What are you cooking/ baking for christmas?

[Roseylea]

I'm just curious as I'm thinking about christmas and food and all that.

We are going to my in-laws' for christmas day and I'm taking puddings, christmas cake and mince pies. My dd is wheat-allergic so we're having gluten free versions of everything as well the "real thing". I've made two christmas cakes already and I'm going to do the pudding this week (but the gluten free one has to be made the day before - it's a completely different recipe). I'm also going to have a stab at making my own mincemeat for the first time!

I'm also going to apptempt to make a gluten free gingerbread house (adapted from this month's Good Food mag) viola! and a "Party pie" which has got cranberries, chicken, chestnuts and sausage meat in it for my parents' Boxing Day buffet. I love baking and christmas is a great excuse, eh? So is anyone making anything nice?

Festive cupcakes - it's a Nigella recipe which I kept from a magazine a few years ago.

They're luscious chocolate cupcakes decorated with icing holly leaves and berries.

Nigella's theory is that kids never like mince pies, but she's never met a child who would turn down a chocolate cupcake.

Dd2 and I have just made 36 of them. Most to go in the freezer until needed, but we'll all scoff a few tonight.

I've also just made a load of luxury mince pies from the Josceline Dimblebey Christmas Book which I've never tried before...again mostly to go in the freezer.

They have orange pastry and are topped with cream cheese mixed with sugar before the lid goes on - yum! We've cut out angel and Christmas bell shapes for the lids

Then it'll be the Food Doctor diet in January .

God you two - you are making me feel very hungry and a little bit behind with my baking!

fruit soaking for Christmas cake as we speak - know it is a bit late, but will be baked on Tues, and marzipanned later in the week before icing next weekend! Will make biscuits and mince pies nearer the time, but we are away over Christmas itself,l and having friends for New Year.

Just tried one of the mince pies...scrumptious. I'd better get them in the freezer as soon as I can.

I'm not usually this organised, but I love baking for Christmas, so took a day off work yesterday and stocked up on ingredients, and the weather's so foul it's been a perfect day for baking.

I really want to make another Stollen - made one for the first time last year, and it was OK. Not quite as good as my mum's, but not bad for a first try. I'm a bit late doing it, but I don't suppose it'll matter too much.

Xmas cake is made and being 'fed' as and when I remember.
DH will make mince pies to take into work (and some for us) for his last week of work.
Have made some gingerbread dough, which I am freezing and giving to DD's friends (with gingerbreadman cutter) as Xmas presents.
Also got some of Nigella's quince brandy maturing. Mainly because we had some quinces that we didn't know what to do with!
We're making Heston Blumenthal's chicken tikka masala for Xmas day - will be a labour of love with cooking starting on about the 22nd!

The gingerbread cutter is a lovely idea for a present.

Mamhaf, those mice pies sound scrummy.

I'll make mince pies next weekend to freeze until Christmas Eve. We'll probably make a Chocolate Guinness cake too, as this is our absolute favourite cake. I might make two on Christmas Eve, one for eating on Christmas Eve/Christmas day (instead of fruit cake) and one for taking with us when we go to my parents' on Boxing Day.

I'll probably also make some veggie sausage rolls too and dd2 is desperate for me to make a Yule log but I'll probably be lazy and let M & S do that for me.

MICE pies?!!!

We are giving the fruit cake a miss this year ( no, I am not talking about MIL)

Instead I am going to do an iced maderia cake mix for the children and a clementine cake for the adults.

I'll do mince pies with orange and cinnamon cream too. And some savory pastry bites, mushroom, anchovy, parmesan etc they are great for nibbles with drinks. And probably some roasted and spiced nuts too.

I may make some iced gingerbread cookies for the Christmas tree too.

mmmmmmmmm, scrummy mice pies, my favourite.

I think one of the funniest typos I've seen on a food thread was when a poster recommended using vag water to make gravy.

ooh, Chocolate Guinness cake sounds nice, have just googled the recipe.

DH and I gave up all sweet things for the month on Nov, so this sounds like just the sort of thing we need in our lives right now!

Mamhaf I've made Nigella's cupcakes! Fabulous recipe! Although I must say that my dd blows her "children don't like mince pies" theory right out of the water! She adores the things (hence my making heaps of gluten free ones!)

JackieNoel I adore Stollen but have never got round to making it. I assumed it'd be one of these things you make nearer the time, as it's basically a bread - but can you make it early? My ds (nearly 4 y o) and I have a regular kitchen date every Friday afternoon and we make all sorts of stuff so we could add that to our list if it'd keep until Christmas...

Hollyhobbie what a lovely idea! I'm sure your dd's friends will be thrilled with something so thoughtful! And Heston Blumenthal's chicken tikka masala - is this one of his "ultimate" recipes? If so I'm impressed! I'm sure it'll be divine.

Panda okay, a question for you! I was wondering this today - when is it best to marzi / ice the christmas cake? I am doing one of ours with nuts / dried fruits / glazed topping and the other with marz and icing. When is it best to do this - how soon before Christmas?

Janeite I'm going to do a gluten free yule log as a christmas cake alternative. It's a bit experimental tbh! I'll just smother it in choc and if the cake is foul at least the dc will eat the choc!

Mmmm Soapbox I love those spiced nuts. Oh, I love food. And christmas [sigh]....

we have stollen for breakfast on xmas morn. I make it the day before and leave it in a cool place to rise slowly overnight and then just whack it in the oven in the morning. great with a cup of coffee

also recommend hug fernally whittingstall's chocolate chestnut cake - lovely, festive and chocolate. Divine. DD has asked about it since last yeawr!

I think there are different regional variations of stollen - the one I make is denser, and more kind of cakey - doesn't contain yeast (and also doesn't have a layer of marzipan through the middle). It's a recipe that my mum (who's originally from Hamburg) has been using for years. This one, you're supposed to make early, and leave to mature, like a Christmas cake, and then slice and butter. We have it for breakfast too, and it's always been one of my favourite things about Christmas.

Hollyhobbie - go for it, you will not regret it. I use the Nigella recipe and it is wonderful.

Rosylea - when you make a gluten free cake do you just follow your usual recipe but with gluten free flour? DP's sis has coeliac disease and I've promised to bake her something for Christmas.

BBBee - Hug Fearnley - love it! Nearly as good as mice pies!

Janeite, well yes, the thing is that my dd is also allergic to egg which complicates things a bit for cake recipes. However you can use gluten free flour in much the same way that you'd use wheat flour - you just need more fliud as it is very... ummm... porous. Doves Farm is a good all-round wheat free flour; you can get it in most supermarkets.

Jackienoel is there any chance of a recipe for your stollen?

Thanks - will give it a go.

Rosylea - will go and dig the stollen recipe out (and translate it somewhat ineptly from the German - I'm v rusty now, as I never get to practise ).

OK - it looks long, but that's mostly because it's got lots of ingredients. Actually very easy and quick to make, once you have all the stuff.

Stollen
(best made end of Nov/early Dec for Christmas)

500g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
200g caster sugar
2tsp vanilla sugar
Pinch salt
4 drops of bitter almond essence
4 drops of lemon essence
Half tsp ground cardamom (recommend using ? makes all the difference)
Half tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
125g butter or margarine (cold, cubed)
50g lard (chopped up)
250g well drained Quark (or drained and sieved cottage cheese)
125g currants
125g raisins
125g ground almonds or hazelnuts
40g chopped mixed peel

50g melted butter (to glaze)
50g icing sugar (to sprinkle on at end).

Mix the flour and baking powder, and put in a bowl/on a flat surface. Make a well in it and add the sugar, spices and essences and eggs, and mix with a bit of the flour to a paste. Add the butter, lard, the quark, the currants and raisins, the almonds or hazelnuts, and the mixed peel. Sprinkle all of it with the flour, then knead the whole lot together into a smooth dough. If it?s too sticky, add a bit more flour. Form into the stollen shape (kind of flattened log) then put on a baking tray lined with greased baking paper/parchment. Bake in the middle of the oven, gas mark 2 - 3.5, for about 75 minutes (err on the side of more rather than less ? mine was a bit less cooked inside than I?d have liked last year). As soon as it?s out of the oven, brush the top with the melted butter, and sprinkle on the icing sugar.

Once it?s cooled, wrap it in foil, and keep in a cool dry place till Christmas.

Wow that sounds lovely. I love cardamom so ye I can see it would make all the difference. I'll make this this week!

. HOpe it turns out well for you. I'll be making mine this week too. Must go and check I've got all the ingredients before I go shopping today.

Aargh - rosylea - just realised that 'muskatbluete' is mace, not cinnamon - don't suppose it would matter too much, but technically it should be half tsp ground mace, not cinnamon - sorry about that.

Ooo, you lot might be able to help here

This all sounds yummy. I need to start planning!