmallows, put some jam onto the bottom side of the marshmallow and then stick this to your snowman body, the marshmallow will act as the Snowman's head.

4) It's now time to make your Snowman's accessories. Roll out the red fondant and using a knife cut out a scarf shape, you could also try a Dicky bow tie if you like. For the Snowman's eyes you'll need a tiny amount of black fondant icing rolled into small balls and for the nose, shape a small amount of orange into a carrot shape. I also attempted hats for a few of my Snowmen, I made small flat circles for the brim and then a little roundish/squarish shape to pop on top, I think they came out ok!

5) Ok, now we've made all our little bits, lets build our Snowman! Remember to use a little bit of jam to make your accessories stick. Next, get a paintbrush and use a little bit of gel food colouring in black to draw on stick arms and a mouth, I used a paintbrush as the opening on the packaging was too large and made a massive mess. In hindsight I'd probably do this step last after everything else is stuck on, just a bit less messy!

And Voila! We have our melted biscuit Snowmen! You could sprinkle some icing sugar or glitter icing on top of your finished biscuits if you'd like, just to add that extra Christmassy sparkle!

What do you think of these Melted Snowman Biscuits? Will you be trying any Christmas inspired baking this year? On a side note, Blogmas has taken a few days leave from my blog, unfortunately I've moved to a black zone which I haven't yet managed to get any wifi or phone signal in! Hopefully I'll be able to keep up and get a few things scheduled in my days off!

Homemade Exfoliating Face Mask

With winter almost upon us and dry skin around the corner, I like to scrub away the dry, dull skin I've accumulated before it starts to get WAY worse. I seem to have piled up a lot of moisturising face masks or extremely effective face scrubs, but don't seem to have anything in the middle. A gentle exfoliator with a bit of moisturising properties. My skin gets more sensitive in winter so I thought I'd look to the kitchen cupboards for something gentle that would still both exfoliate and moisturise. And this is what I came up with. (Before trying any homemade remedy you should always do a spot check on your neck or hand to make sure you don't have any nasty reactions or allergies).

You will need:
Clean fluffy towel
Head band
Half a banana
Tablespoon of Olive Oil
1/2 cup of Sugar (brown or white)
1/2 cup of Baking Soda

Bananas are an excellent choice for skincare, they are bursting with vitamins and potassium and are claimed to be excellent for moisturising, anti-aging, treating acne and even to brighten dull skin and dark spots. I will note for oilier or acne prone skin, you might want to add lemon juice instead of olive oil.

This is really so quick and simple to do.

• Firstly tie back your hair and secure with a headband, I have this red spotty one from Topshop that I use whenever I apply fake tan or face masks. make sure your face is freshly cleansed and free of all makeup.
• Next wash your hands, you don't want to transfer any bugs you might have picked up onto your face.
• Mash the ingredients together in a bowl, If you want something a bit less gentle and more of a scrub use the brown sugar, I opted for white. 
• Wash your hands again and apply the face mask/scrub onto your face and massage in upwards circular motions.
• Leave to set for 5-10 minutes, chill out and catch up on Bloglovin or just rest with some damp cool cotton pads over your eyes.
• The mask will harden and set onto your skin, once ready wash off with tepid water and a washcloth and remember to use a toner to get rid of any excess residue. Then follow with your usual moisturiser. All done!

My skin felt a little tight (nothing excessive) after using this mask, but after toning and moisturising my skin felt soft and smooth. I initially wanted to use strawberry's in place of the banana but they had all been eaten! I think they might be a nice alternative, especially as I know a lot of people don't like the smell of bananas. Strawberry's are full of natural acids and are said to be excellent exfoliators, the seeds are a bonus!

Ok so lets be honest, this isn't the greatest exfoliating face mask in the world, and I will definitely be on the hunt for the gap in my skincare products, but at least I know if worst comes to the worst I can turn to my kitchen cupboards to sort something out for my skin!

I used ingredients that I already had in my kitchen cupboards and it was a really quick, simple and gentle exfoliating mask to make. Have you used any homemade beauty or skincare products? Will you be giving this one a try?