Well Christmas is over for another year!
We all gear up for Christmas from the start of November and the festive countdown begins when we see all the decorations and gifts in store, music playing in malls and festive menus in our favourite food places to eat. But once we get to the big day it`s then all over for another year. We hit the sales to grab reduced items and Xmas stuff for next year be it presents or saving some money on wrap, cards and decorations.
On the countdown to Christmas i have been festive baking and grabbed some festive treats along the way from stores, so here are my festive favourites and not so favourites. I love to try new flavours out and also experiment with my own baked creations.
Cocoa & Spice run crisps from Tesco, a novelty flavour, i liked it sort of cocoa and vanilla taste not sweet but also savoury tasting, so a bit confusing to your taste buds for £1.00 a bag worth a try.
We got lots of festive Cheeses from Aldi this year mostly white Stilton this one was nice but they are all a bit too crumbly and fall apart quite easily compared to others , we also got Amaretto & Apricot which was nice also.
Another from Tesco Brie & Cranberry crisps £1.00 a bag, again these missed the mark and was just a strong Cheese flavour crisp no sign of Cranberry or a Brie like taste unfortunately.
Tesco have a fair few boozy creams and this Stem Ginger one was very nice, laced with Ginger booze in it, was a perfect partner for warm Gingerbread. They also do a Toffee and pecan cream am yet to try that.
Back to Aldi with these Duck & Berry crisps, they also have a truffle one which is very aromatic mushroom taste and scent. The duck ones are nice but no berry taste.
Mcdonalds brought out the Spiced Cookie Latte and i have had 3 of them Since November
each one different. The one below was the best, spice cookie syrup in the coffee, cream on top with sugar cookie sprinkle a very good value drink comparing to other coffee shops.
We move onto Waitrose and Heston’s range this year. I saw these on offer Lemon twist Spiced Mince pies. They were supposed to have a Lemon curd centre and they were quite nice. More biscuity and rather larger than expected. The fruit was more like a fruit paste with a Shortbread chunk style topping. The lemon curd inside was nice
I saw one of my Facebook pals post these Choc orange Mince pies from Aldi so got some as well as the Salted Caramel ones. I ate them without heating but may try them slightly warmed next time with the leftover ones.
The chocolate orange was quite rich and well packed with filling and a buttery pastry also, i think the Chocolate took over from the Mincemeat in this one.
The salted Caramel ones were filled generously with sauce but the filling ration was off, when you bit into them there was a gap between top and the bottom pastry not much filling, but an interesting combo.
Back to Tesco spotted these in the Bakery section
Black forest cookies and Rudolf nose cookies, i never really buy cookies as i always make them myself, but wanted to see how they tasted. The Black forest ones were filled with a cherry like jam sauce in the middle and were very nice. I am going to replicate them sometime with my own recipe.
The rudolf nose ones were not as good the White chocolate red nose centre was a bit fake tasting so those were a miss.
Then comes the big day for 5 of us here not a grand dinner with starters and many courses just main and dessert.
We had a Turkey crown this year which was very moist and a small Gammon joint, provided many leftovers with the usual roasties, maple roasted parsnips, veggies and stuffing. We do not have Brussels sprouts in our house! never have really only sometimes.
Set the table with tinsel and these fab Snowflake embossed cutlery sets i got from Pound land, which i believe are now in the 50p sale. I also used my festive plates and bowls also from Pound land i got part in the sale also.
Christmas does not have to be expensive most of the cutlery and plates i got in pound land on sale, the crackers in the Xmas sale, the cloth mum got over a boot sale. The cranberry sauce jam i made, gravy i got free and the meal altogether must have cost less than £30 for all 5 of us.
We always have a Christmas pudding which is dads job. Apart from once or twice when i made it. Dad has been doing it since i was little and now nearly 28. We missed a Pudding one year when we was on holiday in the states but other than that every year.
Do not believe in maturing it for a year dad makes it beginning of December and we have 2 puddings one for Xmas and the other for new years day. Always set on fire with the brandy and served with whipped cream. You used to be able to get a product called mega whip or super whip which was like frozen cream, ice cream sort of from Iceland in the 90s but they did away with it.
Many Christmas puds have Almonds in so i cannot eat them anyway for my intolerance to Almonds ,the ones i have tried i really didn’t like compared to the homemade one.
I always take a photo of the flaming pud every year.
Adampastryguy 