Madhouse diaries : And I said what about ... Christmas in Brittany !

Yesterday, we kicked off the Christmas festivities by heading into Brest to see the Christmas market.

There seemed to be a Giant's House theme going on.

We all loved the giant bench with an equally giant gingerbread man perched on the end.

 Christmas selfie !!

In the shopping centre, there were two daredevil Santas on ropes, swinging between the different floors to hand out sweets

And not just to the kids !

There were a few artisan shacks, selling unique Christmas gifts, and we were very impressed with this one, making works of art out of old records.

All you need is a precision cutter and a lot of imagination.

This one would have been perfect for Beatles fan, Madhouse Grandad, for Christmas.

Heading back to the house, the festive dinner table had already been laid out.

 At about 7pm, the kids were all sent upstairs to look out of the window for Father Christmas's aeroplane. This gave the grown-ups five minutes to go and grab all the Christmas gifts from the various cars and stash them under the tree. Then someone rings the doorbell and the grown-ups shout that he's been. The kids don't need to be told twice - they came charging down the stairs to see what was under the tree.

"Wow, there's loads !" With five kids and six adults in the house, it did make an impressive pile !

Big smiles all round. Phew !

 "Wow, look Mum ... I've got a CaliPets !"

"Muuuuuuum .... I've got TWO CaliPets !!"

 Santa did a great job this year (as usual) and everybody seemed very pleased with their presents.

Pierre was particularly taken with the chocolate apparently !

"Look at all my presents Mum ... I've counted and there are twenty two !!" (I think he must have counted each of the chocolates separately !)

 Pierre got two pairs of slippers and couldn't decide which ones to wear first so he put on one of each ! Juliette had an impressive haul too !

After drinks and a shedload of nibbles, it was time to start on the serious eating. The starter (yes, this was just the starter !) was a platter of seafood - well, we are in Brittany after all ! In the morning, we had been to the shop in a nearby town that sells live oysters, crabs and lobsters plucked fresh from the sea. The kids were fascinated and horrified in equal measures to see the shopping bags at people's feet moving as they waited to pay !

We'd brought a box of crackers with us which the French side of the family weren't familiar with.

I did warn them that they'd go bang but the elderly neighbour sitting next to me almost leapt out of her seat !!

Those who wanted them were served half a dozen oysters. Sophie doesn't like seafood so she had a slice of ham filled with macédoine, peas and carrots in mayonnaise. After the oysters and seafood, there was langouste (crayfish or spiny lobster) with rice and Hollandaise sauce. Sophie opted for a bowl of leftover mashed potato from lunch, which made us all laugh !

And there was still dessert to come - two Yule logs and a huge ice cream bombe. 

We still have an English Christmas to look forward to next week too - just one of the perks of being a dual-nationality family !

Whatever you're getting up to today and wherever you are in the world, have a wonderful Christmas ! 

Happy Christmas from The Madhouse Family !

This has been making us giggle so I hope you find it fun too ! Wishing you all a fabulous Christmas :)

Madhouse recipe : Chocolate Mendiants aka Reindeer Poo !

On the final day of school before the Christmas holidays, Pierre came home proudly clutching a bag of chocolate mendiants that he had made in class, along with the recipe. He wanted to make more and was in fits of giggles when I said they looked like reindeer poo. Unsurprisingly, that is what they have now been rebaptised here at The Madhouse ! They are ultra quick and simple to make and are perfect for keeping the kids busy as they wait for Santa to arrive - I'm sure he'd love it if you left one or two out for him to nibble, and I think he'd appreciate the reindeer poo joke too !

Chocolate Mendiants

ingredients :

1 bar dark chocolate

1 bar white chocolate (I'm sure you could just use 2 bars milk chocolate though)

whatever's in your baking cupboard : nuts, dried fruit, mini Smarties, ...

Break the chocolate into a bowl and melt it in the microwave. Go for repeated 10 second blasts rather than one long one, to prevent it burning. Give it all a good stir so it is nice and smooth.

If following the proper recipe, you should use a spoon to place dollops of chocolate on a baking tray lined with baking parchment, then flatten it into a smooth disc, before carefully laying out your toppings on the chocolate before it sets. When I said this to Pierre he said "that's not right, you have to mix it all in the chocolate first". I agree that this is much quicker and easier for the kids but it won't look as pretty as the original version, so it's up to you.

 Stir in your chosen ingredients - I had a rummage through the cupboard and found the end of a bag of raisins and half a pack of chocolate covered blueberries. Stir them in the chocolate and prevent your offspring from eating half of it !

Dollop spoonfuls of the mixture on to the baking sheet. 

Place in the fridge to set and there you have it. I still think they look just like reindeer poo but they did taste very nice and were gobbled up in record time !

As well as keeping the kids entertained, this is a great recipe for using up the odds and ends from the baking cupboard, so I'm adding it to this month's #KitchenClearout linky.

Madhouse recipe : Santa & Snowman Biscuits

On the first day of Christmas (well, the first day of the Christmas holidays anyway !), I asked Pierre if he wanted to do crafts or baking and he answered BOTH ! Well, luckily, I had a recipe for some fun festive iced biscuits up my sleeve (from the last Bake Box - click through to see my review) that would answer both counts ! 

I always used to look at people's beautifully presented biscuits and think that I'd never manage to recreate them, but I've since learned that it's all in the tools - if you have a cookie cutter that imprints the design on your cookies and/or icing, it's a piece of cake making them look pretty with a few packs of coloured sugar paste.

Santa & Snowman Biscuits

ingredients :

For the dough :

100g butter, softened

100g golden caster sugar

1 egg, beaten

275g plain flour

1/2tsp vanilla extract

For decorating :

white and red sugarpaste

black sugarpaste or icing gel pen

small amounts of yellow, orange or gold sugarpaste or icing gel pen

food colouring powder or gel pens

edible glue (I use the icing gel pens)

Cream together the butter and sugar. Stir in the egg and vanilla extract and mix in the flour to make a dough. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough between two sheets of baking parchment.

Use the cookie cutters to cut out the snowmen shapes ...

... and the Santas. Chill in the fridge while the oven preheats then bake at 180° for 15 minutes. Cool on a rack.

You can ice them as soon as they are cool or make the biscuits the day (or even a couple of days) before. Roll out golfball-sized pieces of the different colours of sugarpaste and use the cookie embossers to imprint the design on the icing. 

We always start off following the pattern from the original recipe, then give free reign to our creative juices.

You have to let go off your perfectionist streak and just let the kids have fun - they'll be the ones eating most of them anyway !

And they're always so proud of their finished creations.

I think we may have to leave a couple of these out for Father Christmas on Christmas Eve, along with a carrot for the reindeer. Another idea is making a hole in the uncooked biscuits then threading a ribbon through so you can hang them on the tree once they're cooked and iced. It wouldn't work in our house though - the dogs would jump up and eat them, knocking over the tree in the process !

Adding to this month's #KitchenClearout linky, because as well as being lots of fun, it cleared out all the odds and ends of sugarpaste and icing gel pens that were cluttering up the baking cupboard.