Gingerbread House

There are two types of people that reveal themselves at Christmas: those who are painfully organised, have their presents bought in August and have all of their Christmas baking finished before Christmas eve and those who have ribbons and bows attached to their clothes, burnt cookies in the oven and friends and family unexpectedly knocking on the door.

I usually fall in the latter category!

I must admit...it’s Christmas Eve Eve and I am still yet to finish one of my parents’ presents, wrap ALL of the presents I’ve bought, make truffles for my Grandad, bake two different batches of cookies, make ice-cream for dessert Christmas Day, make the starter for Christmas Day, BUY and write Christmas cards to my family, and I have to complete all of this on Christmas Eve when I will be working from 7am. Can anyone spot a problem?

Despite all of this, I did manage to do something pretty damn impressive at the beginning of the week. I made my first ever gingerbread house.

It was so much easier than I first thought, though I’m not going to lie to you, it is time consuming.

So, if you are one of these super women who was planning on pouring herself a snowball and watching it’s a wonderful life tomorrow, I challenge you to instead bake yourself the ultimate of Christmas table centre pieces – the ginger bread house!

The basic premise is that you make a ginger flavoured dough, roll it out, cut out the various shapes, and stick together with royal icing before decorating with all sorts of yummy sweets and chocolates.

Easy peasy right?
 
Well hopefully, by following this recipe you will find making your gingerbread house just as easy as I did.

Spiced Cranberry Chutney

An extra large jar of Spiced Cranberry Chutney
ready for some cheese!

This is my second venture into the Christmas kitchen this year and yet again it involves a couple of jars!
I’ve been thinking about “dabbling” in preserves since the summer. In the past we’ve ended up with a huge glut of fruit and I was looking forward to attempting to make jam for the first time. But, summer came and went, and in true British style the weather was disappointing. We had hardly any raspberries on our canes this year so my new jam thermometer never got a look in.

But, as we get ever closer to Christmas, I’ve begun to find festive uses for the jam jars I have collected.

First I attempted my own mincemeat perfect for mince pies and other festive favourites. The recipe was super simple, and I managed to get an airtight seal! Woo hoo! Not too bad for a first attempt.

This time I thought I’d try something a little bit different.

At Christmas my family gets through an UNHOLY amount of Cheese; cheeses of all kinds, from soft to smelly, sheep to goat. Last year my Dad’s present from my sister and I was actually a Cheese hamper complete with 5 types of cheese 2 chutneys and a plumb bread. You can buy these hampers from farmers markets and supermarkets alike but I started to think...how hard can it REALLY be to make chutney?! As it turns out, it’s not very hard at all.

When coming up for the flavour combination, I wanted something that didn’t just go well with cheese, but something that well and truly said CHRISTMAS! So my starting point was cranberries. As I searched the internet for basic cranberry chutney I was a bit concerned about how I would actually find fresh cranberries. Turns out...that’s also pretty damn easy! Who would’ve thought they can found in the fresh fruit isle of Sainsbury’s in a plastic bag by the nuts.

Well that was the first hurdle overcome. Next I had to decide what else I would but in the chutney. For a truly festive flavour it had to be cinnamon, nutmeg and a touch of ginger. This combined with the basic chutney mix (the fruit, red wine vinegar, a little onion) seemed like a good place to start, but I didn’t want to play it too safe. So, to give the chutney an extra kick, you can also find a red chilli in the ingredients list. This works really well to give the chutney a bit of excitement without drowning out the mellow Christmas spices.

Mincemeat (for mince pies and other deliciousness)

 


Today I bring you the first of many Christmas Recipes. Some of you may be thinking this Christmas post is a little premature, but I must confess I’ve been Christmas obsessed for weeks now.

I’m one of those people who when they sign along to Wizzard’s “Oh I wish it could be Christmas everydaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay” I genuinely mean it. I. Love. Christmas. And not just Christmas day! Of course I’m grateful for the gift giving and I enjoy Christmas dinner, but for me the best part of Christmas is the build up! As with any occasion worth making traditions out of, my family do Christmas BIG TIME, so for me the build up is not just madly running around shops looking for the perfect gift. Oh no, it is SO much more! This is what Christmas means to me...



 

·         The Christmas season is declared open at the end of our annual bonfire night party where we all gather round my auntie’s house for a firework display at the local park, freshly cooked soup and sparklers.

·         The Christmas Book starts to make an appearance, temptingly being left around the house. This book is my Mum’s Christmas organiser; it contains the Christmas card list, the present list, as well as the more tedious chores like the Christmas Cleaning Rota!

·         Dad orders the Christmas turkey. We order our turkey from a semi-local butcher (it’s just a town away but it’s where they’ve got their turkey every year for the last 30!)

·         I start planning what I’m cooking for when! Christmas wouldn’t be complete without gingerbread men, a Yule log, a Christmas cake, mince-pies, shortbread and more! I will be baking ALOT over the Christmas period so keep your eyes peeled.

·         Christmas shopping! This year I started REALLY early buying an extra special present online. Towards the end of November we will make a trip to a big shopping centre (usually Milton Keynes) where we will shop to we drop and go out for a festive lunch!

·         Operation Christmas Child by Samaritan’s Purse. Every year I take a shoe box, fill it with toys, pens, pencils, notebooks, sweets, teddy bear, hygiene products, hats and gloves and send it off to a Child in a poverty stricken country with the aid of Samaritan Purse! Want to find out more follow this link: OperationChristmas Child.

·         Christmas films – my Mum has one of the most impressive collections with over 15 DVD’s! It’s a wonderful life is always saved to be watched on Christmas Eve however.

·         Christmas songs! On the first of December I play Christmas music...24/7. It made me rather unpopular in halls but I don’t care! I love ALL Christmas music and even have a favourite Christmas Compilation Album. I’m not ashamed to say it...I know the exact order of the songs and everything...

·         Opening the advent calendar and burning the advent candle