Sticky Pockets & Jammy Bars

How time whizzes by! Holiday Cookies 2009 is just round the corner - 4 sessions only, on 10 October, 11 October, 24 October and 25 October 2009 ; for all inquiries, please call the school at +65 6479 8442 or email shermaycs@yahoo.com.sg - and I am very much looking forward to the preparations for it.

Much as I love them, who needs a Diptyque scented candle? If the holiday class preparatory periods seasons past are anything to go by, the toasty scent of Christmas spices, rounded out by a touch of sugar plums and a topnote of chocolate, will permeate my kitchen (and rest of the apartment really) in the coming months. Luckily, it is a sugar-and-spice scent I adore, and associate with all things nice, so I really couldn't be more thrilled! It is a joyous and uplifting scent, and I daresay one of the biggest reasons why so many of us who love baking in general, love holiday baking in particular!

Anyways, I wanted to put up some pictures of the bonus recipes and ideas included within the recipe pack, in addition to the core demonstrated recipes seen here. They include:

Sticky Date Pockets
A sticky date filling is encased by a friable cinnamon-and-vanilla scented pastry. The look of these (see picture at beginning of post) somewhat reminds of miniature mincemeat pies, and are in fact the ideal treat to proffer in lieu of those should you find yourself serving non-mincemeat eaters!

Zesty Raisin Stuffed Cookies
A raisin and candied lemon peel filling enveloped by lemon scented pastry, and a definite winner with lemon lovers.

Orange Marmalade & Cherry Bars
A crisp brown sugar-and-oatmeal crust is topped with a filling of orange marmalade and dried cherries.

Apricot Bars with Orange Blossom Water, Saffron & Pistachios
Flavoured with the merest hint of orange blossom water and saffron, this apricot jam filling is an intriguing one.

Nutella Bars
Once the knack of making the brown sugar oatmeal crust is figured out, what lies within can be any number of things, and an excellent reason to go shop for all manner of luxurious jams and preserves. But frankly, my favourite thing to do is to reach for the Nutella jar! Because one can never have too many thinly veiled excuses to indulge in lashings of the stuff, this is really a number for us Nutella fiends...