Welcome to the BakeryBits Christmas Gift Guide for 2024! Are you after the ultimate festive gift to inspire your favourite baker in your life, or you’re seeking clever stocking fillers that are both thoughtful and budget-friendly, I’ve curated a list of top picks from our collection.
With decades of baking passion and over 14 years in the baking industry, I’m thrilled to ... Read more
Poffertjes (Dutch for mini pancakes) are little flying-saucer-shaped snacks very popular in the Netherlands and gaining popularity elsewhere, such as Germany. They're made using a special Poffertjes pan and commonly sold from stands at events like Christmas markets, carnivals, on the street for passing shoppers or for a tasty breakfast at home. Served in a paper bag, on a skewer or simply on a ... Read more
Panettone Style Cookies
Making a panettone just before Christmas, when time is disappearing quicker than the evening sun, can seem like an indulgent project.
However, if you love the taste of panettone and want to bake something everyone will enjoy, these cookies are something you’ll definitely want to "accept".
They’re easy to make, the dough can be prepared ahead of time, ... Read more
Tear & share brioche with a pesto and cheesy filling
Having a soft and sumptuous, comforting and tasty brioche that is stuffed with cheese and pesto is a marvellous thing, but to share it is even better.
This is a great way to use up any odd bits of cheese that are knocking about in the fridge. This recipe is with pesto but you could just as easily use tapenade, semi dried tomatoes, Marmite ... Read more
What exactly are Mendiants?
Mendiants have quirky roots in France from the Middle Ages. They were part of the Provençal tradition with toppings denoting the original robes of the four Mendicant order of friars. Today they are a well-loved tradition in many a French household and if you try making these they could be a firm favourite in yours. Mendiants are commonly eaten over the Christmas ... Read more
Finnish shortbread are not actually Finnish! Now that's out of the way they are shortbreads and 100% tasty.
The Danes say they invented these traditional Christmas biscuits and call them Finnish bread (Finskbrød in Danish) where as the Swedes maintain that they invented these tasty Yuletide treats and call them Finnish sticks (Finska pinnar in Swedish). The Finns could not give a hoot, and ... Read more
A crisp easy-to-roll rugged buttery shortcrust made with mix of dark rye and white bread flour, and a hint of real honey. Filled with your very best mincemeat. Then topped with a scotch whisky and walnut sugar crust. Giving you a very impressive Christmas mince pie with a knockout flavour too. And of course you can replace the whisky with rum (that's Faith at our BakeryBits HQ's preference), ... Read more
Using BakeryBits decorative sugars
What are they?
Not all white sugar is the same. You’re probably familiar with different brown and unrefined sugars, the coarse demerara sugar crystals and “coffee” sugar (even larger brown sugar crystals). But did you know that the same is true for white sugar? At BakeryBits we do a range of different white sugars especially made for baking, with ... Read more
Like the croissant is to France, boller are to Norway, although we eat them with coffee at parties and when walking the forests and mountains. They are a milk-based bread, lightly sweet with just a hint of cardamom. Boller are available everywhere in Norway with and without raisins but I have an overwhelming sense of disappointment when having one without, so always include them.
The most ... Read more
Our BakeryBits Christmas recipe is a 1950s sweet candied-fruit focaccia with flavours reminiscent of a great panettone, the crumb swirled with sugary ground almonds in a Sfogliato-style, and of course using the very best ingredients available to you here at BakeryBits, delivered fast. Easy to make, the perfect small gift for friends when you visit this Christmas.
It's based on an old 1940s sweet ... Read more
A dark rich fruit cake with a tang of sourdough that slices well, our Chestnut, Sourdough and Rum Christmas cake keeps for a few months perfectly if wrapped well and stored in a tin. The crème fraiche is boiled with the sugar and baked into the cake, so like butter it will add richness and keep perfectly well. The excellent Mulino Marino Organic Chestnut Flour adds a subtle earthy background to ... Read more
BakeryBits is known the world over for making it easy to buy and enjoy excellent and unusual stoneground flours, heritage grains, as well as the finest roller-milled flours used by the best artisan bakers. So, we thought that this year our mince pies should continue that celebration and combine stoneground flour – from one of our many great millers we stock, or out of your own Mockmill – with ... Read more
This version of panettone I’ve written for you here follows Massari’s now-classic methods, from his & Zoia’s landmark book on sweet dough making, Cresci: The Art of Leavened Dough, but uses commercial yeast as a base for the mother dough. Massai describes this sort of yeasted method as a very respectable alternative to the one made with natural leaven (known as Lievito Naturale, Pasta ... Read more
Merry Christmas to all you inspiring bakers. If you’re reading this in December it’s officially the start of the annual festive baking season but if you’re reading this in a European summer please put the slice of Christmas cake down and get some sun and exercise outside. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with a little Christmas cheer all year round but for me, at least if not for you, winter ... Read more
A crisp, nutty, sugary topping for panettone, with a slight crunch from the ground cornmeal and a hint of chocolate from the cocoa. It can be made up to a week ahead and stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator. Rice flour gives a more enjoyable texture to the ‘glassa’ when you chew it – in Italy a mixture of potato starch and rice flour is often used – but if you need to ... Read more
I'm writing this in the run-up to Christmas, and if you're like me, you're probably wondering what to make beyond the usual mince pies and some fantastic loaves of bread: a big ol’ fruit cake, maybe, or a yule log? Perhaps you're also finding that it gets trickier every year to find the right gifts for the budding bakers in your family, or something to hint that you'd be more than happy to ... Read more
This is a three-day adventure to take you towards all-butter croissant perfection. Much easier and less effort than classic puff pastry, with much less rolling to do. This recipe only makes 6, but I’d like you to start here, getting your technique as sharp as you can, before you set up making dozens to supply your entire neighbourhood as the local viennoiserie star baker. You can do it, I ... Read more
Pandoro translates as ‘golden bread’ (pan d’oro), and its 18th century origins were as a delicacy for the Venetian aristocracy; with its refined flour and enriched dough, the common people could only dream of what it tasted like. They store well, and make impressive yet relatively inexpensive gifts with very little packaging. You will need our special BakeryBits Pandoro tin, which gives the ... Read more
