It's a Wine-derful Life

Only one more door to open on the advent calendar and still a lot to do. Busy socialising, wrapping, making and baking, it's time to take a break, crack open the Quality Streets and enjoy a glass of mulled wine.

I used to work with a lady who insisted on calling it muled wine. Clearly she'd drunk plenty and was confusing Mary's mode of transport or Joseph's choice of footwear!

You can make your own mulled wine - there are plenty of recipes to choose from - adding everything from oranges to cinnamon sticks, brandy to sloe gin, nutmeg to bay leaves. Alternatively you can buy a sachet of mulled wine mix to add to red wine or buy a bottle of ready made mulled wine which you can pimp yourself.

So raise a glass and a Happy Christmas, Happy Holidays, Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noel. It is, after all, 

The most wine-derful time of the year!

PS received the best Christmas gift this week - over 20,000 reads since I began writing this blog - many thanks for reading.

Baubles, Birthdays and Brownies

Double celebrations today - obviously it's countdown to Christmas and the decorations are up. Also it's my daughter's 21st birthday this week which called for a family roast dinner followed by Bailey's tiramisu and birthday brownies.

It was a new recipe and worked a treat so whether you're celebrating Christmas, birthdays or just feel in the mood for a sweet treat, give them a go.

- Melt 185g butter & 185g dark chocolate together

- Separately whisk 3 eggs with 270g caster sugar until light & fluffy

- Whisk both mixtures together

- Sieve 85g plain flour & 50g Cocoa powder into the above mixture 

- Pour into a tray & sprinkle with 100g milk chocolate pieces

- Bake at 170 oC for approximately half an hour

- Leave to cool before cutting, sprinkling with sieved icing sugar (or sparkly golden stars!)

Stollen a piece of my heart

Today is the start of Advent, a Christian season of expectation and preparation as the church prepares to celebrate the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. It is also Hanukkah, celebrating the Jewish festival of light. Judging by the current frenzie in the shops and supermarkets, it's also a time to stock up on the Christmas essentials.

It can be a marmite moment but personally I love Christmas Pudding, Christmas Cake and Mince Pies (check they are vegetarian as some contain non-vegetarian suet).

An Italian treat is Panettone; a sweet bread loaf containing some fruit. Although delicious, it is fairly dry. Many people prefer to eat it toasted or throw it into a trifle or tiramisu. If eaten as it is it should have a sweet wine to accompany.  It appears in the shops well before Christmas and has a long shelf life so ideal to buy in advance.

One of my favourites is German Stollen; a fruit bread of almonds, spices and dried or candied fruit with a marzipan centre and covered in sieved icing sugar or icing.

So whether celebrating Advent or Hanukkah, the proof of the pudding is definitely in the preparation. Whether baking your own or joining a queue at the checkout, like any good scout, be prepared.