Made by our very own Alex Kelly for staff at Caroline Serviced Apartments! Best tasting x'mas present!

Look no further why not put your hand to a little baking and give a homemade gift.

Try these delicious Choc- chunk cookies or Ginger bread men.  Make them impressive with funky gift wrapping ideas. By making the Choc-chip cookies large you can use paper CD cases to hold the cookies bundling them together in twos or threes and wrapping them in Christmas ribbons.

Ginger bread men look great in clear plastic bags tied with Christmas ribbons. And for that extra Christmas touch use a couple of different sized cookie cutters and make a whole ginger bread family!

Choc-Chunk cookies

250grms butter (soft)

2/3 cup Brown sugar

1 cup caster sugar

2 eggs beaten

3 cups plain flour

1tsp bi-carb soda

500grms chocolate chips (great with a mix of dark, milk and white choc!)

Vanilla essence

Method

Pre Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line baking trays with grease proof paper.

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla until pale and smooth. Add egg gradually once combined add flour and bi-carb and mix until combined. Then mix through choc chips with a spoon.

Spoon out a large tablespoon of mixture roll into balls, flatten slightly and place on already lined trays leaving enough space for biscuits to spread. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden.

Should make 12 large cookies

Ginger bread men

¼ cup brown sugar

2 ½ cups plain flour, sifted

2tsp ground ginger sifted

1tsp bi-carb soda

125grm butter, chopped

2/3 cup of golden syrup

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Mix dry ingredients together and place in the bowl of a food processor with butter and golden syrup.  Process until a smooth dough forms. Divide the dough into two pieces and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm. Roll out between two sheets of greaseproof paper until it is 4mm thick. Using a ginger bread man cookie cutter or any shape you like cut out the shapes and place them on a tray lined with greaseproof paper. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool completely on an airing rack before packaging as gifts!

Watch this space for more exciting recipes from our resident chef Alex : )