Christmas 2013

Hello there! Happy belated Christmas!

I hope that you all had an absolutely fantastic Christmas this year, and that a certain Mr Claus was kind to you! Did you get everything that you wanted this year?

I personally had a lovely Christmas with my family, and I'm feeling extremely blessed for all that I have in my life at the moment, even if I don't have a lot. I may not have been able to attend our family gathering, but I was able to spend some quality time with my immediate family at home. The house was filled with festive music, loud voices, and laughter, with bright winter sunshine pouring through the windows, and more than enough scrumptious food and drink to indulge in. I was spoilt rotten by my family, and the presents I gave brought smiles to their faces. A perfect Christmas, if you ask me. And I'd say that without receiving any presents, as it's not what Christmas is about for me.

On Christmas Eve, I was miraculously up and out of the house before 9am, and popped in to town with my sister for some last minute shopping. I may have returned with a nail polish or two to wear on Christmas Day, along with the last of the food shopping. I spent the afternoon recovering, wrapping up my Dad's presents to my Mum, and napping.

In the evening of Christmas Eve, my Mum put together a buffet tea and made waaay too much food, so we still have a ton of left overs in the fridge. We feasted on cold cuts, quiches, assorted cheeses and crackers, salad, mini turkey pasties, various nibbles made from pastry, vol-au-vonts, bread, meats, pavlova and my sister's chocolate squidgy log, amongst other delicious goodies. Most of it homemade. I forgot to take a photo of the spread before everyone had tucked in, but you get the idea.

I then went to put favours together for the Christmas dinner table.

After our Christmas Eve buffet, my Mum helped me make my Blackberry and Apple trifle, that I've made every Christmas since 2006. (Find the recipe here). I needed a little assistance this year as I was succumbing to the pain by this point, but it's very simple to make. It has blackberries, raspberries, apples and Madeira cake underneath those layers of custard and cream, (I also added in peaches this year) and it's the perfect dessert to indulge in at Christmas. This year's was absolutely delicious.

Christmas morning came, and we all roused later than we've ever done on Christmas Day. After less than four hours broken sleep, I awoke just before half eight, and everyone else soon followed. I don't think we've ever been up later than 7am on Christmas Day! We must be getting old!

The tree on Christmas morning before we opened our presents.

My parents still lay out presents to my younger sister and I in separate piles on our sofas. This was my stack waiting to be unwrapping. I was spoilt rotten this year! (I'll reveal the generous presents I was given in another post). We spent over an hour exchanging gifts from each other, and gifts under the tree from other relatives.

I was in my fleecy Primark reindeer pyjamas until midday. These pj bottoms are so soft and cosy, and only cost a fiver!

My older sister and brother-in-law stopped by at 11am to exchange gifts. She'd wrapped up two of my presents like crackers, which were so beautifully wrapped I just had to share them. We both had the same Cath Kidston wrapping paper and labels this year.

I think my woodland fireplace display looked lovely in the bright winter sunshine.

After I was showered, dressed, and made-up, I set to work on dressing the table for dinner. Do you like our very mis-matched decor? We're not fancy enough to be overly colour-coordinated for a casual family dinner, when it's just the six of us.

On Christmas Eve, we couldn't find our favour boxes anywhere, but I had an eureka moment, and remembered my Mum had a ton of fabric given to her a while back. She had a bag filled with red tulle, some embellished, that had been used for prom and bridesmaid dresses. I cut six squares out with pinking shears, popped a pretty cake case in the middle of each and added in a few chocolates, before tying them with some ribbon. Voila, thrifty table favours! I personally think they looked really pretty, and everybody else loved them.

My handmade crackers also went down a storm. I filled them with chocolates and festive scratch cards. The only person who won anything was the birthday girl (my Mum); who won a £1. Haha!

The place cards were from Paperchase. I had my older sister write them.

I added in paper straws left over from a summer barbecue. My little sister had bought windmill straws, too.

The design on our Christmas place mats.

I don't know how to make napkins in to swans, so I made paper planes instead! Haha!

Christmas dinner was delicious, and as always, my favourite meal of the year. I had turkey, stuffing, roast and mashed potatoes, broccoli, butternut squash, parsnips, carrots, and gravy. My eyes were clearly bigger than my stomach, as I ate about half of what I put on my plate. The highlights for me were my sister's roast potatoes, and the honey garlic parsnips and carrots she made to contribute to the meal. My Mum was responsible for most of the delicious meal, and we finished with her apple pie.

It wouldn't be Christmas in our house without a tin of Cadbury's Roses.

I spent ages doing my eye make up for dinner. I wore green eyeshadow, with black liquid eyeliner thinly lining the top lid, which I went over with a green glitter liner. I lined the bottom lash line with a black pencil eyeliner, and the inner lash line with a teal-blue. I'm not sure why my face looks so much darker than my shoulders, as I wasn't wearing foundation. I was letting my skin recover, since my new foundation has made me break out more than I've ever done in my life.

I forgot to snap a few pictures of my outfit, but I was wearing my navy fish-print peplum dress that I bought from AX Paris about a year and a half ago, with black tights. It's lovely and loose, which is perfect for Christmas Day indulging!

I did, however, take a quick pic of my Christmas Day manicure. I bought the two polishes on Christmas Eve especially for the occasion. I wore Maxfactor Max Effect Mini Nail Polish in Deep Mauve and Barry M Textured Nail Effect Nail Paint in Countess on my thumbs and ring fingers. It's a gorgeous mixture of chocolate, plum, gold, red and green.

After dinner, we all went in to the living room to relax in front of the TV for a while. I was stretched out on the small sofa with a heat pack on my back, as being out of bed was putting me in a lot of pain, while the TV flicked between Tangled and Toy Story 3. The older sis and brother in law left around 5pm, and I went home with them, although I only managed an hour before I had to admit defeat and come home to bed. I was hoping to enjoy the evening with them over a few drinks, but in hindsight I think that idea was never going to happen.

I was so exhausted, I slept from 7-9pm-ish, before dozing off again for another hour or two! I snuggled up with a couple of festive films until 6am, when I dropped off and slept on and off until 6:20pm and missed Boxing Day. If that wasn't bad enough, I slept another four hours before midnight! I think Christmas must've really exhausted me this year, because I fell asleep yesterday evening, too! I'm just glad I managed to fight my nocturnal sleeping pattern to be conscious enough to enjoy the festivities from the 23rd to the 25th! I had such a lovely Christmas, and although I'm sad that it's now over for another year, I can't wait to see what the New Year brings.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, and I hope you have a very Happy New Year!

My Christmas Cheesecake and Trifle Recipes

If you happened to visit my home on Christmas Eve morning, you would be greeted with the smell of baking and the sight of controlled chaos in the kitchen. 

For as long as I can remember, Christmas Eve has always involved a morning of baking and preparing at home. We used to go to a family gathering at my Auntie's on Christmas Eve, so my Mum would be making home made flans (quiches) to take with us, and  preparing her apple pie from scratch for Christmas dinner. Now my Auntie hosts her Christmas party a few days earlier, which leaves the 24th free for dessert making. It's a tradition for me to make a trifle and a cheesecake, and I thought I'd share them with you!

Now these two desserts are blatantly packed full of calories, but a slice of cheesecake or a portion of trifle once a year isn't going to do any harm. These are special occasion desserts, perfect for family gatherings and a little indulging at Christmas. Both recipes I'm about to share cater to easily 8-12 people, but you could adjust the ingredient quantities accordingly.

Blackberry and Apple Trifle

I've made this trifle each year since 2006 after finding the recipe in a magazine, and making a few adjustments. It's a delicious trifle with so much flavour in every layer, and my family go mad for it. I'm intolerant to cream, so I either make a section without cream, or just eat around it. It serves at least eight, if not twelve, and can last days. You'll need a very large serving bowl as you can see below.

Serves 8+, depending on portion sizes.

Ingredients

75g unsalted butter

3tbsp maple syrup

6 cox's apples, thinly sliced

200g each of blackberries and raspberries

100g white chocolate (optional)

500g ready made custard

1tbsp vanilla extract

400g Madeira cake

568ml double cream

Decoration (chocolate shavings, sprinkles... whatever you like)

Method

1. Melt the butter in a pan, add the maple syrup, and cook for 1 minute.

2. Add the apples to the butter/syrup sauce and fry until soft.

3. Tip in to a serving bowl. (It will need to be quite large as it's a big dessert!)

4. Put the blackberries and raspberries on top. If you buy frozen, leave them to defrost for an hour or two before starting the trifle).

5. If you wish to add the white chocolate to the custard, now is the time to melt it over a pan of simmering water. (White chocolate makes the custard very sweet. I've started skipping this step as I think it tastes better without it).

6. Mix the vanilla extract with the custard, and white chocolate if you chose to use it, and stir.

7. Cut the cake in to thin slices and arrange over the fruit.

8. Add the custard mix to the bowl.

9. Pop the bowl in to the fridge to let the custard set a little.

10. Whip the double cream until it just holds it's shape, then spoon over the custard and chill until ready to serve.

11. Just before serving, decorate the trifle with chocolate shavings, sprinkles, edible glitter... or what ever you wish! 

12. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake

I've also made this cheesecake for two or three Christmases now. It was a recipe I saw on Nigella Lawson's cookery show, which looked amazing, so I had to give it a try. It has the perfect balance of peanut butter, chocolate, and biscuit crust, and it really is delicious. I have to say it's one of the best dessert recipes I've ever made. Don't take my word for it, give it a go! 

This is another huge dessert, but it freezes really well, or could be adjusted in size accordingly.

I don't know why I covered the top in red edible glitter that Christmas...

Serves: a small army...

Ingredients

For the Base

200g digestive biscuits

50g salted peanuts

100g chocolate chips or chocolate

50g unsalted butter, softened

For the Filling

500g cream cheese

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

200g caster sugar

125ml soured cream

250g smooth peanut butter

For the Topping

250ml soured cream

100g chocolate chips or chocolate

30g soft brown sugar

Tip: You could replace the chocolate chips with Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolate for a creamier, sweeter taste.

Method

1. Preheat oven to gas mark 3

2. For the base, process the biscuits, peanuts, chocolate chips, and butter in a food processor until the mixture comes together in a clump.

3. Turn mixture in to a 23cm/9inch springform tin and press it in to the bottom of the tin, and up the sides using your fingers- this makes the crust.

4. Put the tin in the fridge to chill while you make the filling.

5. For the filling, process the cream cheese, eggs and egg yolks, sugar, soured cream, and peanut butter in a food processor, whizz it to a smooth mixture.

6. Pour and scrape the filling mixture in to the cheesecake base in to chilled springform tin, and cool for 1 hour, checking after 50 mins. The top only should feel set and dry. When cooked take the tin out of the oven while you make the topping.

7. For the topping, warm the soured cream and chocolate chips with the brown sugar gently in a small saucepan over a low heat, whisking to blend in the chocolate as it melts. Once the mixture is melted and well combined, take it off the heat.

8. Spoon and spread the topping very gently over the top of the cheesecake, being careful not to break the surface of the cheesecake.

9. Put the tin back in the oven for ten minutes.]

10. Once out of the oven, let the cheesecake cool completely in it's tin, then cover and put in the fridge over night. 

11. Take the cheesecake out of the fridge slightly before serving to take the chill away. Too long will make it gooey and hard to slice.

12. Enjoy!

Let me know if you decide to make either of these this festive season!

Do you bake and make your own desserts for Christmas gatherings?