Home baked/cooked xmas gifts!

fedupandskint

I have searched my Nigella Christmas book and found loads to make in the theme of 'One for you, one for me' food gifts! Feels nice to be making some use of the book! Just waiting for my jars to arrive now as I used my stash up for the chutneys then I'll make a start!

Vanilla Sugar
Christmas Spiced Salt
Sticky gingerbread
Panaforte
Christmas Chocolate Biscuits
Steeped Christmas Fruits
Marinated Feta
Olives n Pickles
Honeyed Fig Vinegar

Might try the flavoured vodka if I can find some suitable bottles (the Lakeland ones don't have very good review unfortunately)

Thanks for the link for the biscotti recipe - I'll be trying that out too!

amy_lou_4

I have the BBC Good Food 'Christmas Made Easy' book, and a Hamlyn one from Matalan called 'Christmas Treats', both of which I highly recommend.
My favourite one looks like it will be Mulled wine biscuits, with cranberries, raisins, nuts, spices and redcurrant jelly in them. There is also a recipe fpr pretzels, that I never would have tried to make myself but will now!
I will have to be careful as my brother's girlfriend is allergic to nuts.

Chimera

I really really want to make some lovely christmas foodie treats for people, but am worried about shelf life of them.. what's good to make and how long will it last.. ie, short bread, fudge etc?

Thanks

simpywimpy

Im worried about the same thing Chimera. I don't want to be overloaded with things to make at the last minute either

NiceGuyEddie_2

rufusd!!!2 wrote: »

I have chucked the chutney in the bin. Dont know what was wrong with it but it tasted absolutely awful. Had had it on for nearly 4 hours stirring and it still wasnt as thick as what it said in the recipe but wasnt much left in the saucepan. I only tasted a lick off a spoon a couple of times but the taste is making me feel sick. Will have to think of something else unless anyone has any tried and trusted recipes that taste nice they could let me have.

Now got to try to get rid of the smell lol, house stinks.

Chutney normally tastes rather grim when it's first cooked, as the vinegar is very overpowering; however, over the month or so that you leave the chutney for, the vinegar works its magic with the other ingredients and the overall taste changes so that eventually it won't be vinegary at all

It's really all about time with chutney, the taste you get when cooking will be very different to the taste when the chutney is ready. Unfortunately this sometimes means that you wait a month or two to open the chutney only to discover that even the finished product is still a bit grim :rotfl:

NiceGuyEddie_2

I wanted to recommend a few more recipes if people are looking.

There's a recipe for 'Fruity Christmas Biscotti' on the BBC Good Food site, which is a very easy recipe that leaves you with lots of great looking biscotti. It also works out very cheaply (I think it worked out to be about £3 excl. items I already had) especially considering the huge amount you end up with; I'll split it between a number of hampers but you can easily halve the quantities of the ingredients if you don't want to make so many.

From the same source, they have a recipe for pistachio truffles, which makes you look awesome, as the truffles look very classy.

Although most truffle recipes out there will get you a similar result. Just heat about 3 parts chocolate to one part double cream, leave the mixture to cool and then shape them

You can add raisins, nuts etc at the shaping part, and a small amount of liquor once the mixture has melted if you're making the truffles for grown ups.

Apologies for the lack of links, but as a new poster I'm not allowed to use them yet (sob!)

kemo_2002

ohhh where is the thread for infused oil? is it too late to make this? also where would i get bottles? do ikea sell them? i dnt have a lakeland near me

LydiaSophia

I have made:
Sweet Chili Jam
Butternut Squash Chutney
and
Red Onion Chutney

I am so pleased with the results I am planning on making more.......

moonbabe58

Does anyone have any biscuit recipes that last more than a few days?

Am planning on making biscuits for relatives, and packinging them in gift tins, hoping this will keep them fresh for longer.

Taypier

I want to get my mum some mulled wine for xmas, I can't stand the stuff so was hoping you guys could help me out! Would it be better to buy mulled wine spices and the red wine separately or just get a bottle of mulled wine? Which is the nicest? I don't drink red wine either!