It is my youngest daughter’s eighth birthday tomorrow, the party was held at the weekend and everything is ready for tomorrow. This, then, for me, means I can begin to think about Christmas. I can’t contemplate it before her birthday preparations are out of way. Thank goodness she wasn’t born closer to Christmas. What this also means is that I have been doing this blog for more than five years now. This was bought home to me when I printed off the chocolate birthday cake recipe for my mum to make for her and looked at the photo of the cake that my youngest had decorated for her Dad when she was three.
This made me think about just how many recipes I have posted on here over that time. It has become my own personal cookbook and I hope that it has the same purpose for others too. Â In my planning for the holidays I started to look back on the recipes that are favourites and also found some that I really enjoyed when I made them but haven’t returned to since. It occurred to me that a round-up of the recipes I will be revisiting or would like to, but probably won’t have the time when it comes to it, would be useful for me and perhaps for a few of you too.
I do love all the cooking that comes with the Christmas holidays. The girls have two weeks off from school which means that we can have proper breakfasts, rather than a bowl of cereal or a piece of toast. So we will be enjoying pancakes, waffles, pikelets or Staffordshire Oatcakes as well as the occasional Full English.
The Aga baked ham will be cooked for Christmas Eve dinner and for tucking into afterwards too. Whenever there is a ham in the house Fidget pie is made, because I love it so much. When I made Fidget pie last week, I used white wine instead of cider and reduced it to a syrup before I added the cream and it was delicious. My recipes are always evolving.
My mum makes enough mincemeat for all of us, but if you do need a recipe the one I made with pecans was really tasty. Mince pies are very popular in this house, in fact I have promised to make some today. My eldest likes them slightly burned. I like to oblige, sometimes because I have forgotten put the timer on. The curse of the Aga.  Then when we are bored of them, mincemeat bars might make an appearance or that Norfolk Scone I have promised myself.
My mum will also be cooking the turkey, but she will be doing it this way because it’s tried and tested and delicious. Mushroom and chestnut wellington makes a very good alternative to the turkey.
Stollen might make an appearance, because I make marzipan at Christmas, not for the cake (mum makes those) but because we love it. Marzipan chocolates will be the result and I should really make my ginger and marzipan cake again because that was very, very good.
Christmas pudding is my absolute favourite, but if you want something different then my Cardamom and almond steamed pudding or my Whisky and honey cheesecake go down very well. Chocolate truffles, whether chilli or cherry flavoured will be on the table at some point and I might find time to make candied peel again.
Just writing this post has lifted me into the festive spirit so I am off to make mince pies and some lemon curd ready for the pikelets and oatcakes. Be assured that whilst I make these I will be half watching a movie on one of the Christmas channels. I started doing that back in November. Don’t judge me too harshly.
Some great ideas here. I think top to try will be the ginger and marzipan cake. And thanks for reminding me I’ve not made lemon curd in a while. What a busy month eh? And belated birthday greetings to your daughter.
Thank you Margaret. That cake was delicious but I haven’t got round to making it again. I must try. I like being busy if it is busy cooking. x
You seem very organized! I am inspired. This morning I cleaned out the fridge and pantry and now I’m on my way to the market to restock. I have plans for a soup and a loaf of milk bread by days end but the days are shorter so we’ll see.
I may seem organised, but I can’t promise I will live up to it. I hope the loaf happened at least. It sounds like you were packing a lot into one day. x
I am inspired too! The mincemeat bars sound lovely – I’ll make them when we too are fed up with mince pies. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
And to you lovely Caroline. x
What a great recipe round up for the season, Kath. I had forgotten about that fidget pie, and love learning about the tweaks you’ve made to the recipe. That is part of the joy of this work, it evolves and changes over the years as we do. Happy Christmastime is here.
Thank you Nancy, yes I was contemplating how much I have learned about cooking since I started this blog and how much my cooking has changed. The blog pushes me to challenge myself and come up with new ideas and reading other people’s blogs also inspire me. The internet is a marvellous thing.
Kath
Thank you for inspiring my “Christmas Food” – slow cooked turkey,Aga ham,Chelsea buns,fidget pie,lemon curd- I made a merangue garland 🙂 it ’twas all yummy
I hope you all had a lovely day and I would like to thank you for another years worth of food and wish you a happy 2015 – hope the cookery courses go well,
🙂
Thank you for your lovely comment. I am so pleased that I was your inspiration. It sounds as if you had a fine Christmas. The meringue garland sounds marvellous. Happy 2015 to you and yours too. Kath x