It's that time of year again when we end up spending a small fortune on presents for our loved ones (or not) and trudge out at every spare minute to negotiate the slalom that is shopping at Christmas time.
Well this year, I decided to be smart.
This is part one of my Christmas gift guide and part two (published after the big day, not to ruin any surprises of course) will consist of what, where and how I bought all the gifts for my closest friends and family (I think I got it pretty spot on this year, even if I do say so myself).
Now we all have relatives, perhaps distant or that you only see this time of year, who you don't buy an actual gift for but (like me in previous years) buy a wholesale amount of chocolate biscuits from M&S (2 for 1 deal preferably) and hand them out willy-nilly to whoever shows up on the doorstep to wish you a merry Christmas. Of course, there is nothing whatsoever wrong with this, M&S biscuits are delicious after all, but it does lack a certain personal touch. And everyone loves homemade gifts at Christmas.
A couple of years ago, I made several batches of biscuits, packaged them up festively and gave those out. The only thing was that I had to make them all at the last minute, cue stress and panic and then they had to be given immediately because the shelf life was only a few days. Not ideal.
This year I wanted to make my life as stress-free and simple as possible in the run up to the 25th, but not compromise on the personal touch that homemade goods brings.
Chutney was my answer. I found this Mary Berry recipe online and simply tripled the ingredients to make what turned out to be about 30 190ml/7oz jam jars which I bought from this company (totally recommend them, by the way). The only alterations I did to the recipe was to skip the coriander seeds, because I couldn't find any, and exchange the cayenne pepper for normal black pepper.
Well this year, I decided to be smart.
This is part one of my Christmas gift guide and part two (published after the big day, not to ruin any surprises of course) will consist of what, where and how I bought all the gifts for my closest friends and family (I think I got it pretty spot on this year, even if I do say so myself).
Now we all have relatives, perhaps distant or that you only see this time of year, who you don't buy an actual gift for but (like me in previous years) buy a wholesale amount of chocolate biscuits from M&S (2 for 1 deal preferably) and hand them out willy-nilly to whoever shows up on the doorstep to wish you a merry Christmas. Of course, there is nothing whatsoever wrong with this, M&S biscuits are delicious after all, but it does lack a certain personal touch. And everyone loves homemade gifts at Christmas.
A couple of years ago, I made several batches of biscuits, packaged them up festively and gave those out. The only thing was that I had to make them all at the last minute, cue stress and panic and then they had to be given immediately because the shelf life was only a few days. Not ideal.
This year I wanted to make my life as stress-free and simple as possible in the run up to the 25th, but not compromise on the personal touch that homemade goods brings.
Chutney was my answer. I found this Mary Berry recipe online and simply tripled the ingredients to make what turned out to be about 30 190ml/7oz jam jars which I bought from this company (totally recommend them, by the way). The only alterations I did to the recipe was to skip the coriander seeds, because I couldn't find any, and exchange the cayenne pepper for normal black pepper.
The beauty of having to make it at least four weeks in advance is that you don't have an extra worry in the week leading up to Christmas (always a bonus), they don't need to be stored in any special place and they keep for months.
The recipe came out a treat, we had loads left over so ended up using it as a dip for our meatball and pitta dinner, and it was delicious. The only advice I would give is if you are going to make the amount I did, make sure to use a food processor (with a grater attachment) to grate the onions, it saves an awful lot of time and crying.
To decorate them I just cut squares out of some cheap, candy cane coloured cotton to cover the lids, tied lengths of green sparkly string around and stuck on some descriptive labels.
