I can't get rid of the Christmas atmosphere. Cinnamon is so warming and smells so homely that it is difficult to resist. To mark the end of the Christmas holiday I quickly prepared some final gingerbread cookies. Today the cookies weren't for cutting out and decorating but were something like small gingerbread pillows – crunchy outside and soft inside. They weren't too sweet and the lemon icing perfectly suited them.

Fortunately, I prepared 50 cookies from one portion of dough, because before I took the second portion out of the oven the first one was almost gone.

The recipe comes from https://gotuj-sie-do-gotowania.blogspot.com.

Ingredients:
150g of brown sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon of cocoa
2 teaspoons of spices
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
260g of flour
150g of 18% cream
half a teaspoon of baking soda
peel from one lemon
peel from half an orange

The end of 2017 was meant to try our patience. One after another we got ill and I was fed up with it. Fortunately, at least during Christmas we were healthy and we were able to spend this time with the whole family. We had to spend New Year's Eve with wipes, raspberry juice and ascorbic acid.

To warm up and fortify our weakened strength I prepared garlic soup. Smooth and mellow with crunchy croutons, it was really good. I recommend it.

Ingredients (for 4 people)
soup
2 heads of garlic + 3 cloves of garlic
3 big potatoes
1 onion
2 bay leaves
3 allspices
1 litre of vegetable stock
2 sprig of thyme
1 tablespoon of butter
100ml of 30% sweet cream
salt and white pepper

When I was a child I hated porridge. I ate it for breakfast in kindergarten, and this bad memory meant that the next time I could bring myself to eat porridge again was when I was an adult. For many years I have prepared porridge by simply brewing it with hot water. It is an excellent basis for cocktails and goes very well with fruit and nuts. Today, I overcame the next obstacle and prepared porridge with milk. Strangely enough, it tastes quite good; maybe because I chose coconut milk. Try it, the devil is not so black ...

Ingredients (for 2 people)
porridge
400ml of coconut milk
8-10 tablespoons of rolled oats
1 tablespoon of light honey
a pinch of salt
crumble topping
1 teaspoon of butter
2 tablespoons of desiccated coconut
1 tablespoon of sesame seeds
1 teaspoon of caster sugar

Though it is difficult to believe, another year has gone past. Our children are older, outside is green and white by turns, and only we are still young and beautiful 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for another year spent together in the virtual world of my blog. I hope that ahead of us there are many more articles and comments to come.

I will keep my fingers crossed, so that in the coming year your dreams will come true: big and small, those that we say out loud and those which are our deepest secrets. I wish you health, happiness, love and nice, friendly people all around.

Happy New Year!