'Christmas goodies from around the world' hamper

[OMGitsnotgood]

I'm doing a lot of Christmas planning at the moment as Nov and December are pretty hectic for us for a variety of reasons and want the 'thinking' out of the way.

One of the Christmas events I am contributing to falls at a time when i won't be able to spend hours in the kitchen (which I love, when it's possible). i've had this idea of buying lots of 'Christmas around the world' sweet items, instead of making desserts. This is for a largish number of people, so as well as being a bit different to traditional desserts, it will be finger food so no need for spoons / bowls etc. However this will only work if there is enough variety in taste, textures and colours to make it look good. This is where the magic of MN comes in with suggestions. I have access to all major supermarkets and will do a sweep of their aisles on the lead up but maybe there are things I'd have to go looking for, or only from a supermarket I don't normally use. General suggestions appreciated, if you know that you can definitely get them from a specific shop, that would be helpful.

I'm thinking along the lines of:
Lebkuchen; mini stollen; Panetonne cubes; Stroopwalffeln; Turkish Delight; Florentines; Amaretti, mince pies. But that's not a huge variety in colours or countries. Must be able to buy in advance, no time for homemade for this occasion, and likely no freezer space this year.

I was thinking also bowls of satsumas, figs and grapes for colour and pretending to be healthy!

Thank you

I like the idea on theory, but I don't know whether things like stroopwaffeln or Turkish delight are considered Christmassy? Maybe that isn't the point really - they're still festive treats I guess! I'd certainly be very happy with that as a Christmas dessert table...

Figs, grapes, satsumas, dates and walnuts would all be good additions, certainly.

What a great idea!
Turrón, mazapán and polvorones from Spain.

I've just ordered some baklava from Lakeland. If we like it, I plan on it being a Christmassy treat in the future. Baklava

Pepparkaken from Sweden. They are lovely crisp very thin spice biscuits. Ginger and clove are the main flavours. You can get them in a beautiful decorated tin which would look very pretty as part of your spread.

Sounds lovely, in general terms I don't think you need too many 'separate' items as invariably people take one of each and then don't eat them all...
What about some of those small American style cookies .. my friends from the US frequently do a 'cookie exchange' and it's a nice thing to do and some of the cookies are really decorative.

French buche de noel, i.e. Yule log.

Stollen and Medjool dates

I second baklava it’s my absolute favourite sweet treat of all time! But you’ll have to buy fresh those packets with all the preservatives are awful and grainy!

Pfeffernüsse type of thing
I get similar form aldi etc sometimes. You can get variations in polish/czech/slovakian shops.

I could eat bags especially the ones filled with plum jam.

Red apples apparently have a long association with Christmas, so a bowl of those would be an easy way to add texture and colour.

marrons glaces are very traditional in France. Think you can get them from Waitrose.

We only gave Turkish delight at Christmas!

Ikea is bound to have some Christmas cake and dessert ideas.

If you head to the Asian supermarkets or even places like kenji they have all kinds of Japanese and Asian sweets and confectionary that is very cute and Christmas themed nearer the time.

French fruit jelly/pastilles sweets would add some colour to your display, Lakeland used to sell beautiful boxes of them, so it's worth having a look there.

Caramelised pecans would be nice, M&S sell them.

Marzipan stuffed dates, or marzipan fruits, Ocado probably sell them.

I wouldn't worry too much about colour, as you can use something like gold paper plates or gold & white table covering .

As an aside, Ocado sold Pepparkaken for years, but stopped last year. I loved them spread with blue cheese!

I've been looking on the Ocado website for pepparkaken and am really disappointed to see they're not there! Brexit? Whatever, the reason, I am contemplating having a go at baking some. I really love the spice combination, but then I do like cloves, and I know not everybody shares this. I always put cloves in my bread sauce along with nutmeg, salt, black peper and bayleaf.

Thank you everyone, some great ideas and i now think this can work.

Just realised I changed my thought on this after writing the title and didn't update before posting: it started as an idea for a hamper for some friends we still exchange gifts with (I've suggested we stop but they want to continue). Then I thought they'd probably have all the goodies they need for Christmas already. While I was pondering that, I realised it would solve my dessert table problem as we are away just before so I'd struggle with home made stuff.

Won't be buying for a while so please keep the ideas coming ! Thank you

Lidl has a great range in and some with long enough dates to buy now.
I had almond biscuits from my Spanish friends that was traditional. From Portugal we used to always be given chocolate salami. In USA pumpkin pie is often eaten.

I don't know whether things like stroopwaffeln or Turkish delight are considered Christmassy

Probably not but we always had Turkish Delight at Christmas because my Dad loved it and I don't suppose they would have bought it other than for a treat. I first had Stroopwaffel at a Christmas market, so just assumed. As you say, it doesn't really matter. I'm hoping i can find the mini ones I bought once but can't remember where.

I think Turkish Delight is Christmassy because of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe!

Chocolate kisses - German Christmas sweets. They are delicious!

https://www.chocolatekissesuk.com/

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g Yes! I'm disappointed too! I always mention them when ever I get to the Ocado "Tell us what you're looking for" screen, but no luck on them being restocked yet.
I'm also a fan of cloves. I add them to all kinds of things, bread sauce, apple pie, rice pudding, macaroni cheese, and of course a hot whiskey.

Nice idea. In Trinidad we had Sorrell which is a red drink made from hibiscus. Christmassy.

You can look it up, it is possible to buy or make it in the UK. It's not alcoholic.

It’s not a dessert but in Italy it’s traditional to give baci at Christmas, it’s chocolates, and you can buy them at tk maxx usually

Neideregger marzipan chocolate the plain chocolate one is in a red foil. I hold no truck with flavoured marzipan but you can get a box of loads of flavours from John Lewis it’s like a beautiful rainbow of colour