Make your own Christmas Prezzies!

Blingy

proulx wrote: »

This is always best recieved in my hampers-super quick and easy great taste

http://en.petitchef.com/recipes/starter/rachel-allen-s-spicy-cranberry-orange-relish-fid-383433

I like the look of that. Super quick too!

suomi

I just made some lemon curd using the recipe that was posted here and it smells amazing! It only filled one jar though, I'll have to make some more later this week.

xxxkarenxxx

My hamper items are coming along nicely. So far I have made,
Tomato Relish
Mango Chutney
Orange Marmalade
Plum and Lime Jam
Cookie Jar mix

leahyl

xxxkarenxxx wrote: »

My hamper items are coming along nicely. So far I have made,
Tomato Relish
Mango Chutney
Orange Marmalade
Plum and Lime Jam
Cookie Jar mix

Cookie Jar Mix looks amazing!:)

xxxkarenxxx

leahyl wrote: »

Cookie Jar Mix looks amazing!:)

Thanks!

sdp

xxxkarenxxx wrote: »

My hamper items are coming along nicely. So far I have made,
Tomato Relish
Mango Chutney
Orange Marmalade
Plum and Lime Jam
Cookie Jar mix

Wow well done you, all looks fabulous, would love your recipe for the cookie jar mix, looks so lovely,

xxxkarenxxx

sdp wrote: »

xxxkarenxxx wrote: »

Wow well done you, all looks fabulous, would love your recipe for the cookie jar mix, looks so lovely,

Thanks!
For the cookie jar you need

175g unsifted flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
90g soft brown sugar
90g caster sugar
175g chocolare chips

Layer all the dry ingredients in order in the jar then write the following instructions on some paper and attach to it:
-Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
-Combine half a tsp of vanilla, one egg and 110g of butter and mix until creamy
-Gradually beat in the jarred cookie mix
-Form into a log, cut into slices and lay on a baking tray spaced apart
-Bake for 9 to 11 minutes
-Enjoy!

sdp

thank you so much

Lollipops23

Hi everyone!
I was kindly directed here by the Mods.
I'm hoping to make choc truffles for Xmas pressies this year (1st attempt!)
Does anyone have a foolproof recipe? I'm currently trying to decide between Nigella's recipe and Odlums

Daisies

Karen I'd love your mango chutney recipe. I've mangos coming out of my ears over here and I'd love a (simple) chutney recipe.

Whispered

I tried this recipe this evening and I'm unsure where I went wrong.

xxxkarenxxx wrote: »

No problem Here it is

Three Fruit Marmalade
Ingredients:
1 grapefuit, washed
1 Orange, washed
2 lemons, washed
1.35(3lb) granulated sugar

Half the fruit and squeeze to extract the juice, strain this into a large saucepan, reserving the pips.

Scrape out any soft flesh from the shells and add to pan. Scoop out the membranes and some of the white pith and add to the pips. Put the pips and membranes and pith in muslin and tie with string to make a bag.

Thinly shred the fruit peel or finely chop in a food processor. Add to the pan with 3 pints of water and the muslin bag. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 1 and a half hours until the peel is really soft and the liquid has reduced by half.

squeeze as much juice from the muslin bag as possible then discard. Add the sugar and stir over a gentle heat until it has dissolved. Bring to the boil and boil rapidly for 15/20 mins until the setting point is reached.

Skim off any scum from the surface. Leave to stand for ten minutes then stir well to redistribute the peel evenly. Ladle into warm sterilized jars, seal and label and store in a cool dark place.

*I picked up a handy reusable muslin bag in kitchen compliments. It was great for this!

It was all going well until the rapid boil, within 5 mins it was stuck to the bottom of the pan. Obviously I had the heat too high, but how do you get a rapid boil without high heat? It smelled fab until I burned it so I'm going to give it another go.

Also made Nigellas chilli jam, it looks fine but I forgot to put gloves on and my hands are killing me. :mad:

VKenneally

Cookie Jar mix looks amazing!!!! :-)

pampootie

I'm not normally a praying woman, but if you're up there sterilising gods, please let all my lovely jars stay mould free til after Christmas. The vacuum seals are all popping down so here's hoping.
Made the donal skehan version of chilli jam, a bit runny as my tomatoes seemed a bit watery but tastes amazing. The 3 fruit marmalade is fantastic, thanks Karen! On the boiling, I had it on a very high heat and stirred like a loon which seemed to work ok?

The Black Oil

Hermione* wrote: »

I'm a student so I'm planning on making edible gifts for the family. Rachel Allen's Favourite Food for Living has an entire chapter of ideas!

These chocolate ginger biscuits are on my list:
150g plain flour
25g of rice (or corn) flour (or 175g of plain flour)
125g butter
50g light brown sugar
75g chopped crystallised stem ginger

1. mix up until it comes together as a dough
2. roll into balls onto a baking tray.
3. flatten slightly with a wet fork.
4. place in a preheated moderate oven (160) for 12-15 minutes.
5. leave to cool completely.
6. brush/dip with melted dark chocolate (70% in coco solids)

Hey,

I'm a little concerned about this since the dough wasn't really, well, doughy, and was very powdery and dry. Is that normal?

Doing a test run before the family Christmas party.

xxxkarenxxx

Daisies wrote: »

Karen I'd love your mango chutney recipe. I've mangos coming out of my ears over here and I'd love a (simple) chutney recipe.

No problem this is really simple!

300ml cider vinegar
200g light muscovado sugar
2 large mangoes roughly chopped
1 cooking apple roughly chopped
1 onion finely chopped
1 inch piece of fresh ginger grated
1/2 tsp onion seeds (optional)

Put vinegar and sugar in pan and cook on low heat stirring occasionally until sugar dissolve.

Add mango, apple, onion, ginger and onion seeds (if using) raise the heat, bring to the boil and reduce to a simmer for 45 mins until it has reduced and thickened. Stir continuously near the end so it doesn't catch base of pan.

Then ladle into warn sterilized jars. Its best left for a month to mature!

xxxkarenxxx

Whispered wrote: »

I tried this recipe this evening and I'm unsure where I went wrong.

Sorry to hear about that! Once you add the sugar try bring up to a gentle boil and test for a set every 5 mins. It might take longer this way but it shouldn't catch on the bottom of the pan. Hope this helps!

trackguy

I've been on a tear this year making presents this year. I've made -

Plum & Rum Jam
Blueberry, Lemon & Lime Conserve
'Some Like It Hot' Chutney
Piccalilli
Sweetcorn & Red Pepper Relish
Three Fruit Marmalade
Membrillo

I've got a few more things to make closer to the day itself - granola, punjabi curry powder and sweet 'n' salty crunch bars.

Merry Christmas!

Michellenman

Made chili jam, lemon curd and apple cranberry chutney today!

Only marshmallow, fudge, mulling syrup and biscotti to go!

Faith

I started buying ingredients today. The cost of fruit and vegetables! Asda were charging 79p for a single pepper, and £1.75 for a cooking apple! So I didn't buy most of the ingredients, and will pop to the green grocer up the road tomorrow to see if I can get better value there.

Michellenman

I was pleasantly surprised at the cost. I made 10 jars today, 4 chili jam, 3 curd and 3 chutneys, had to buy everything except two eggs and ground ginger and it all came to just over €22. Was expecting closer to €40!

Pistachios & cream

It takes some planning but if you stay away from the main supermarkets you can get your ingredients way cheaper. I've been taking Advantage of Moore st when I'm visiting my boyfriend at the weekends in dublin. Got 8 red peppers for €2! I found dunnes were good value for cooking apples. Got a 6 pack for €1.39. And the Asian stores are great for chilles. Tesco would rob you the price they charge for chillies!

nc6000

Here's a nice article from The Guardian on Edible Christmas gifts, the Mint Truffles look good.......

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/nov/30/dan-lepard-edible-christmas-gift-recipes

Whispered

xxxkarenxxx wrote: »

Sorry to hear about that! Once you add the sugar try bring up to a gentle boil and test for a set every 5 mins. It might take longer this way but it shouldn't catch on the bottom of the pan. Hope this helps!

Thanks Karen, trying again this afternoon. I'll let you know how I get on.

Have a genache chilling in the fridge at the moment to make plain truffles. I have no cocoa so I'm thinking of grinding up hazelnuts to coat in that. Would this work? Does anybody know if these will keep. From what I've read, they should keep fine in an airtight container, in a cool room. So I'm planning on layering them in a large kilner jar or lunchbox with greaseproof paper between them. I just wanted to confirm that will work.

Alternatively I can pop into separate food bags and freeze? (can I do this with nuts?)

trackguy

Whispered wrote: »

Thanks Karen, trying again this afternoon. I'll let you know how I get on.

Have a genache chilling in the fridge at the moment to make plain truffles. I have no cocoa so I'm thinking of grinding up hazelnuts to coat in that. Would this work? Does anybody know if these will keep. From what I've read, they should keep fine in an airtight container, in a cool room. So I'm planning on layering them in a large kilner jar or lunchbox with greaseproof paper between them. I just wanted to confirm that will work.

Alternatively I can pop into separate food bags and freeze? (can I do this with nuts?)

The nuts would work a treat I'd say.

Not sure if they would keep till Xmas - freezing them would be your best option.

GrahamThomas

After reading through this thread I've come across some great ideas for Christmas! Just made a few jars of red onion marmalade:



As well as the marmalade, I'm planning to make:
Chili Jam
Peanut Butter Fudge
Chili & Apple Chutney
Honeycomb
Salted Caramel & Whiskey Sauce

Fifik1112

Hi long time lurker, first time poster. I too am making Christmas hampers this year including pistachio biscotti, choclolate florentines, mince pies, tomato and chilli jam. Looking at everybody's suggestions I am keen to do the cookie mix and my query is where on earth does one find chocolate chips. I am Galway based. Thanks in advance. Great, great thread BTW.:)

Toto Wolfcastle

You should be able to find them in Tesco or Dunnes. Dr Oetker make them and I find the plain ones fine, but my local Dunnes has started stocking Waitrose products, including chocolate chips. You could always just chop up a bar of chocolate too.

Fifik1112

Thanks BP. I was hoping to buy a big bag of them - got some Dr. Oetker ones but you can only get 100g little bags. Will check Tesco as Dunnes didn't have them!

Eviledna

Fifik1112 wrote: »

Thanks BP. I was hoping to buy a big bag of them - got some Dr. Oetker ones but you can only get 100g little bags. Will check Tesco as Dunnes didn't have them!

Mortons in salthill have 300g bags of excellent quality dark, milk and White chocolate chips that's where I get supplies for cookies, and having sampled them during *ahem* quality control I reckon they would make delicious hot choc too!

Pistachios & cream

Fifik1112 wrote: »

Thanks BP. I was hoping to buy a big bag of them - got some Dr. Oetker ones but you can only get 100g little bags. Will check Tesco as Dunnes didn't have them!

I ordered mine from lily o'briens, there are usually discount codes on the internet for them and the chocolate is nice.