Christmas food & Recipes
Fortnum & Mason Christmas
Christmas Day, Breakfast Served
Fortnum & Mason’s food expertise and excellence is never stronger than at Christmas. Inspired by over 300 years of yuletide wisdom, Fortnum’s has curated a delicious offering to take you from Christmas morning through to midnight feasting, and everything in between. With delectable caviar and smoked salmon, exquisite meats and a veggie showstopper, meal solutions and a whole host of puddings and sweet treats, allow Fortnum’s to take care of Christmas.
Christmas Smoked Salmon
This award-winning salmon is caught sustainably in the blue waters of Scotland, cured using authentic 19th century redbrick kilns and traditionally cold smoked over oak and beech chippings. It has been given the warmth of Christmas mulled spices including cinnamon, star anise, clove and nutmeg. A beautiful ingredient to make the festive breakfast memorable.
Mulled Wine Marmalade £7.95, Spiced Honey £8.95 and Christmas Pudding Conserve £7.95
Choose from an array of toast toppers this Christmas at Fortnum’s. To make the new Mulled Wine Marmalade, oranges are poached expertly in red wine, spices and Marc de Champagne, and our Spiced Honey sees cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, orange essence and dried ginger, lend with creamy sweet honey. Taking the beloved ingredients from Christmas Pudding, the Christmas Pudding Conserve is filled with plump dried fruits and brandy and is equally as appropriate on the top of breakfast pancakes as it is on a cheeseboard.
Traditional Marzipan Stollen £25 and Christmas Chocolate and Orange Curd £7.95
Fortnum’s Traditional Marzipan Stollen is sourced from Dresden – the home of the festive sweet treat – and is made by a third generation family bakery who have been making stollen since the early 1900’s. This stollen is rich and buttery and filled with fruits soaked in rum. For a decadent breakfast, toast and top with our smooth and creamy Chocolate and Orange Curd.
Christmas Spiced Green Tea £9.95
This blend of green tea, star anise, liquorice and coconut also features white cornflower petals, pink peppercorns and hints of vanilla. The result is a gently warming and fragrant tea, perfect for Christmas morning.
Simply for Ice Cream
Simply Ice Cream, the luxury ice cream and kitchenware producer, has launched the Simply Ice Cream Christmas Gift Collections. The Simply Ice Cream Christmas Gift Collections are priced at £30.
The Simply Ice Cream Lovers Collection includes
Two bowls from Simply’s hand-painted crockery range
3 x chocolate sauces created by Fudge Kitchen (including chocolate cinnamon, chocolate caramel and chocolate cinnamon)
Simply’s new range of Sprinkles (including hundreds and thousands, sugar coated chocolate beans and chocolate sprinkles).
The Simply Ice Cream Winter Warmer Collection includes:
- Two mugs from Simply’s hand-painted crockery range
- Lost Sheep Coffee
- Simply Ice Cream English Breakfast Teabags.
The Simply Ice Cream Christmas Gift Collections are also available online – www.simplyicecream.co.uk – and through some independent fine food stores, farm shops, and delicatessens in Kent.
The Scottish Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil Group which is made up for 6 producers across Scotland.
A number of them have gift sets which makes for a unique and tasty Christmas present featuring their original and a variety of their special oils. Rapeseed oil is a healthier and vegan alternative to butter and fats that are indulged in over the festive period, so great for those who are not looking to indulge too much, or with special diets.
Coming from all corners of Scotland, we’ve made it our mission to get more bottles of our ‘liquid gold’ Cold-Pressed Rapeseed Oil into kitchens all across Scotland and beyond.
Scottish Cold Pressed Rapeseed oil is extracted from the seeds of rapeseed plants, from the same brassica family as broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower. Harvested in late summer, rapeseed plants are the ones that you often see flowering bright yellow in fields during May.
Scottish Cold-Pressed Rapeseed Oil is tasty and versatile – ideal for roasting, frying, baking and drizzling. It has low food miles compared to other oils and is celebrated for its health benefits as it has less unhealthy saturated fat than all other cooking oils and fats.
It is also high in naturally occurring antioxidants and is a great source of plant based Omega 3 so can help you maintain healthy cholesterol levels as part of a healthy balanced diet – beneficial for heart health.
And it is a rich source of vitamin E. We all cold-press our oil because by not adding heat or chemicals we are able to ensure that the oil is treated more gently and retains all of its natural goodness and great taste
Mark Bush from Summer Harvest said:
“Due to its light nutty flavour and extremely high burn point, cold pressed rapeseed oil is now being widely used by high profile chefs to make roast potatoes. It also has the added benefit of being one of the healthiest oils on the market.” www.scotrapeseedoil.co.uk
A Caramel Christmas Showstopper from Bonne Maman…
Bored of the same old Christmas pudding and mince pies every year? Bonne Maman introduces a fantastic alternative – a soft, mallowy meringue layered with caramel and caramel cream then frosted with toasted almonds and icing sugar – a delicious and super pretty festive dessert to wow your dinner guests this festive season.
Bonne Maman’s ‘Caramel Christmas Meringue’ is a wonderful showcase for the French specialist conserve brand’s new Salted Caramel, a deliciously rich caramel, lightly seasoned with Guérande sea salt from the North Western coast of France. www.bonnemaman.co.uk
Ingredients
5 egg whites
300g caster sugar
1 tsp distilled malt vinegar
300ml carton double cream
60g Bonne Maman Salted Caramel
To decorate
50g shredded toasted almonds
Icing sugar
Icing snowflakes
Method
Heat the oven to 110C, 90C fan oven, mark low. With a pencil, mark a 22.5cm square on a sheet of baking parchment and turn over, pencil down, onto a large baking sheet.
Mix together the egg whites, sugar and vinegar in a heatproof bowl. Place over a saucepan of gently simmering water and beat with an electric whisk for 10 minutes or until very stiff and shiny.
Spread the meringue mixture into the marked square and bake for 40 minutes then cool. The meringue will feel soft and mallowy and the top just slightly firm.
Whip the cream until it just holds its shape and fold in half the caramel. Keep whisking slowly for a few more seconds until the cream is just firm enough to spread.
Cut the square into 3 lengths, each roughly 7.5cm x 22.5cm. Using a palette knife, lift one length of meringue onto a serving platter and spread with about a third of the cream. Drizzle with half the remaining caramel and place a second length of meringue on top and spread again with cream. Drizzle with the remaining caramel and top with the final meringue.
Scatter the top with the almonds, dust with icing sugar and add edible snowflakes, to serve.
Cooks Tips
The assembled Caramel Christmas Meringue, without the almond decoration, will freeze for up to 1 month – meaning you can play the perfect host knowing dessert is under control, simply thaw in the fridge for 2 hours before serving.
Bonne Maman Salted Caramel is now available nationally from Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Tesco and Morrisons as well as Ocado, Amazon and independent fine food stores. Salted Caramel £2.19 rrp for 220gm jar.
Dr Oetker
White Chocolate, Tahini and Pretzel Cake
Prep time 45 mins, plus setting Cooking time 25 mins Serves 12 Ingredients:
For the base
250g unsalted butter, softened
½tsp Dr. Oetker Madagascan Vanilla Natural Extract
4 medium eggs, beaten
375g plain flour
1tsp Dr Oetker Baking Powder
1tsp Dr Oetker Bicarbonate of Soda
150g natural yoghurt
250g caster sugar
For the pretzels
150g Dr. Oetker Fine Cook’s White Chocolate
6 giant/jumbo pretzels, 6 standard pretzels (or 36 standard pretzels)
For the buttercream
100g Dr. Oetker Fine Cook’s White Chocolate
45g mixed broken pretzel pieces
115g unsalted butter, softened
For the coating
150g Dr Oetker Fine cooks’ White Chocolate
300ml double cream
190g cream cheese
4tsp tahini
To decorate
100g Dr Oetker White Chocolate Chunks
Method:
Heat the oven to 180C, 160C fan, gas 4. Grease and then line two 18cm tins with baking parchment. Beat 250g of the butter and sugar until creamy and pale. Gradually beat in the eggs, then mix in the Vanilla Extract. Mix the flour, Baking Powder and
Bicarbonate of Soda then sieve into the bowl with the butter mixture, gently fold together. When almost combined add the yoghurt and continue to fold until smooth. Divide between the tins, smoothing the tops, bake for 25mins or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
Melt 150g of the White Chocolate, allow to cool slightly. One by one dip the 6 giant and 6 regular pretzels into the white chocolate to coat (you may need to do another coat once set), set on a tray lined with baking parchment. Leave somewhere cool and dry for around 1 hour to dry.
For the buttercream filling; melt 100g of the White Chocolate, allow to cool slightly. Finely crush the remaining pretzel pieces then mix with the White Chocolate. Beat 115g of butter and 3tsp of tahini until creamy then beat in the chocolate mixture.
For the coating; melt the remaining White Chocolate with 2tbsp of the cream, allow to cool slightly. Whisk the rest of the cream until starting to thicken, then add the cream cheese and 1tsp of tahini, mix until softly peaking. Fold a little into the White Chocolate then add it to the cream mixture, mix together until smooth and spreadable.
To assemble; set one sponge on a serving plate then using a palette knife, spread the top with the buttercream filling then press the other sponge on top. Cover the whole thing with the White Chocolate coating. Arrange the large and small coated pretzels on top alternating with one jumbo set on its side and a small set on flat. Arrange the Chocolate Chunks around the bottom edge.
www.oetker.co.uk/uk-en/homepage.html
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