What yummy home-made delights are you planning to make this year? As gifts or just to scoff?

[Greensleeves]

I am planning on making homemade yule logs for teachers, peppermint creams, marzipan fruits/penguins/robins, Christmas pudding shaped truffles with white icing and little icing holly toppers, Turkish delight, mini mincepies, Christmas tree cupcakes...

I am a nutter and I LOVE Christmas!!!

I've made three types of Chutney already (mostly to give away) and throughout December I'll be baking like mad - mostly to give away mixed bags of German treats. And some are just for us and family - all recipes have already been tried and tested and tweaked by me in previous years. Those with no link I have on tatty pieces of paper etc... For Christmas eve I'll also have to make a birthday cake for DH - no fruit or nuts allowed!

Lebkuchen
Zimtsterne
Schokomonde
Kardamom - Zimt joulu lastut
Alpenbrot
Marzipanstangen
Haferflockenkekse
Tartines au chocolat
Spritzkeks
Iced Vanilla biscuits - decorate by the Kids
Pistachio & Rosewater Stollen
Mini Mince pies (and some with Raspberry Jam)
Cinnamon buns (Christmas Morning)
PassionFruit Pavlova (Christmas Even dessert)
Birthday cake (chocolate no doubt)
Chocolate melting middle puddings (Christmas Day dessert)
Panforte
Honey Nougat

Ohhhh... that's a long list written out like this. Depending on time planning a couple of biscuit recipes tend to drop off the list as time progresses. I aheva huge spreadsheet to tot up and shop for ingredients!

Add to that: Christmas Eve birthday pork Roast and Christmas dinner Roast Goose with Red Cabbage and assorted vegetables...

We've already done some chutney and are doing marmalade this weekend. Damson gin is DH's speciality. Closer to christmas, I often make cranberry chelsea buns, we usually do our own cranberry sauce, I make several batches of fudge to give as gifts, and sometimes smaller chocolate truffles. Also make up some bark but do fruit rather than peppermint. There will also be a selection of nice puds/desserts/cakes for guests over the festive/NY period. We always have a big seafood platter on Christmas Eve, and DH usually makes some rye bread or sourdough to go with it.

Planning:

Peppermint bark
Stained glass biscuits
Baileys fudge
Oreo truffles
Florentines
Marshmallow fluff fudge
Chocolate caramel truffles
Marshmallow dippers

Not sure exactly how to make most of these so I will be looking up recipes, I am also extremely disorganised so I don't know how many I'll do.

Not planning on doing them as presents as I'm really not confident with this kind of thing - I am just using this year as a sort of 'trial run' so that in future years I can do homemade gifts.

So far made christmas cake, and will make another for a charity thing.
Homemade mince pies in the freezer, but my dp's been dipping into them so there'll prob be none left for Christmas.
Have made home made gravy from stock and that's in the freezer too. Cranberry sauce and whisky marmalade done. Not sure what else to make, loving the dedication on this thread.

Oh and we've done christmas ipa, coffee and vanilla stout and apple, rhubarb and ginger spiced cider. Managed to forget the industrial brewery DP has in the cupboards.

Am making cream cheese mints (will freeze them), peppermint candy cane fudge, choc orange biscotti and fruity christmas biscotti, dipped marshmallows, peppermint bark and probably a couple of other things I haven't decided on yet. Have already made chutneys, caramelised onion relish, marmalade, strawberry and rhubarb jam and toffee vodka. Actually that's probably enough, LOL! Have made christmas cakes so need to ice them and make mince pies.

Oh gosh I miss Christmas. I live in a tropical country and it's just not the same here. Last year I bought Nigella's Christmas so that I could try to re-enact the food and it only depressed me further because I can't get many of the basic ingredients here - marzipan (or ground almonds), golden syrup, chocolate that melts (they put an anti-melting ingredient in it here and it tastes disgusting), mincemeat, ginger. Help!!

Christmas cake - made
Mince pies - by the truckload
All kinds of fancy schmanzy canapes for party Sat before Xmas
Christmas cake pops
Cranberry and orange compote - some to give away, some for us
Macadamia and cranberry cookies - to give away

I've already made chutneys and jams as presents. have also made mincemeat with port - it is lovely!

Yesterday I made limoncello. The kitchen was smelling all lemony and delicious.

Albert - you could make your own mincemeat if you can get suet, dried fruit etc? Marzipan you can make with whole almonds, if you have a coffee bean grinder? Honey or butter/sugar can be subbed for golden syrup.

re the chocolate - maybe you could do something with cocoa powder if you can get that?

Delia's classic christmas cake,and made 4 inch versions that the boys can decorate for their teachers,will make chocolate truffles and peppermint creams,braised red cabbage is already done and in the freezer.

Galaxy fudge, and milkybar fudge. Simple, easy, yummy. DP is responsible for the rest of Christmas this year.

Albert-but you live in a tropical country! Away outside and enjoy the fact you're not freezing your balls off.

Do you have a recipe pleaseJambalaya That fudge sounds divine!

I will have a look, I just do it from memory now - it was a nigella I think? I have a baby asleep on me ATM but will do it ASAP!

Thank you :)

I can't get suet - has anyone got a recipe for suet free mincemeat? I can get sultanas but not currants but I'm sure I could sort of replicate a mince tart. How do I blanch almonds? I can get almonds with the skin, if I can blanch them then I can hijack DH's coffee grinder. Can I really use butter and sugar instead of golden syrup? How do I do it? I've tried honey but the taste is too strong in many things. I'm very excited at the thought of getting a substitute.

Albert I only had half the amount of suet for the recipe as I live overseas too.

i used grated butter!

You can ask a butcher to give you some fat from lamb kidneys and then grate or chop it in a processor, that's all suet is.

Don't you ever use the British food shop website?

I am looking forward to taking an empty suitcase to Blighty next weekend and filling full of suet, crumpets, twiglets and shit white bread.

mmmmmmm....

Make your own golden syrup. What is the recipe you want to sub golden syrup in?

Suet sub frozen unsalted butter - grated

Blanching almonds - 1.Bring a saucepan of water to a boil and remove from heat.
2.Add raw shelled almonds and let sit for 1 minute.
3.Drain almonds and run under cold water for several seconds to cool enough to handle.
4.Holding the almond between thumb and forefinger, squeeze to slide skin off.

Don't let them stay in the water too long or they go soggy

I think Nigellas cranberry mincemeat was suet free.

oh and sultanas are way nicer than currants anyway IMO. I always up the quantities in Christams cake and mincemeat and lower the currant ratio.

Oh you guys are STARS. Thank you so much! Sadly, you can't bring food into this country without it either being eaten by the customs people or paying an arm and leg to allow it through.

I don't like fruit cake but ill be making a sponge cake and decorating it to look like a Christmas cake. It's the first year that I have a child in school so may make a cake for them to share in the staff room and take it in on the Monday of the last week.

Will generally bake cakes, do rocky road and make fudge. I don't make mince pies as I don't like them (dh is the only one who does). I'm looking for inspirarion as I can't think due to an extraordinary amount of baking I had to do last week for a charity afternoon tea I did.

My main things are florentines. I make bloody good florentines! I make my own candied peel for them so we have a few days of that drying around the house then I weigh out what I need for teh florentines and the rest gets well dried into lovely, slightly sticky sugar crystal covered sticks and draped in dark chocolate. Absolutely divine.

For little gifts, teachers etc I make some jars of cinder toffee, rocky road etc or nice little christmas biscuits using a cookie press.

hurricanewyn

Salted Caramel Brownies??

Please please - recipe - please............