Make ahead xmas gifts??

[Greenfingerpaula]

Make ahead xmas gifts??

Deffo gonna try the black currant, got loads growing in the garden

I'm the only 1 that likes Cointreau - could make a smaller amount I guess


🐞Every ☁has a silver lining🐝Every 🌸 has a 🌿

[Nicos]

Scarey- we've just bought our oranges and Calva to make some 44 !

[Creemteez]

Last year I made some "Hamper Cakes" - little Christmas cakes. I used 185g tuna tins (labels removed and put through a hot dishwasher cycle), lined with silicone paper in the usual way. They took 250gms of my Christmas cake mix and turned out perfect little cakes ideal for one or two people. Marzipan'd and simply iced, they really looked the biz! I sold them via the local post office and have already had people asking if I am going to be doing them again this year. Have been stock-piling tuna tins all year and will start making them next month so they have time to mature.

[out in the cold]

You can make Lemoncello easily.

Get about 20 odd unwaxed lemons and peel them. Put the peel into a container with around 3 litres of vodka (use decent stuff, not cheap / own brand) and leave it for around 3 weeks to infuse.

Strain and mix with a simple sugar syrup until you judge it is sweet enough (it should be a bit tart) and add some lemon juice.

Goes great with almond biscotti.

Our standard Xmas hamper for friends used to be a bottle of Lemoncello, a Xmas cake, and big jar of home made biscotti, and a jar of "hedgerow jam", sometimes with a nice candle or similar thing added to the hamper.

[out in the cold]

Yup, I've got some blackcurrant Voddy on the go at the moment and also Quarante Quatre:

Prick an orange 44 times and put in a Le Parfait/Kilner jar, add 44 lumps of sugar, 44 coffee beans and top up the jar with Vodka. I use a 1 litre Le Parfait jar. Google a recipe for quarante quatre because they do vary a bit, some add cloves.

ETA: The 44 tastes a bit Cointreau ish Will post pics a bit later if you like.

Shopping list for tomorrow: Vodka, Sugar cubes, and an orange...

[Greenfingerpaula]

What a great idea creemteez!


🐞Every ☁has a silver lining🐝Every 🌸 has a 🌿

[out in the cold]

Last year I made some "Hamper Cakes" - little Christmas cakes. I used 185g tuna tins (labels removed and put through a hot dishwasher cycle), lined with silicone paper in the usual way. They took 250gms of my Christmas cake mix and turned out perfect little cakes ideal for one or two people. Marzipan'd and simply iced, they really looked the biz! I sold them via the local post office and have already had people asking if I am going to be doing them again this year. Have been stock-piling tuna tins all year and will start making them next month so they have time to mature.

We did something similar. Bought some T*sco Value Milk saucepans and took the handles off em with a screwdriver.

Our normal full size Xmas cake mix does 3 of them, which all fit in the oven nicely on the same shelf.

[carolineholding]

Mince meat, spice bags for mulled wine, a jelly to go with meat (rowen or quince maybe?)

[Hans Mum]

Yup, I've got some blackcurrant Voddy on the go at the moment and also Quarante Quatre:

Prick an orange 44 times and put in a Le Parfait/Kilner jar, add 44 lumps of sugar, 44 coffee beans and top up the jar with Vodka. I use a 1 litre Le Parfait jar. Google a recipe for quarante quatre because they do vary a bit, some add cloves.

ETA: The 44 tastes a bit Cointreau ish Will post pics a bit later if you like.

OMG i started a jar of this off about 2 weeks ago...last night couldnt resist trying a tea spoon full (HONEST!!!) & its absolutely delicious already, so much so going to start another one of this week

[alldigging]

Shopping list for tomorrow: Vodka, Sugar cubes, and an orange...

Had told MIL about this recipe idea and she is keen to try it.
MIL dragged me to the oranges in morrisons this morning. But I couldn't remember the recipe so said I'd leave it for today.

[MrsCordial]

Creemteez I do the same thing for the children's teachers! I don't use tuna cans, I use mini loaf-shaped card cake cases, now I've found them - before I just sliced a big cake *very carefully*! I make the cakes and plonk on the marzipan and icing, then the children decorate them. They always get a big thumbs-up.

How about Christmassy gingerbread shapes, in cellophane bags with shiny ribbon? I find florists' cellophane is invaluable for making something look exciting. For the children's friends' birthday parties I make gingerbread shapes, one per letter of the child's name, then use alphabet and number cutters to do eg, HARRY 8, then put them on a shiny cake base and wrap with cellophane. It's developed over the years from a flattened cereal-box covered in foil, hand-iced letters and wrapped with cling film

[out in the cold]

The quarant quatre recipe is a definite Xmas pressie.

It is amazingly good. Have another 3 litres on the go for that very purpose

[Nicos]

gosh- I'd forgotten about mine...it clearly needs sampling!!!

[Glutton4...]

I ruddy well forgot to make anything - will have to go Sloe hunting...

[Feral007]

Ok I've just googled Kilner jars so I know what that is. For the 44 - you remove the orange and coffee beans thru muslin? Or a fine mesh sieve?

Do you then put it back in the jar? Top it up, or they get it at low tide? Or into another jar/bottle?