FABULOUSLY FESTIVE FOOD BUYS
Our round-up of the best Christmassy buys this year - sweet, savoury and liquid
LIGHTS, MUSIC, ACTION!
Musical biscuit tins have become a big thing at Christmas and the best ones light up as well! Our favourites this year are Marks & Spencer’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Light Up House Tin (£6, 230g) and fabulously festive Magical Christmas Village with lights and music (£15, 249g), as well as a pretty Waitrose cookie tin that plays ‘We Wish you a Merry Christmas’ (£12, 150g).
SWEET TREATS
If you’re skipping the traditional pudding this year, the Waitrose Deer-licious Sticky Toffee Pudding (£10, 550g), decorated with rather fabulous gingerbread antlers, is a great alternative.
Panettone has become a whole new Christmas tradition, try it with a twist this year. ASDA’S Extra Special Chocolate & Orange Panettone (£6.50) is gloriously rich on the chocolate, while Waitrose’s Cinnamon Bunattone (£8, 500g) is spiced with cinnamon and pockets of sweet mascarpone sauce. For something more boozy, Carluccio’s Panettone Al Limoncello is piped through with a zesty limoncello filling and coated with white chocolate (£22.95, 950g).
Mariage Freres’ Haute-couture BÛCHE DE NOËL will bring a touch of glamour to any table, a grand cru chocolate ganache, flavoured with the festive spices of Noël Tea.
And if you believe that Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without chocolate penguins, keep everyone at the table happy with Chococo’s vegan Ecuador and Colombia origin chocolate treats (£11.50, 120g) or Hotel Chocolat’s luxury posse of penguins (£13 for 4). Hotel Chocolat’s Classic Christmas Sleekster is packed with festive favourites including penguins, reindeer, Christmas trees and more (£25.95,320g).
TRADITIONAL TRIMMINGS
We love Waitrose’s Fruity Stuffing Christmas Trees (£3.50, 233g), packed with plump apricots and crowned cranberries.
Tesco’s festive bangers are new this year, made from pork and port-braised cranberries, apples, onions and Christmas spices (£3.25 for 6).
Any cheese seller will tell you that stilton and cheddar are THE top sellers at Christmas but ASDA have mixed it up this year with their Wyke Farms Vintage Cheddar Bake topped with caramelised onion chutney, designed to be melted in the oven and supplied with a stand and candle to keep it hot at the table (£9.50).
If you prefer a traditional cheese board, spice it up with Rosebud’s Christmas Day Chutney, (£9.95, 375g), with plump dried fruits, allspice and a dash of Ampleforth beer, great with cheddar and Wensleydale.
SHIMMER AND SPARKLE
Add festive bling to your buffet with this Waitrose Shimmering Salmon Mousse made from Scottish smoked and poached salmon with a shimmering bronze lustre finish (£7/£15, 300g/600g).
FESTIVE TIPPLES
Back by popular demand, Babingtons' Christmas Tea is a mix of loose leaf black tea and traditional Christmas spices including cinnamon, cloves and ginger, as well as apples, orange peel and calendula petals (£13.99, caddy). Sustainably sourced and made from natural ingredients, it has been created to pair with both savoury – try it with the turkey and a rich chestnut stuffing – and sweet – gorgeous with chocolate, Christmas cake and mince pies.
If your biscuit tin lights up, there’s no reason why your gin shouldn’t too – Marks & Spencer’s Light Up Marmalade Gin Liqueur (£15, 50cl) will brighten up your postprandial drinks or keep things traditional with a Tiramisu Flavour Irish Cream Liqueur (£12, 50cl). For gin with an exotic twist, Blood Monkey Irish Craft Gin is made to be enjoyed straight up (£37.50, 70cl). Keeping it Irish – they know a thing or two about whiskey after all – Two Shores Irish Single Malt Whiskey is a sugar-cane distilled Panama rum aged for 6 years, then matured in the west of Ireland for 6 months in casks that previously held 19-year-old single malt whiskey (£50, 70cl).
FOR YOUR BEST FRIEND
Don’t leave your pets out of the festive action, treat your dog to a specially designed ‘snow scene’ winter jar of Peamutt Butter, a vegan protein snack, available from supermarkets (£2.50, 340g).