One the 3rd Day of Christmas...

...this blog gave to thee...

...three tasty treats...

...two fancy stamps...

...and a Cathedral made of seeds.

Another obsession, iced biscuits. And who doesn't like a good cuppa and a biscuit when it's cold and miserable outside? Lucky my gran gave me a copy of The Biscuiteers by Harriet Hastings & Sarah Moore for my Christmas and there are tonnes of ideas to while away the cold dark afternoons. And so this post is an ode to that book with a little added inspiration from three other bakers.

I think the Terrarium Cookies by Whipped Bakeshop are just lovely, they're simple and clever and fit perfectly into the current fashion for terrariums. Maggie Austin's incredible representations of Bauhaus Paintings are beautiful and elegant and her eye for detail is just staggering...seriously go and have a look at her portfolio because she creates the most incredibly decorated cakes and cookies.

Unfortunately neither of these have recipes, but are wonderful inspiration for what you can do with a plain biccy. However Jasmine Fine of 1 Fine Cookie has kindly blogged her awesome stain glass snow globe cookies, including her method for making perfectly clear stain glass instead of the yellowed version you get using boiled sweets...or the blacked ones you get when you leave them in the oven too long. I will definitely be giving these a go!

Plus, seeing it's Christmas, an added extra to act as a base for your own iced cookies, a link to my favourite biscuit recipe! From the wonderful Smitten Kitchen, Nutmeg Mapel Butter Cookies. Oh my god, these are amazing and I usually make them as tiny biccies, just bigger than a fifty pence piece and about half a centimetre thick, then I drizzle them with white water icing. I'd do something a little fancier if I wasn't lazy and at that size I make them, the recipe didn't make frigging hundreds of biscuits! Give them a go, they're wonderful and tasty and totally addictive!

Link | Terrarium Cookies by Whipped Bakeshop
Link | Bauhaus Cookies by Maggie Austin
Link | Snow Globe Cookies by 1 Fine Cookie

Merry Christmas! Part four tomorrow...
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Listening: I Don't Like Mondays - Boom Town Rats