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Archives for December 2015

Christmas Baking

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Christmas Pudding – The traditional British, Christmas dessert. Sweet, scrumptious and seasonal the only bad thing is that we have to wait for that certain time of year to spoil ourselves with it.

The best Christmas Puddings are made with dried fruits held together by egg and suet, moistened with treacle or molasses and typically seasoned with cinnamon, nutmeg , cloves, ginger and other spices with it’s high alcohol content preventing it from spoiling during time.

The history behind the popular christmas dessert goes back to medieval England with the quote “pudding should be made on the 25th Sunday after Trinity, that it be prepared with 13 ingredients to represent Christ and the 12 apostles, and that every family member stir it in turn from east to west to honour the Magiand their supposed journey in that direction”. Whilst most of us are less concerned with it’s religious significance it’s still mostly reserved for that festive time of year, but maybe that’s because of it’s lengthy cooking time and it’s rich taste.

Usually families will buy there puddings to considerably reduce the cooking time. Traditional methods require many hours of steaming however readymade puddings can be heated in the oven over a much shorter period of time.

However, there are those traditionalist who still like to do it themselves. Many people have there own recipes for Christmas Pudding but if this is your first time, we’ve included some ingredients below to get you started:

Preparation time : 20 minutes
Cooking time : 8 hours
Makes two 1.2 litre/2 pint puddings (each serves 8)

Ingredients :

– 50 g blanched almond
– 2 large Bramley cooking apple
– 200g box candied peel (in large pieces) or all citron if you can find it
– 1 whole nutmeg (you’ll use three quarters of it)
– 1kg raisin
– 140g plain flour
– 100g soft fresh white breadcrumb
– 100g light muscovago sugar, crumbled if it looks lumpy
– 3 large eggs
– 2 table spoons brandy or cognac, plus extra to flame
– 250g packet butter taken straight from the fridge

Afternoon Tea

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Afternoon tea – A Great British Tradition. Tea, Biscuits, Sandwiches, what more could you want? Not to mention it’s a great way to get together with friends, have a catch-up and relax.

Introduced by Anna the Seventh Duchess of Bedford in 1840 to ease the ‘sinking feeling’ she had between meals during the afternoon. The Duchess asked that a tray of tea, bread, butter and cake be brought to her room around 4pm. Anna soon made a habit out of it and she began inviting friends to join her. It became popularised in the 1880’s amongst the upper-class and society women who would change into long gowns, gloves and hats.

These days, however, Afternoon tea isn’t reserved for the wealthy and privileged. In fact in the last 5 years or so Afternoon Tea has become a popular past-time, with many restaurants and cafe’s adding it to their daytime menus. Consisting of light bites and the quintessentially British Tea, afternoon tea is as much about social aspect as it is the food, often used as gifts or celebratory events for friends and family. There is even now a brilliant trend of using Afternoon Tea / Coffee Mornings as a way of raising money for charity with the host inviting friends over and making various charitable donations!

If you are thinking of hosting an Afternoon Tea event here are some traditional bites to include –

Classic afternoon tea sandwiches:

– Cucumber
– Egg mayonnaise with cress
– Smoked salmon with cream cheese
– Coronation chicken
– Ham and mustard

Traditional Afternoon Tea Menu:

A selection of freshly prepared finger sandwiches
Warm scones with clotted cream and preserves
A variety of home made cakes and pastries
Your choice of a range of tea

We love traditions like afternoon tea, they make us proud of our British culture. All of Vanilla In Allseasons Ingredients are locally sourced to ensure that we provide to best produce for our events. If you would like us to help you with your event please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.

Why we love Mulled Wine

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Mulled Wine. It’s the staple drink of the festive season. The one your local pub will have on it’s chalk boards. It’s the drink synonymous with Sunday afternoon’s relaxing in good company.

Mulled Wine has a delicious taste with a distinctive aroma and is even has health benefits with its traditionally used spices offering boosts to antioxidant levels whilst the wine can be good for your cholesterol as well as welcoming in that festive cheer!

Mulled Wine is traditionally served hot or warm and can come in alcoholic or non-alcoholic form. Usually it’s seasoned with traditional Christmas spices, such as nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon, however plenty of people use their own recipe. Heated slowlythe flavours from the spices are allowed time to mix with the Red Wine. Extra sugar and honey is often added to provide a sweeter taste. Typically, Mulled Wine is made in larger quantities to cater for a number of people/guests often served in a pot.

Mulled wine recipe:

Ingredients
– 1 bottle red wine – 60g/2oz demerara sugar – 1 cinnamon stick – grated nutmeg – 1 orange, halved – 1 dried bay leaf – 60ml/2fl oz sloe or damson gin (optional)

Preparation method

– Put the wine in a saucepan with the orange, sugar, bayleaf and the spices.

– Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Taste to see if you want the wine sweeter, and add more sugar to taste.

– Off the heat, stir in the sloe or damson gin if you are using it.

– Strain into heatproof glasses and serve at once.

via BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mulledwine_8156

Remember: If you’re catering for a dinner party and you’re running low on supplies – Add some fruit and water to maintain the sweet taste and boost your levels.

Why do we love it? Because not only does it taste amazing and have benefits to health but it also signals the start of that festive time of year reserved for spending time with friends and family, relaxing and maybe, just maybe, having a little bit of party!

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