I wasn't sure what to give a friend for her birthday this weekend and whilst floating about on pinterest I came across this how to for a heat pack. Given that she's a bit sporty and has a bad back at the mo, I thought that might be appropriate so me and the sewing machine did battle this morning and I made this!
Instead of the usual lavender scent, I used orange, mango and cinnamon tea, a little extra orange zest and some crushed cinnamon to hide the cooked rice smell when you warm it.
I figured something to eat is always good too, so made some chocolate ganache and flavoured it with a slug of spiced rum liqueur. This should also help it last longer (if it doesn't get eaten straight away!) as sugar and alcohol act as a preservative in a ganache.
Last but not least, something to dunk into the ganache.. homemade vanilla shortbread. I used this recipe, but made it into bars. They were still a little soft in the middle and a bit chewy but I wanted them like this as I figured they'd work better for dunking!
...and ta da! The finished gift. Bundled into a white stuff shoe box - their stuff is so pretty..
I used my Lotta Jansdotter labels to bring it all together. I love these labels soooo much. I'm going to have to find some spare pennies to buy some more because I can't bear the thought of being without them! Stationery fetishes live on long after "back to school" shopping..
