10 Tasty Christmas Tips

This time of year is always a mad rush; between Christmas shopping, school Christmas concerts, visiting friends and family, and decorating the house. It’s a miracle we ever find time to cook!

This year Emma will be sharing with you her top tips about how to make Christmas easier! She will be sharing a tasty selection of easy recipes that you can either make in advance or are so easy that they will take you no time at all! We want you to enjoy spending time with your loved ones this Christmas.

All of the recipes found in this blog post will be appearing on our recipe page throughout December so keep your eyes peeled!

Starters

Our first tasty recipe is a Pumpkin & Red Pepper Soup made using our awesome aubergine pickle. This is a really easy recipe that can be made as far in advance as you’d like and can be pulled out of the freezer and defrosted quickly. This soup is brilliant to have in the freezer for when any unexpected guests pop round!

Our second starter is one that can be whipped up in less than 10 minutes! Our Bruschetta combines crusty bread, mozzarella, fresh chopped tomatoes and our best selling spicy tomato & caramelised onion chutney. Delicious!

Main Courses

Christmas can be difficult if you’re a vegetarian, which is why we are providing you with a meat-free main course as well as a meat one!

Our first main course is our Glazed Christmas Ham. This is perfect for Christmas day as it uses our Christmas marmalade for a delicious festive taste. What makes it even better is that the ham can be cooked in two parts! The ham can be boiled up to 3 days before needed and then chilled in the fridge. The ham is then taken out of the fridge, glazed and roasted. No more getting up early to put the meat in the oven!

The second main course is magnificent Cranberry & Camembert Parcels. These take about half an hour to make but are well worth the wait! Delicious baked camembert topped with our cracking cranberry sauce, wrapped in filo pastry…what could be better!?

Desserts

Is it really Christmas if you don’t treat yourself to some delightful desserts? Luckily for you we have two easy to make, freeze-able recipes!

An apple crumble is a classic winter dessert which is why we are sharing with you our Apple & Apricot Crumble recipe. This tasty twist on a classic is achieved by layering our apricots in amaretto on top of the apple before sprinkling on the crumble. The Apple & Apricot Crumble can be frozen before it is assembled by placing the apple mixture in a bag or Tupperware box and the crumble mixture in a separate one. When they are needed simply pull them out of the freezer, assemble the crumble and bake it from frozen…easy!

We have combined two tasty treats to bring you our Chocolate & Passion Fruit Roulade! This is a really easy roulade that combines chocolate and our passion fruit curd for a scrumptious dessert that can be made in advance. Simply bake the roulade then freeze flat. Remove from the freezer to defrost when needed; cover with the passion fruit cream and roll…what could be simpler!?

Canapé

Looking for a tasty canapé that doesn’t come from the frozen aisle? Why not give our marinated mini figs Party Canapés a go! They are as simple placing a mini mozzarella ball, slice of parma ham and a marinated mini fig on a cocktail stick, that’s it! Don’t waste the left over rum & white win syrup; instead try adding it to ice-cream or even to prosecco!

For us Mince Pies in shops are a symbol that Christmas is here! This year why not make your own using our indulgent mincemeat! Our mince pies can be frozen pre-being cooked until needed so we recommend making as many as you can fit in the freezer because we can guarantee that they will go down a treat!

Side Dishes

People seem to think that brussel sprouts are like Marmite, you either love them or you hate them. Here at The Bay Tree we want to prove this theory wrong by stating that people only dislike brussel sprouts because they haven’t given our recipe a go! This year we plead with you to give our Juicy Brussel Sprouts a go! We guarantee that adding crispy bacon and juicy redcurrant jelly to your sprouts will have you asking for more!

We all love a little stuffing with our Christmas dinner. Our recipe adds 2 tablespoons of our sticky figgy chutney to give it that sweet festive flavour. Make it in advance to be frozen then simply defrost on Christmas Eve to be used to stuff your Christmas bird the next day…simple!

We hope you have enjoyed our 10 Tasty Christmas Tips to make your Christmas more relaxing this year! Share with us your tips using the hashtag #TastyChristmasTips!

Merry Christmas from everyone here at The Bay Tree!!