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Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

The Christmas Chronicles by Nigel Slater. Read Along Thread 2022 PART 2

508 replies

LillianGish · 28/11/2022 09:22

A continuation of the brilliant thread started by @Dillidilly who I hope is still lurking somewhere and reading along Flowers

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picklemewalnuts · 05/12/2022 14:19

Freezing makes sure you don't acquire any extra hitchhiking residents!

lucysmam · 05/12/2022 21:38

@picklemewalnuts any other tips for the stollen? Or, do you think it would work to turn it into stollen bites? Did you follow Nigel's recipe to the letter? I'm free of plans for this coming Sunday so considering trying it then maybe 🤔 Might need to pop to Lidl or Asda for ingredients though but they're only down the road & the girls' dad might go armed with a list.

Someone commented on the previous page that we're half way through already, so I looked...and was surprised to see that indeed, we are! I'm rather enjoying the few pages/entries at a time, depending on how much time I have!

We'll be making mince pies on Sunday too, I think. Some to eat as we go, and some ready for baking as we want them (but to freeze) so that dd1 doesn't clog up the kitchen for hours on Christmas eve. My kitchen's massive but she manages to fill it allllllll when she cooks, leaving no space for me 🙄

picklemewalnuts · 05/12/2022 21:49

I followed it to the letter... as best I could (scatty) and subbing some ingredients.

So- the dough was correct, but the first yeast I used was out of date so when it failed it's first rise I added another 7g from a fresh packet. At that point I didn't have time to repeat the first rise so I went straight on to the next step- adding the other ingredients- and left it for its next rise.

So 'other ingredients'-
home made orange peel, not commercial,
cranberries instead of raisins,
No alcohol, used orange juice.
Lemon flavouring as I am out of vanilla
Accidentally added two teaspoons of ground cardamom, instead of the seeds from 8 pods or whatever he says.

Marzipan- I used one Lidl chocolate coated bar, however big that is, minus about an 1/8 that I ate while I waited for it to rise! It could have used more, to be honest.

That made a massive loaf. Much bigger than I expected! Tiger loaf/bloomer sized.

It happily took the extra cardamom with no complaints! The rest was as written.

If you want bites, you'd have to cut the marzipan into chunks, and make little dough balls I guess. Or perhaps make it like a focaccia.

It's a lovely soft, springy texture when it's cooked. Like a brioche.

As I mentioned before, get the dried fruit in the middle- maybe like a Swiss roll, rather than mixed throughout the dough.

lucysmam · 05/12/2022 21:52

Thanks very much, that's really helpful! If it's as big as I'm imagining it to be, maybe we'll do half loaf and half bites, see how we go.

LillianGish · 06/12/2022 07:05

6 December
A tale of two polentas
St Nicholas. I've posted about this before, but I always think of it at this time in the morning on December 6. Our first year in Berlin I remember coming downstairs with the kids and seeing a huge sack hanging on the handle through the glass panes of the front door. We opened the door and it was bag full of toys and sweets for the kids - we had no idea where it had come from (or even the significance of the date at that stage), but it felt as if Santa Claus had really been. I still get goosebumps when I remember that moment - peering into the frosty darkness and trying to work out who had left it there. It turned out it was a lovely elderly couple who lived behind us and who had no grandchildren of their own so kind of adopted ours for the duration - they had also given the kids the German Advent calendars we still refill to this day. It was a magical moment - the kids still very much believed in Father Christmas and at that moment so did I!

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Swissnotswiss · 06/12/2022 07:12

How wonderful @LillianGish !

picklemewalnuts · 06/12/2022 07:26

That is a wonderful story, Lillian! I don't think I have any magical moments like that in my memory bank. I love Christmas anyway, and treasure the various traditions, songs, church services we do.

Christmas Eve is a candlelit one, very sweet and atmospheric.

ThreeRingCircus · 06/12/2022 08:01

LillianGish · 04/12/2022 14:16

Just cut into my last minute Christmas cake and DH says he thinks it's even better than when it's been left to mature for a month or so. Really moist and delicious and just the thing for a chilly December afternoon so I think that's going to be another new tradition. Thanks @ThreeRingCircus and others who encouraged me to go for it. Cake

Glad it turned out well! I've been up early this morning as I couldn't sleep so put Christmas carols on in the kitchen and have put the marzipan and icing layer on my Christmas cake. It is very wobbly and definitely looks homemade but it's been made with love so hopefully nobody minds! 😂

I think I need one of those little tools for smoothing out icing next year. Or perhaps DDs will one day have fond memories of mum's wobbly Christmas cakes!

LillianGish · 06/12/2022 09:18

Your cake sounds great @ThreeRingCircus - and isn't the whole point of homemade that it is homemade (rather than necessarily achieving the perfection of a Bake Off finalist). It reminds me of people buying mince pies to take them to the school carol concert and then putting them in a tin and scuffing them up a bit in a bid to make them appear home made. Also your early morning carol-fest in the kitchen for the icing process sounds very enviable.

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picklemewalnuts · 06/12/2022 09:23

Can we have a pic, Circus?

I'm saddened by the rising of expected standards these days. No one seems to value things that aren't perfect. I always made my DCs bday cakes because they had food intolerance. They were wonky, 70's masterpieces- rockets, racing cars etc. I don't think I'd dare these days because the standard people expect is sso high! I blame YouTube!

I love a slightly wonky cake that's clearly been made in house. Leave polished perfection for instagrammers!

MistletoeMouse · 06/12/2022 10:07

ThreeRingCircus · 06/12/2022 08:01

Glad it turned out well! I've been up early this morning as I couldn't sleep so put Christmas carols on in the kitchen and have put the marzipan and icing layer on my Christmas cake. It is very wobbly and definitely looks homemade but it's been made with love so hopefully nobody minds! 😂

I think I need one of those little tools for smoothing out icing next year. Or perhaps DDs will one day have fond memories of mum's wobbly Christmas cakes!

I just use a rolling pin once I've placed the marzipan and icing on the cake. Roll the rolling pin over gently until the surface looks more pleasingly flat (but still undoubtedly home made) I find it soothes my desire to be as tidy as possible whilst accepting perfection is neither necessary nor attainable.

TangledWebofMincemeatDeception · 06/12/2022 11:37

Ah @LillianGish that’s the sort of thing children will remember forever, and how wonderful that you got to feel that Christmas magic in that moment too!😊🎄❤️

LOL at my confusion regarding Kitchen Diaries yesterday - it turns out I’ve got both the original and volume 3, so at least I know I’m not going mad...I have a LOT of cookery books so an easy mistake to make! 😆

@ThreeRingCircus I’m sure your cake is beautiful - I completely agree with @picklemewalnuts that we’ve really lost something of value in this new Instagram world where everything is just bought in to satisfy that need for it to be absolutely perfect.

ThreeRingCircus · 06/12/2022 18:16

Ahh thank you for all the encouragement about homemade cakes! I definitely needed to hear it as DSis is a professional baker and my best friend is also excellent at baking so I'm surrounded by Bake Off standard home baking 😂.

Nonetheless DD1 age 5 had some after school today and declared she'd mark it 30 out of 10 so my work here is done 😂😂😂😂.

I completely forgot to take a photo of the whole cake so here's one of a slice!

The Christmas Chronicles by Nigel Slater. Read Along Thread 2022 PART 2
picklemewalnuts · 06/12/2022 21:22

Looks lush! Well done. I actually prefer things that show the toil that went into them.

Ihavedogs · 06/12/2022 21:58

Well done @ThreeRingCircus

Confusedmeanderings · 07/12/2022 01:36

@ThreeRingCircus that looks really moist and fruity and delicious!

LillianGish · 07/12/2022 07:48

7 December
A cracker, a quacker and a Danish charm

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LillianGish · 07/12/2022 20:19

Gosh - not a single person has been inspired by today's offering. I was sure we had at least one Dane on the thread and was hoping for some hygge reminiscing. I always think of red cabbage as a Danish dish as we have a family friend who always makes it at Christmas. I love it braised with onions and apples (or cranberries at Christmas) - I always think the red colour adds a festive touch. We usually have it with a baked ham on Christmas Eve.

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elephantoverthehill · 07/12/2022 20:22

I love the idea of the stuffed duck but I won't be doing it any time soon

TangledWebofMincemeatDeception · 07/12/2022 20:50

🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰

I haven’t had a chance to read the chapter yet, but I’ll do so tonight (or tomorrow morning) and I’m sure I’ll have something to say after!

🎄🎄🎄

LillianGish · 07/12/2022 21:43

I knew it @TangledWebofMincemeatDeception !

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picklemewalnuts · 07/12/2022 22:16

I was surprised by the mixture of red cabbage and greens. I'll give that some thought.

I was planning on making red cabbage with red wine, but may hold some back to pair with my spring greens. We had a lot tonight, with ginger garlic and sesame. Still got a lot to go! Some veg seem to come bigger than is convenient!

Ihavedogs · 07/12/2022 22:47

I am on catch up again. Spent a good chunk of the day decorating the tree and putting decorations up.

EspeciallyD · 07/12/2022 23:20

I'm really behind, every time I nearly catch up I fall back again. I love the chapters about the Christmas markets and windows. I'm not even keeping up with my Advent calendar this year but do keep trying to catch a bit of Nigel most days.

ChessieFL · 08/12/2022 05:48

I’m a couple of days behind now too - away with work and can’t lug the book around with me for the sake of reading one or two chapters! I’ll catch up at the weekend.