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Turkey tips and timings for Christmas dinner

Turkey tips and timings for Christmas dinner

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I always love writing this Christmas Eve round-up post every year– I’m sure I say pretty much the same thing every year, which is don’t panic! It’s just a big roast dinner, but it’s worth reminding you that it’s your Christmas too, so enlist everyone to help, and do as much as you can before the big day. Here, then, without further waffle, are all my top turkey tips and timings for Christmas dinner. If you’re catering for a couple of vegetarians or vegans, I suggest doubling up on the stuffing (it’s delicious on its own, but you could even squish up some veggie sausages and add them into the mix).

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Spiced Christmas clementine cake

Spiced Christmas clementine cake

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I’ve been desperate to make one of these Scandi style Christmas cakes for ages. Quite a large portion of my Pinterest feed is given over to ‘naked’ cakes decorated with cute gingerbread shapes. Unfortunately, illness and other family stuff has got in the way. But now, finally, I’ve had a few days to myself and I’m pretty pleased with this spiced Christmas clementine cake. It’s skimmed with a smooth swiss meringue buttercream icing, which is a lovely, light alternative to normal buttercream, but that would be fine too, or you could use ganache (equal parts cream and chocolate - just warm the cream and stir in the chocolate, then whip to a light consistency). I tend to weigh the eggs and use the same amount of the other ingredients, which makes it even easier, too. Read more

Christmas gingerbread stars

Christmas gingerbread stars

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Happy Saturday! We made it to the weekend. I’ve been waking up stupidly early recently, but find it so peaceful lighting the fire and sitting by our lovely twinkly Christmas tree with a cup of tea and a book (Nigel Slater’s The Christmas Chronicles, obviously). If you’re still busy rushing around buying pressies, wrapping and organising, I sincerely entreat you to pause and take a little time for yourself amongst the madness. You know I love everything Scandi, and hygge is all about being cosy, warm, happy and contented. An afternoon of Christmas music and kitchen pottering is just what you need, and these Christmas gingerbread stars are the perfect Christmassy baking project/interlude of baking therapy.

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Spiced chocolate and pistachio biscotti

Spiced chocolate and pistachio biscotti

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I have a complicated relationship with biscotti. On the one hand, I love baking them (and eating them) but on the other hand, listening to people say ‘oh wow these biscotti are SO hard!’ makes me want to throw the aforementioned hard biscuits at their heads. Yes, biscotti are hard. That’s kind of the point. They’re twice baked and made to be dunked - traditionally in vin santo, but they’re also delicious dunked in coffee (or if you’re a coffee hater like me, hot chocolate, where they’re perfect for scooping out your melted marshmallows). I’ve made spiced chocolate and pistachio biscotti by adding a little Christmassy spice and using chocolate chunks and pistachio nuts, but feel free to keep it traditional with almonds, or add some dried fruit. Read more

A Christmas baking roundup

Weekend wishlist: the Christmas baking roundup

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Seeing as tomorrow is Stir-up Sunday, and you know how much I love a bit of bakeware, I couldn’t resist doing a little Christmas baking roundup - there are so many incredibly lovely bits and pieces of cookware around at this time of year, plus if someone you love is keen on cooking and baking, they make the best pressies too.

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Nordic Christmas shortbread - perfect for gifting

Nordic Christmas shortbread

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I’m a bit addicted to these gorgeous Nordic Ware tins. I’d totally forgotten that I’d even bought this one until I was looking back on my Christmas posts from last year. This Nordic Christmas shortbread is better, I think, baked slightly thinner, so this recipe actually makes two lots. You can stuff it all in if you want to, but it makes some pretty mammoth slabs of shortbread, which I don’t think are quite as nice as these thinner, more delicate ones. If you don’t have a fancy schmancy tin, press it into a loose bottomed cake tin, then mark the slices out with a knife, cutting about half way through the mixture.

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My top tips and recipes for Christmas dinner and beyond

My top tips and recipes for Christmas dinner and beyond

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I really enjoy writing this round-up post - traditionally my last one before Christmas. I probably say more or less the same thing every year (don’t panic! It’s just a big roast dinner), but as usual, remember that it’s your Christmas too. Grab a few willing helpers to make some Christmas cookies, or whip up some of my perfect frozen whipped cream hot chocolate and have a little prep-party on Christmas Eve (it’s amazing how much you can get done the night before). Need a little inspiration? Read on for my top tips and recipes for Christmas dinner and beyond: fresh ideas, old favourites and more!

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Scandi Christmas with Homesense

Christmas with Homesense (and some Scandi Christmas cookies)

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I’m obsessed with everything Scandinavian (some of you may know that I’ve just written the recipes and contributed some of the food photography for a book called Nordic Style for Viking Cruises along with Liz Jarvis and Sara Malm - super proud!). I especially love how the Scandinavians do Christmas, and, knowing that Homesense often have extra special bits and pieces from around the globe, I headed to my nearest store to find some inspiration for a Scandi Christmas, and a few bits for some special Scandi Christmas cookies.

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A Christmas Bundt cake with the Kenwood Chef Elite

A Christmas bundt cake with the Kenwood Chef Elite

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We love a rich, fruity, spiced Christmas cake, but as I’ve said before, I’m just not organised enough to bake it weeks in advance then feed it every week. Happily, it’s very easy to make a lovely, moist cake this close to Christmas - if you get the chance to feed it a couple of times before you ice it, happy days. If not, it will still taste absolutely fine. I think that the trick is to use lovely plump, soft fruit, and get a bit of moisture into the dried fruit before you add it to the cake mix. This recipe gives the fruit a warm Christmassy bath of booze, honey and clementine juice, which makes all the difference to the finished cake. I used my fab new Kenwood Chef Elite (I’m completely obsessed) to make a really lovely light cake mixture to hold all that delicious fruit. This year, I decided to use my beloved Bundt tin as well - bit of a worry as I had no idea how long to cook it for - but with trial and error (and lots of poking and checking), we got there in the end. If you’ve got a tin, a Christmas Bundt cake looks striking, but I’ve left instructions for how to bake the cake using just a normal springform tin too.

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Et voila - Christmas crumble muffins with a little help from the Kenwood Chef Elite

Christmas crumble muffins with the Kenwood Chef Elite

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Recently, an enormous box arrived at English Towers with a lovely note from the folks at Kenwood: ‘we know you love cooking, so would you like this beautiful Kenwood Chef Elite?’ Seriously generous, right? But I didn’t rush to open it, because, well, I’ve got a mixer already that I’ve had for ages and love, and on the box it looks all complicated and new-fangled, not homely and quirky like mine. Not wanting to seem ungrateful, though, and because everyone kept complaining that there was a huge box on the kitchen floor, I opened it up and popped it onto the kitchen counter. Well. Cue choirs of angels singing and all that jazz, because this thing is beautiful. Seriously, I sent a pic to Mr E and he replied ‘erm, wow. It really goes in our kitchen’. To give it a thorough test, though, and make sure it has brains as well as beauty, I attempted some Christmas crumble muffins with my sleek and shiny new baby. Here’s how I got on:

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The Christmas pudding recipe 2017

The easy Christmas pudding recipe

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Stir-up Sunday is coming, people! I absolutely love this weekend as, for me, it properly signifies the start of Christmas. The kitchen is filled with the warming scents of orange and spice, and there’s lots of stirring and steaming: all my favourite things! If you fancy making your own Christmas puddings this year, I’ve added the ingredients list nice and early so you can make sure you have everything ready. Remember that, if you follow this recipe, you’ll actually need to start on the Saturday as I recommend steeping the fruit overnight - also, do remember that steaming the pudding takes about five hours, so don’t start everything too late or you’ll be steaming when you should be sleeping! So, seeing as I’ve called it an easy Christmas pudding recipe, I’ve kept it simple: no figs, no apricots, just a lot of cranberries and plenty of spice. Here’s how to do it:

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Christmas cake 2016

Christmas dinner: turkey timings and top tips

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So here it is, my very last post before Christmas! I’ve been writing this blog for 10 years now (I know!) and every year, I say the same thing: if you’re cooking the Christmas lunch - and getting stressed about it - remember it’s your Christmas too. I’ve got loads of tips here to make the day as stress free and laid back as possible for you, so you can enjoy your Christmas day with your family and friends. So find a quiet corner, Treat yourself to my perfect frozen whipped cream hot chocolate, grab a notebook, have a read through and take few minutes to make a plan. And remember, it’s basically just a big roast dinner, and this guide will help you do most of the work on Christmas Eve so you can spend as much time as possible with the family, and as little as possible in the kitchen on the big day!

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Homemade mincemeat with cranberry and apple

Homemade mincemeat with cranberry and apple

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How flipping lovely is Christmas baking? I’m never happier than when I’m in my kitchen, surrounded by twinkly lights, my new kitchen Christmas tree, and the delicious scent of Christmassy cinnamon wafting from the oven. I make so many mince pies over Christmas (Mr E is a big fan) that I tend to buy an absolute ton of mincemeat. However, it’s really lovely - and easy - to make your own. Homemade mincemeat makes great presents for friends and family and you’ll be surprised how delicious it tastes compared to the stuff from a jar (which I always zhuzh up with a load of booze and extra cranberries anyway).

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Dark chocolate Christmas cake trees with bronze sugar

Chocolate Christmas tree cakes

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White chocolate Christmas tree cakes with jelly fairy lights

White chocolate Christmas tree cakes with jelly fairy lights

Look, it’s the 28th November, okay? It’s basically the beginning of Christmas week’ isn’t it? We don’t generally do our decorations until the first weekend in December, but Christmas baking? I’m all over it. This weekend, it was time to bring out my favourite Christmas tree mould and create some new Christmassy treats in the shape of these little chocolate Christmas tree cakes. This is a fab, fun thing to do with the kids - basically smother the little sponge trees in melted chocolate and then go crazy with the decorations. Here’s how I did it:

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Clementine and cinnamon cakey mince pies

Clementine and cinnamon cakey mince pies

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I’m sure I’ve written about this before, but when Mr E was little, his favourite treat was his mum’s ‘pastry jammy cakey things’ - basically a jam tart with a cake topping. Over the years I’ve made these in various different forms, but he especially loves the Christmassy mince pie version. We’re Christmas lovers here at Number One, and Christmas starts basically as soon as Mr E’s birthday is over in mid-November (we just about manage to reach December 1st before the tree goes up). This year, I’ve added festive clementine and cinnamon to the cake mix, but sadly still not thought of a decent name for them, so ‘clementine and cinnamon cakey mince pies’ will have to do.

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Disney’s Frozen Christmas Cake

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For me, this year has been all about Walt Disney World, and in particular, Disney’s Frozen. So when it came to decorating my Christmas cake, I knew it was going to have to have a Frozen theme. I’d seen the sugar glass (or ice) a few times on Pinterest but they were always American recipes and involved corn syrup and, frankly, unless you’re Buddy the Elf, it’s unlikely you’re going to come across this on your travels. I was worried that substituting golden syrup would taint the colour but it didn’t seem to at all (obviously if you’re aiming for clear ‘glass’ then this recipe won’t work for you’). I used colouring paste, but liquid will work too. These gorgeous little cake toppers are from Cake Decorating Store, as are the cutters. I cut out the ‘frozen fractals’ from leftover icing (sticking them on with a dab of boiling water) but decorate however you want, or just leave it plain and sprinkle with a bit of glitter (I love glitter).

Disney's Frozen Olaf Christmas cake

Disney’s Frozen Olaf Christmas cake

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