Christmas Spice

[Cattitudes]

I am wanting to do a 12 days of Christmas spices set with my teens this year. They are (mainly) into cooking and willing to try things. I thought I would make my own spice mixes in advance and have a new one each day. I am looking for moderately spicy mixes from around the world to make up. Doesn't just have to be savoury dishes. One is not too keen on really spicy dishes so a few herby ones would be good too. Ideas I have had so far are cajan chicken spice mix, Thai curry, Butter Chicken (or similar) Mediterranean mix for ratatouille. Some sort of nutmeg/ginger/cinnamon mix for a cake. Paella for 12th night. Christmas day will be a tricky one as will not want to mess with the main meal but will want something quick and easy to make. The idea is still somewhat unformed in my head, so any ideas/suggestions/recipes welcome.

Spice mix for a dal would be good. This one is not hot and very easy.

www.tinnedtomatoes.com/2013/10/spinach-and-coconut-dal.html?m=1

A mild chilli could be good too.
For Christmas Day, what about a stuffing mix?

You could leave the Christmas main course traditional and then have mince pies or Christmas pudding for dessert.

Spicy pudding is the obvious one. PrePrepared as it's Christmas day is acceptable surely!

Each spice on it's own for one day? Gingerbread day sounds yummy.

Speculaas... a spiced biscuit popular in Germany and other Continental countries.

You'd find searching recipes for Indian plum / fruit cake might throw up something.

Chinese 5 spice/ Thai 7 spice?

Something seasoned with nori for Japanese for example? They also have a 7 spice (7 peppers but sometimes it's very spicy!).

Roast potato seasoning, ras al hanout ,baharat?

For quick ones Mexican hot chocolate or mulled wine? I can recommend sous chef for unusual spices etc

I'd definitely go with a herb mix for stuffing on Christmas Day.

This company is great:
The Herb & Spice Co.

They have recipe sachets, which have a spice mix plus a recipe for loads of different meals.

One of those a day would be great, like a little advent calendar.

And some non-savoury packs from the same company:

Pumpkin Pie spice blend
Chai spice blend

They usually do a mulled wine one as well, maybe closer to Christmas it will come back

These two together would be good for Japanese katsu:
Katsu curry blend
Katsu breadcrumbs

@Cattitudes What a great idea, might have to steal it and make an advent calendar for DH!

Maybe a spice mix for red cabbage for the Christmas day one? Such a lovely idea op

Stuffing herbs for Xmas day or ginger and chilli hot choc or something.

wiltonwholefoods.com/31-herbs-spices-condiments
This site should give you some ideas

realsimplegood.com/10-easy-homemade-spice-blends/#Italian
Scroll to the bottom and you finally find the recipes for ten different spice blends.

Panforte is an interesting one to research and make for spice blends www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/dec/07/how-to-make-the-perfect-panforte

Thank you all, some great ideas and links. I considered an advent calendar but figured that maybe 24 days of spice was too much for our family in the run up to Christmas. Once we get past the bottleneck of Christmas Day the remaining days are generally fairly chilled and they don't go back to school until the 4th. We do usually do paella for 12th night, although often from a shop or a sachet. Spicy hot chocolate I think sounds perfect for Christmas day in the evening. Then we can launch into the others after that. The one who doesn't like hot spicy food also is vegetarian so often has something slightly different. That panforte looks amazing, and I found a gluten free version too. Will need to bump up my exercise levels now to make room for that in my diet!

See if you can get a copy of this www.amazon.co.uk/Spice-Herb-Bible-Ian-Hemphill/dp/0778801462/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=Hemphill%2C+Ian&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1631950571&sr=8-3