Christmas Baking

I love baking at Christmas. My traditional concocting, early on in the holidays, consists of lemon curd, bar mix (for the all-important, super-Christmassy Amaretto Sours - and I didn't bruise my hand this year, thanks to my new hand-held lemon squeezer) and Tunis Cake. Marzipan fruits too, this year, courtesy of Holland and Barrett.

This year I added some Christmassy mince pie Chelsea buns, as per my recipe of a few weeks ago; these are lighter on the ginger and have prunes added. I also made them smaller and baked them for a bit less time. They are perfect, if I do say so myself.

Having lots of time on my hands always makes it possible to make my own croissants; yesterday involved a lot of rolling and flouring and turning. Totally worth it: these are a marvellous treat, and I have a freezerful to last me over the whole holiday.

And this is about to go in the oven for Christmas Eve dinner: apple, mincemeat and nut strudel. It doesn't look so good now, waiting to bake, but it is very delicious.

January is going to be a month of deprivation, I can tell. But I *am* going skiing next week, so I need all the carbs I can get. Honest.