Super easy cream cheese biscuit

Everyone is busy stocking up food for Christmas, but I am doing just the opposite. I am focusing on eating food in the fridge to limit spoilage and waste. We will be travelling this Christmas.

I am an eco-friendly and frugal shopper and I usually plan meals well. I heard that in the UK, we waste food worth £470 per the average household a year, rising to £700 for a family with children. This does not happen to us and I want to keep it that way.

We are doing well so far and I think we can leave an almost empty fridge behind if I don’t shop much anymore.

However, some products are not too easy to consume quickly, for example, cream cheese. It feels like a struggle to make your way through the entire cream cheese container.

Cream cheese can be an alternative to butter. It has less calorie so, it is good if you are watching your waist line. I used it to bake muffins in the past and that worked well.

I came across this biscuit recipe in Japanese Cookpad: Cream cheese biscuit.

To make 15-20

Ingredients
150g flour
50g cream cheese
50g margarine or butter
50g sugar

Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 170C.
2. Mix cream cheese, margarine and sugar. Add flour and combine well and roll the dough into a ball.
3. Wrap the dough with cling film and chill for 30-60 min.
4. Make 15-20 small balls from the dough or roll it out and cut out with cookie cutter.

5. Bake int he oven for 17-20 mins.

This is the easiest biscuit recipe ever!

I had low-fat cream cheese and margarine spread, but they worked just fine.
I had a lot more cream cheese left, so I made the second batch, adding cocoa powder this time. I increased the amounts of each ingredient a little, too, but as long as you keep 1:1:1:3 ratio, it works. I think you could use butter milk or fromage frais instead of cheese. You can use alomond powder or gluten free flour. Next time, I want to add chocolate chips. It is super versatile recipe and amazingly simple.

The dough does not contain much fat so it doesn’t spread much during the baking. It is soft and chewy inside. It isn’t too sweet, maybe it is less sweet than some of the morning breakfast cereals.

My son loved it. This is certainly one of our favorites.

In fact, it was so good that I am tempted to buy more cream cheese. Maybe after the trip.

Now, we need to start packing.

Christmas Felt book

It is always so fun to work in the Search Press studio.

We have just finished the photography for my next book, ‘Christmas Felt Project’ (title is provisional).

There isn’t any better time to work on this book. The timing is just so perfect. Our designer went out and bought a fur tree, baubles, tinsels and crackers for props. We got radio playing Christmas songs in the background. We were certainly in the Christmas spirit.

For the Christmas publications, the photography is often taken place in summer. You can get a fur tree all year around, but the summer trees has yellow-green tips of new leaves. You may notice branches are cut off at the ends next time you see Christmas tree in a magazine! It is great that we did not need to worry about that detail.

This is my first sewing book. It opens with easy and quick ornament projects as angels and teddies, and then, move on to larger projects which are a little more involved. It comes with many photos showing sewing steps. I had prepared items in different stages to make the photo sessions run smoothly, but it still took quite a long time just to photograph images to go with instructions.

I find it difficult to explain sewing steps quite often. However, my editor, Sophie, has been so great. She sat by me with patience, taking lots of notes while I carry on sewing. I may be able to improve my writing skill a bit as I work on the text for this book.

The book will have beautifully styled photos as my previous books.

I like images to tell stories. We used props carefully for each photo.

This is our prop room at the back of the studio. It looks like a collection of junks, but many of these items have appeared in my books. They are all so useful.

We experimented with lighting to create warm atmosphere of holiday season and I think we have achieved it. The photos all look amazing.

My photographer and designer made up a cute charming story with Santa scene. I would love to show the photos, but I think I should keep it a secret until the book comes out.

Sewing felt was the first craft I really enjoyed as a child. I hope the book will inspire many people of all ages and genders.

Recent publications

While I was away in Japan, some of my patterns came out in print. Most of them feature Christmas knits. It is the time to get busy with making gifts for your loved ones (and yourself).

Simply knitting magazine UK has this one: Santa, reindeer, elf and sleigh set.

The request was to make the Santa family with miniature toys. This pattern is in the A-5 mini booklet which comes with the magazine.

Pattern is not at all complicated, but assembly may require a bit of patience. The sleigh has a cardboard inside for sturdiness. I have added the template and instruction drawings with a help of my son. If you think the sleigh is a little challenging, you may be able to find an alternative, for example, wooden toy sleigh.

This project is a lot of fun and very rewarding at the finish.
It looks like this with everyone together.

I have made many Santas. This one is easy to make and is one of my favorites.

Another project is this one: Christmas ponies in Knit Now magazine.

The pony is knitted all in one. The pattern is surprisingly simple. The blanket has a Christmassy motif, but it can be knitted without it of course. Using multi coloured sock yarn may produce an interesting effect.

And one more.
A few days ago, I received these from America: Toy knits published by Interweave.

I was invited to submit my work in January so that this magazine has come a long way. It is more like a book than a magazine. It has been carefully planned with lots of time and care.

It contains many many projects and beautifully produced. I can assure you that you will find something you would like to try. There are book reviews and interviews included, and I was very happy to find my book in it.

I have two patterns in this issue; Knitted zeppelin and bunny in a jumper

Cool, yes?

This is the very first time that my work appeared in a knitting magazine in the US. I hope readers will enjoy them.