FN's Ponstastic Christmas Thread part Trois....

[FellatioNelson]

....will be officially open for business on September 24th. I am just firing up the engines and dusting down the control room ready for action in case I forget to do it on the 24th

Do not post yet. Do not. Sit on your hands, ladies.

On your marks........................

Boxing day breakfast has to be a hot Mr Kipling mince pie , with the top lifted off and some cold thick cream spooned on top .

I'm going to attempt the flower drying on cow parsley . Worth a try ?

Hi there lady poncers. I have been shyly lurking on this thread. I have never ponced before and would so love to give it a go this year. With this in mind I am going to be a very basic poncer and would love some help. So far I have thought about making some skittle flavoured vodka for friends. When would be a good time to make this???? Also for a good friend I would like to make her the cookie dough mixture layered thing in a jar. I could do with some help with this too, quantities and stuff. I have bought a jar for the cookie dough and that's about it really. I have just checked our drinks cabinet and I have found some brandy that looks slightly unloved, can I ponce this up in anyway. And also am,I too late to make Christmas pudding vodka.

Please be gentle with me, this is my first time however I would welcome any basic poncing ideas x

There are so many poncetastic ideas I want to pinch! :)
Sarah raven book is on its way so the poncing will commence fully when that arrives and dh starts working away next week.

I was thinking of making some mini panettone for Christmas instead of a cake. BUT as I've never made them before I have questions!
Do I bake them in a muffin tin, or do I have a crack at baking them in a empty soup tin?
I was thinking of putting in cranberries but not sure what else?

I did say I was still in the early stages of ponce didn't I?

dosey I'm a first time poncer too. I made Christmas pud vodka yesterday and today I've started some cherry brandy which is very simple. Have a look on BBC good food website for recipes in a jar. There are all kinds of different ones.

The postman has put a card through the door today which I suspect is my SR book.

I've been in the garden to inspect my hydrangea bush to see if its fit for wreath making, but my flowers are starting to look a bit worse for wear. Which is a shame because its had loads of flowers all summer long.

I've found some lovely retro style 250ml bottles for a good price which I'm considering for my flavoured vodka. Hold on I'll swap to the iPad and try and link :)

retro style bottles or these which have better lids

OMGi know I am a few days late but how can this thread have so many posts already. I will have to catch up.

This is the fabric I've chosen for my Christmas stockings. I plan to use calico too and ponce them up with some lovely tassels.

I am planning on making some pomander's but cannot find cloves! need a lot as I am making a few and have tried lots of places so if anybody knows where I can find cloves post a link!!

I've gotten cloves in Tesco before (with all the other spices) otherwise I've used eBay before for star anise and it was really good stuff surprisingly (nowhere local could I get any at the time)

Thank you vold I will keep any eye open an on you for ideas. My hydrangea bush is looking quite good I may just give a wreath a go. Off to google cherry brandy too x

Oooooh pomanders!
Must make those!
Got a lovey usborne Xmas cook book for the kids..lovely treats easy for kids to make...if anyone wants any kids recipes let me know and I will post some.
Very excited about my dns toy box :)
My ck planner and SR book should come today!

It might be worth looking in multicultural grocers shops for cloves, star anise, cinnamon sticks etc as they quite often have big bags of spices reasonably priced, compared to the tiny jars sold in supermarkets.

I'd agree with looking in Asian supermarkets for cloves and large size packets of different spices. Handy also for getting bulk amounts required to make your own mulled wine spices etc (I have a lovely recipe that I will try to root out that is something like 2 cinnamon sticks, 3 star anise, 10 peppercorns, cardomon pods and cloves....which is great to add to a bottle of wine for a present and easy for kiddiwinks to count out for individual sets).

Speaking of which, does anyone have a nice recipe for mulled cider?

Delia has a recipe for mulled cider and although I haven't tried it out, it sounds lovely as it also has buttered apple slices in it!

I don't have the recipe at the moment though as I'm at work but I could dig it out later.

Sarah has a mulled cider recipe.

For 12-15 glasses
2.5litres dry cider, still or sparkling
2 apples washed cored and sliced
3 oranges, washed and sliced
zest and juice 1 lemon
2 teaspoons ground mixed spice
10 cloves
3 cinnamon sticks, snapped in half
6 tablespoons soft brown sugar

Put all ingredients in a pan and gradually heat, simmering gently for about an hour. Do not let it boil. Strain and serve in heatproof glasses.

tbh I've made mulled drinks with poncey shite inside , eg blanched almonds, buttered apples etc, and no one bothers with it they just drink the alcohol

Maybe this is just my friends, though

My organiser and sr book have arrived!
:)

OMG this is SO exciting! : but I'm panicking now as 5 days late 'onsite' already .Home-made salt-dough deccies last yr [poss got recipe here???] -artfully arranged on 'christmas branch'-found in park,naturally-....a la christmas tree of course....went down well last year.Am now thinking miniature [dolls actually] house all done up with[mini?] decorations...dont know where it could go,though....unless it doubled as a 'present store',say...?

My SR book still hasn't come . I need to learn how to make wreaths while the flowers are still good.

Oh and DD has De ponced my lovely new CK organiser. The front cover has been scribbled on in biro . There was shouting, and tears (mine).

Never mind I shall lock her up untill the rest of the poncing is finished. - Joking maybe.

For the Cherry Brandy -- when do I take the cherries out? The sugar is already dissolved and the cherries seem to be shrinking a bit (surely that can't be right but they seem to be).

Toddlers are the enemy of ponce oreo

any fruit-based booze i leave for as long as possible to be honest as they only taste better with time, i generally wait 2-3 months. that said i just had a snifter of my sloe rum and mmm"drool"mmm so maybe have a taste and see if its cherry enough for you?

Has anyone used Delia's mincemeat recipe.

I've never made mincemeat before, sounds like a nice sunday afternoon activity for me and dd. Has to be a vegetarian recipe, this one says it works with veggie suet.

MrsBovary I have a dehydrator. It's great, I get quite a lot of use out of it drying tomatoes and chillis which I grow. It's also fab for making your own dried fruit. If you would use it for something other than Christmas decorations then it's probably worth it.