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Creating a Christmas gift hamper with Ryvita Thins

Creating a Christmas gift hamper with Ryvita Thins

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Some people are just REALLY DIFFICULT to find presents for, don’t you think? Let’s face it, we’re all lucky enough to have more or less everything we need, so we have a bit of an unwritten rule in our family that gifts have to be useful (and/or useable), and I think edible gifts fit really well into this category, so when Ryvita Thins set me the challenge of creating a Christmas gift hamper, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. If you have friends and family that are real foodies, this is such a lovely idea: a gift of inspiration, and the starting point to easy Christmas nibbles if they’re entertaining over the festive season (or just lovely snackage for in front of the TV if they’re not).

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Pumpkin pie spiced skinny latte with Arla BOB

Pumpkin spice skinny latte with Arla BOB

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So we’ve dressed up as witches cats (was that just me?), trick or treated, eaten all the leftover sweets and now it’s full speed ahead to Christmas. But wait, there are all those cute little pumpkins and squashes we bought to decorate our home (and, if you’re me, adorn your Instagram feed)! And it’s such a shame as most of them will get thrown away. Before they go in the bin, though, consider the beautiful, autumnal thing that is pumpkin butter. Even better, consider using it to make the very delicious, frothy and warming pumpkin spice skinny latte with new Arla BOB milk.

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Festive cranberry and clementine curd - perfect pie filling for mincemeat haters

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Cranberry and clementine curdIf you’re thinking about baking mince pies this Christmas (you’ll find my clementine and mincemeat cakey pie recipe here), we should really spare a thought for all those mincemeat haters. When you’re popping your pies in the oven, leave a couple of the pastry shells empty (or indeed just make a whole batch of shells), scrunch up a square of greaseproof paper and pop in a handful of baking beans.

When you take your mince pies out of the oven you’ll have a few extra shells ready to fill with something non-mincemeaty. For a festive option, why not try making my cranberry and clementine curd? Double the quantity and buy some nice clip-top jars (I got mine from jarsandbottles-store.co.uk) and it makes a fabulous gift too.

You will need:

300g pack fresh or frozen cranberries

4 clementines

100g butter

150g caster sugar

2 large free range eggs plus 1 extra yolk

Put the whole pack of cranberries into a saucepan. Peel a couple of big strips of zest off each of the clementines and add that in too, then squeeze them and pour in the juice. Bring the mixture to the boil, then allow it to gently simmer for about five minutes or until the cranberries are soft.

Take it off the heat and pour it into a sieve over a bowl. Give the mixture a good squish to get as much juice out as possible, then measure the juice back into the saucepan. You need 6 tablespoons of juice - if you don’t have enough, add a bit more clementine or lime juice.

Add in the butter and caster sugar and stir gently on a low heat until the butter is all melted and the sugar has dissolved.

Meanwhile, in a clean bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until well combined (if you’re being restauranty here, you can sift the egg to remove any lumps of white).

Take the juice/butter mixture and gently pour a little bit into the egg, whisking all the time, then a bit more, then a bit more, until you’ve combined about half of it with the eggs.

Pop that lot back into the saucepan and keep whisking and gently cooking until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon. If it’s really not going to thicken, you can help it along by popping in another egg yolk and whisking again until it does. Remember it will continue to thicken as it cools.

If you’re potting it up, make sure your jars are sterilised (good sterilising advice from my friend Mammy’s Kitchen right here), but if you’re using it straight away, or pouring it into a tart case, let it cool a bit, remembering to stir it occasionally to keep it from getting a skin on. When it’s about room temperature, pour it into the pastry case and pop into the fridge to cool.

A sealed jar will keep for a good few weeks in the fridge, but opened jars should be eaten within about a week.

Cranberries and clementines

Step by step: how to make lemon curd and news of the ‘lemonster’

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Lemon curd

Lemon curd

My Mum’s been on holiday to Sorrento. While she’s been away I’ve been popping in occasionally to look after the cats and water plants, etc. I’m always worried that people will think I’m a burglar, so I always talk really loudly to the cats: ‘hello Harreeeee! Are you missing your mummmeeeeee?’. It’s now dawned on me that rather than being labelled a burglar, my mother’s neighbours think I’m some sort of weird cat whisperer wannabe. Ah well.

True to the English Mum philosophy of nothing going right if it can go wrong, I was startled awake the morning of her return at 1.30am by a phone call: ‘it’s me’, said my Mum, ‘you locked me out’. Ah. I’d managed to leave the key in the back door when locking it from the inside, not realising that she hadn’t taken a front door key with her. No matter. I drove down and let her in. Whilst there, she handed me a suspicious, nobbly parcel. It was obviously a good pressie as she was pretty pleased with herself. Delving deeper, it turned out to be THE BIGGEST LEMON THAT YOU’VE EVER SEEN IN YOUR WHOLE LIFE. One of my twitter followers named it ‘The Lemonster’. Here it is next to a lemon from my fruit bowl:

The Lemonster

The Lemonster

During the following lemony discussions, it turned out that most people have never made lemon curd OR Limoncello. Both of which are dead easy. I’ll start with lemon curd. Once you’ve got the basic recipe, you can make lots of different kinds of curd - I’ve made berry before, and you can make lime, passion fruit… basically any juice that’s nice and sharp will translate well into a lemon curd.

You will need:

2 lemons, zested and juiced (or about 6 tablespoons of sharp, fresh juice)

100g butter (I use salted as I think it brings out the flavour)

150g caster sugar

2 large free range eggs, plus 1 extra yolk

Take a saucepan and add in the juice, zest (if using citrus fruits), butter and caster sugar. Melt it all together slowly until the sugar is all dissolved.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until well combined (if you’re being restauranty here, you can sift the egg to remove any lumps of white).

Now, take the warm juice/butter mixture and gently pour a little bit into the egg, whisking all the time, then a bit more, then a bit more, until you’ve combined about half of it with the eggs.

Pop that lot back into the saucepan and keep whisking and gently simmering until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon. If it’s really not going to thicken, you can help it along by popping in another egg yolk and whisking again until it does. Remember it will continue to thicken as it cools.

If you’re potting it up, make sure your jars are sterilised (good sterilising advice from my friend Mammy’s Kitchen right here), but if you’re using it straight away, or pouring it into a tart case, let it cool a bit, remembering to stir it occasionally to keep it from getting a skin on. When it’s about room temperature, pour it into the pastry case and pop into the fridge to cool.

A sealed jar will keep for a good few months in the fridge, but opened jars should be eaten within about a week.

Sorrento sounds utterly fabulous, by the way. Tempted to pop over and pick up a few more enormous lemons.

Apple, mint and thyme chutney

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Once again, my Dad’s wonderful apple trees have provided him with buckets of fruit that he has absolutely no interest in cooking (or, indeed eating - I mean, how many apples can one man possibly eat?). He arrived bearing massive bags of fruit (we won’t go into the missing one - my cousin Moon, visiting from Slovakia, got the blame, but he was far too busy trying to smuggle sausages out of the country, so the ‘case of the missing apples’ has now settled happily into family folklore) so I thought I’d have a go at some chutney.

This chutney is quite delicately flavoured and doesn’t contain any onions. It’s not too vinegary (the malt vinegar gives a nice rounded taste) and the fruity taste makes it an ideal accompaniment to both cheese, and roasted meats. It’s almost more of a posh apple sauce, really.

You will need:

1.5 - 1.75kg apples

250g sugar

300ml malt vinegar

Pinch salt

Large handful of mint

1 tablespoon chopped thyme

I’m not a massive fan of raisins in this chutney, but add 50g if you fancy it.

This amount makes about three jars, but if you stick to the general ratios above, you can multiply the recipe up or down as appropriate (and use any fruit or veg you fancy… pears, pumpkin, onions…).

To make the chutney:

Basically, just peel, core and chop the apples (it helps to drop them into slightly salted water - they don’t go brown), add in the sugar and vinegar and then just bring to the boil (stir so that the sugar dissolves) then simmer uncovered until it thickens - it won’t take long, about 45 minutes to an hour.

When the chutney is at the right consistency, take if off the heat and stir in the herbs.

Make sure your bottles are sterilised, then pour in the chutney and pop on the lids.

Gorgeous port and cranberry sauce

Gorgeous port and cranberry sauce

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So yes you can rush out and buy a jar of cranberry sauce, but it’s equally easy to rush out and buy a pack of cranberries, and this yummy sauce will not only adorn your Christmas plate with its gorgeousness, but also scent your home so delightfully it could put Yankee Candles to shame. You can use all port if you haven’t got any Cointreau (English Dad got a bit sniffy about me using his posh Taylor’s, hence the addition of Cointreau), but it does give a nice orangey zing. The chilli is, of course, completely optional.

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Apricot, pear and apple chilli chutney

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Christmas is THE time for chutney. Quite apart from the turkey leftovers, there’s all that ham, and tons of lovely cheese - a tangy chutney accompaniment is a must.

This chutney is loosely based on the cranberry and apple chutney in Nigella Christmas, but inspired by my very clever friend Katie, from Feeding Boys, who made a lovely autumnal pear chutney, I decided to pop in some pears and dried apricots as well. Oh, and because I love a bit of spice, I’ve added a fresh red chilli too. Leave it out if you’re not keen, or maybe deseed and just add the flesh.

A few tips:

  • Make sure you cut the apples and pears into quite small pieces. My apples were frozen and I hadn’t chopped them that small, so quite a few large chunks remained. Not the end of the world, admittedly, but a bit annoying.
  • If you don’t like something, substitute something else. Like cranberries? Then just do half the amount of sultanas and do the other 125g in cranberries. Don’t like dried apricots? Add some different dried fruit.
  • No pears? Try quinces… or even veg - courgettes or butternut squash work well.
  • Feel free to double up if you’re making presents or whatever. This recipe makes about a litre of chutney and filled two and a bit small kilners.

You will need:

1 large onion, chopped

350g apples, peeled and chopped into small chunks

250g pears, peeled and chopped into small chunks

150g dried apricots, chopped into small dice

250g sultanas

350ml bottle of cider vinegar

1 red chilli, chopped very finely

200g brown sugar

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp salt

Bung everything into a big saucepan and stir while you bring it to the boil (see what I mean about the apple pieces?):

Once it’s boiled, turn it down to a simmer and allow to cook for 45 minutes until thick and golden brown, stirring occasionally.

Pour into sterilised jars. Click here for a link to my buddy Mammy’s excellent advice on sterilising jars.

And as this chutney makes a perfect thrifty Christmas pressie, I’ve added it to Violet Posy’s wonderful Thrifty Christmas blog. Pop over to get more thrifty inspiration and craft ideas.