Christmas study snacks

As the winter cold keeps creeping inside, I find comfort in eating and comfort eating to be something I do a lot at this time of year. Maybe it’s because the Christmas period is around the corner and all I want is a mince pie or some chocolate. Or perhaps it's because I’m sleeping a little less and I cave into eating a little bit more. Or that homemade snacks taste so much better. Whatever the reason, sometimes when the studying gets tough, I need something to distract me a little from the difficulty or amount of work and it gives me something to enjoy. They are really good to have on the side of the table if I'm making notes or practising for a 2-hour exam.

Starting off with mince pies, I have always had them growing up in the UK, but I don't remember them being as widespread or common in Canada. They have this irresistible layer of pastry with an inside that is a lot tastier than it sounds or looks. It's fairly sweet and in my opinion, if you don't like it, then I need to get you a better one. It's interesting to see the subtle variations in palettes and how different foods represent Christmas or the wintery time of year in different places.

I don't make mince pies myself but maybe I should because freshly made homemade cinnamon rolls are incredible. They are so much better than I thought they would be. I hadn't really had cinnamon rolls ranked highly in my mind but there's something about a soft, fluffy homemade version that changes all that. I really like them now.

Another in-season snack are these glazed pecans and walnuts. They're quite easy to make and as I write this, I'm getting progressively more hungry. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to write about foods and have pictures of them. Having these nuts warm, I find that they're a great snack to munch on when going through lectures inside or studying another hour of notes. 

Okay, chocolates. 'nough said. For me, Nutella tops the list of everyday chocolate snacks. It's so good. And then the assortment of Christmas chocolates are nice to have. I’ve found the small bitesize look of them to be appealing and ever-so-tempting. The colours help build in the feel of Christmas and make revising a bit better for me.

I think a novel choice for me would be these Christmas-themed gingerbread men as they look incredible. I don't usually have gingerbread perhaps because I've been distracted in stores by more extravagant packaging and haven't grown up making them or eating them so I might try them this year after my finals are done. Maybe make a gingerbread house.