Finally this place starts to look like a home! Just in time for the Holiday Season! It feels great! Friends have also had a chance to enjoy the new arrangement. The biggest accomplishment was indeed the installing and assembling of our new Ikea Pax wardrobe with the help of an uncle. Altogether it took eight hours to get the piece together and steadily attached to the wall.

Even our ceramic rhino head got it's very own spot on the wall, it had been bubble wrapped since August, waiting for this glorious moment. I decided to decorate it for Christmas, covering one of its horns with a festive hat. 

We got everything done by the 20th, just two days before throwing a lovely Christmas party for a bunch of good friends. One thing is for certain. Drilling a rock wall, as noisy and terrible it might sound like, has never sounded so good! The sweet sound of getting things done!

A highly unpractical, tall vase, bought a few years back from a sale got a new life. I was on the verge of throwing this piece away, numerous times, since it's only purpose seemed to be collecting dust in a corner. The assortment of Christmas tree baubles look great in it, like it was meant for this use all along!

This might seem superficial for some, but finally getting a place to both look and feel like my own, has a much deeper meaning. Something to be truly grateful of and cherish every day. For the first time in my entire life, a place actually feels like home. And boy, does it feel phenomenal! Hopefully no one takes that mutual feeling for granted. 

The very first batch of Christmas tree cake pops by me and C.C.! The dough tastes like gingerbread with a hint of tiramisu. We made three different icing flavors: strawberry, milk chocolate and vanilla. They turned out delicious! This was a very nice little Christmas project for me and my dear little sister C.C..

Cake Pops Recipe

You'll need:

- 1 dl of brown sugar

- 1 dl of farine sugar

- 2 teaspoons of vanilla sugar (you can also use 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract)

- 4 dl of wheat flour

- 1,5 dl of sour milk

- 2 eggs

- 1 dl of cream

- 125 g of melted butter

- 1 teaspoon of salt

- 1 teaspoon of baking soda

- 1 tea spoon of baking powder

- a pinch of cinnamon

- about 50 g of tiramisu flavored sour cream (or choose another flavor) 

- 100 g of natural flavored cream cheese

- chocolate or Candy Melts of your choice for the icing

- sprinkles etc. for decorating

Mix the wheat flour with baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and sugars well. Add the eggs, cream, sour milk and butter. Mix well using a spoon. Pour the dough into a cake mould of any kind. Bake in the lowest level of the oven in 175 C for 45-60 minutes. The cake should be moist so be careful and check the texture every once in a while with a fork or a stick. 

Let the cake cool down.

Break the cake into tiny crumbs in a bowl using your hands. In a small bowl mix the tiramisu sour cream with the cream cheese to make it nice and even, then combine it with the cake crumbs using your hands again.

Make tight balls out of the dough, then press them into the cake pop moulds and put them into the freezer for just a little while, less than 10 minutes. Take each piece of dough out of the mould and melt the chocolate for the icing, use a mug etc. . Dip a cake pop stick into the icing, then push it a few centimetres inside the piece of dough, repeat with all of the Christmas tree shaped pieces. Then put them into the fridge for ten minutes and then dip each cake pop into the icing so that it's covered, tap the excess amount off. Quickly decorate them before the icing gets hard. The Candy Melts especially are extremely fast when it comes to drying. Put the cake pops into the fridge until you serve them!

I recommend the strawberry flavored chocolate for the icing, it tastes and smells extremely delicious! The pink ones were the most popular ones among my friends. 

You can make these a few days beforehand if you like!

For about 50 cookies you'll need:

-  milk chocolate
-  Fazer gingerbread chocolate
-  some cinnamon
-  an assortment of nuts
-  4 eggs
-  450 g of butter (let it warm up in room temperature for a while)
-  0,5 dl of milk
-  13 dl of wheat flour
-  3 teaspoons of baking powder
-  3,5 dl of farine sugar
-  5 dl of brown sugar
-  3 teaspoons of baking soda

Dice the chocolate and if you want, the nuts too. I like my cookies with big chunks! 

Use a cake mixer to mix the soft butter and sugars together. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well. 

In a separate bowl combine the baking powder, baking soda and some cinnamon with wheat flour - then using a spoon add it into the butter-sugar mix. Use the cake mixer to add some milk. Make sure the dough is smooth and even. 

Roll small balls of dough onto a baking tray, then press them flat. Remember that they will turn out bigger in the oven. Press pieces of chocolate and nuts onto cookies. 

Bake in 175 C for about 15 minutes. Let them cool down on a grate.