Tag: 2021

Best Christmas puddings Yumbles

The best Christmas puddings to buy in 2021

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It’s usually a fitting finale to an impressive Christmas dinner, and if you need to know which ones the best Christmas puddings to buy are in 2021, this article will help. The Christmas.co.uk team has been tasting a wide range of puddings to find which ones have the best plump fruit and balanced flavours. Whether you bring your pudding to the Christmas table aflame, or simply tuck in with a brandy butter or custard topping, this is a traditional dessert to enjoy. The typical pudding will have dried fruit, glace cherries and various vine fruits, as well as other fruit and spice to deliver a tasty soft texture for everyone to enjoy. The shops are packed with 12-month mature Christmas pudding choices and while most have a traditional Christmas pudding recipe, there are more modern alternatives. But first, let’s look at some common questions about Christmas puddings: How do you cook a Christmas pudding? You can either steam or microwave a Christmas pudding though many brands will recommend that their offering is steamed – that’s because a microwave Christmas pudding can overheat which may lead to the soft texture becoming tougher. Steaming should deliver a light texture to enjoy. How do I light a Christmas pudding? One of the big attractions for using a traditional Christmas pudding is to bring it to the table with flames rising from it. It’s a festive tradition but to guarantee a flame you need to: cook your pudding, ensure there’s a clear surface area, use a small saucepan to warm the brandy gently, pour the brandy over your pudding and then tip the plate to one side before very carefully lighting the brandy. You should now be able to put aflame to it.   Harvey Nichols Christmas puddings First up in our taste test of Christmas puddings, is the impressive offering from Harvey Nichols. While these puddings tend to be pricey, they are undoubtedly very impressive. The Christmas.co.uk team was taken by the Harvey Nichols Classic Christmas pudding that costs £6.50. The popular store also offers a smaller version, along with an alcohol-free alternative. This is a classic offering that is packed with juicy fruits, sultanas, glace cherries, pecans, almonds with lashings of brandy, port and cider. It’s a taste sensation! This pudding can be steamed or microwaved and it’s a great dessert for a stylish festive table. We also really loved the Harvey Nichols Really Chocolatey Christmas Pudding that costs £10.95. Again, there are plenty of juicy vine fruits along with cherries but plenty of Belgian chocolate chunks too and a shot of crème de cacao. There’s plenty of alcohol in this pudding. Though if you fancy skipping alcohol then the Harvey Nichols’ Alcohol-Free Christmas Pudding at £6.50 is certainly worth considering. It’s packed with flavour with lemon and orange peels, raisins, and glace cherries, plus lots of nuts including almonds and pecans. It’s not quite as boozy as the other offerings but it is very, very tasty.   Aldi Specially Selected Champagne Christmas Pudding Aldi’s Specially Selected Champagne Christmas pudding is a sparkling pudding to enjoy with a great balance of flavour and it looks impressive too. It’s hard to believe that it costs just £4.49, and the fruit and nut jewelled topping will impress – though you may struggle to set it aflame. The pudding itself is packed with rich, plump vine fruits and it’s a tad sweeter than other puddings available and rather than having brandy soaking the pudding, Aldi has used champagne. This is a winning combination and, for the money, it’s hard to beat.   Waitrose No.1 Figgy Pudding If you some fancy something a tad different but still packed with flavour, then how about the Waitrose No.1 Fig, Honey & Walnut Christmas Pudding? This is a spiced pudding that is packed with vine fruits, figs, honey, walnuts and topped with glace cherries. There’s also a good tasting of rum and cider in the pudding and everything is coated in a honey, fig and port sauce. It looks rich and decadent and tastes absolutely delightful. It costs £14 and is a great idea to deliver a cracking Christmas feast finale.   Co-op Irresistible 12 Month Matured Christmas Pudding This 12-month matured Christmas pudding from the Co-op’s Irresistible line is a great small pudding to enjoy. The maturity has led to a rich, fruity taste and diners get to enjoy lots of vine fruits, almonds, walnuts and a splash of room, sherry and brandy. It is a very moreish pudding that costs £4 which makes it a sound choice for those wanting to impress – if there are only a few guests or your guests have small appetites. Of all the Christmas puddings taste-tested here, this Co-op offering really does have a delicious boozy taste that cuts through the vine fruits. Overall, this pudding delivers a well-balanced flavour and looks and tastes of great quality.   Meg Rivers Christmas pudding If you prefer a traditional Christmas pudding but without the heavy texture that some offer, then this Meg Rivers creation is for you. They use fine French brandy to create a lighter taste along with the real zest from using fresh lemons and oranges to liven the pudding when it hits your palate. The bakers also use Bramley apples, and the pudding is baked slowly overnight, and it is a fantastic and tasty creation – there’s a real homemade feel to them but this is a pudding made with quality ingredients. This is an excellent offering and should be carefully considered and at £17.50 will make for a real festive treat to finish off a lovely Christmas dinner. We thought we should also mention the Meg Rivers Gin Christmas pudding at £18. Rather than using brandy, the bakers have used gin – and lots of it – to create a delicious and simple Christmas pudding to enjoy. There are still the nutty flavours from the nuts, and a rich fruity taste for diners to enjoy. If there is a gin lover in your life, this is the Christmas pudding for them.   Yumbles Stout Soaked Fruit Christmas Pudding The foodie platform Yumbles has a wide range of intriguing Christmas puddings to enjoy this year, but we were really taken with the stout-soaked fruit Christmas pudding. It has been created by Blackberry Cottage and costs £14. It’s not only a moist and delicious round pudding, but it’s full of fruit and then wrapped in muslin and a ribbon is added. The old family recipe sees juicy sultanas, currants, figs and raisins being steeped in stout with the other ingredients then being combined, including a secret spice mix. The pudding is then steamed for six hours and then wrapped before being left to mature in order to reach perfection. This is a traditional round Christmas pudding that delivers excellent flavours that everyone can enjoy. Blackberry Cottage also offers a rum cask cider Christmas pudding and an ale and carrots Christmas pudding. However, Yumbles has a wide selection of unusual puddings to enjoy including Christmas pudding teacakes, Christmas pudding cherry brownies and Rocky Road Christmas puddings. It’s fair to say, that there’s something for everyone Christmas pudding-wise on the Yumbles website!   Nana Lily’s Christmas Pudding Our final recommendation for the best Christmas pudding to buy in 2021, comes from Nana Lily. This is a fruit-filled, moist traditional plum pudding that will delight Christmas pudding lovers – and potentially win over those who are not so keen. The pudding is packed with lovely warm spices and then laced liberally with ‘Nana’s favourite Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey’. The recipe has not been changed in four generations since it was created on the West Coast of Ireland and it’s still a delicious, mouth-watering taste. Now, however, the baker lives in Worcestershire but still stays true to the original recipe from Nana Lily. This is an award-winning offering that costs between £4.50 and £18, and the pudding is sold around the world. It is highly …

Best supermarket Christmas M&S

The best supermarket Christmas cake 2021

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While there are some excellent small and online bakers offering Christmas cakes, most of us will be sourcing this festive treat from well-known retailers, which makes finding the best supermarket Christmas cake in 2021 an important undertaking. That’s because most of the supermarket Christmas cakes are reasonably priced and packed with rich fruit, glace cherries, fondant icing, and many do well in various taste tests. To find the best supermarket Christmas cakes for 2021, we looked for traditional Christmas cake recipes that offered plump vine fruits to impress whether after Christmas dinner, or to entertain family and friends with a cuppa! Alongside Waitrose, Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s, other supermarket cakes to impress came from Lidl and Aldi Specially Selected offerings. There’s also a trend to offer not just rich fruit cakes and iced Christmas cakes but also salted caramel and sponge cake alternatives. Most supermarket Christmas cakes have nice decorations, including a traditional Christmas tree, Santa or a snowflake design. The bottom line is that the Christmas cakes available from supermarkets in the UK for 2021 are very impressive and very tasty.   Tesco Finest Rich Fruit Cake Tesco has some great Christmas cakes this year, but here at Christmas.co.uk we were really taken by their Finest Rich Fruit Cake. It costs just £10 and will serve 12 people, and this is a hand-decorated fruit cake to impress. This is a cake that is packed with plump vine fruits, festive spices and glace cherries and lashed with brandy and cognac. It’s a tasty offering, with a deep flavour – and a hint of citrus. The rich fruitcake has been encased in white icing and marzipan and then finished with a hand placed golden snowflake and gold stencilling. For the money, the Tesco Finest Rich Fruit Cake really does hit the spot, but Tesco also offers a top iced fruitcake and a lovely ‘Very Merry Go Round’ Christmas cake that serves 18.   M&S Collection Night Before Christmas Smash Cake While M&S offers some great Christmas cakes for 2021, we were really taken with their Collection Night Before Christmas Smash Cake. It’s something of a showstopper and it’s not a fruit cake either – it’s a fluffy, light Madeira sponge cake that is filled with a vanilla and raspberry jam buttercream. The smash cake has an edible dome that is smashed to reveal a range of Christmas sweet treats. It’s an unusual and eye-catching creation that it’s ideal for young families or those who want something a bit different on the big day. Another alternative is the M&S Collection Sticky Toffee Pudding Crown which is covered with a salted caramel sauce and a Madagascan vanilla custard. It’s delicious.   Morrisons Christmas Royal Iced Fruit Cake Morrisons is a supermarket that offers an excellent range of festive foods and their Royal Iced Fruit Cake is a real delight. It costs £8 and offers a very tasty Christmas cake that is packed with glace cherries, plump vine fruits as well as citrus peel. This cake is also suitable for vegetarians. It should serve 14 but if you serve small slices, then you’ll be guaranteed to be needing seconds! We also really liked their top iced fruit cake that costs £5 and serves 16 people which has a rich, fruity flavour. There’s also their fully iced tree cake which costs £7 and will serve 14 people. Again, it’s packed with fruit and is a stylish offering for family and guests.   Iceland Top Iced Christmas Cake Another popular choice for Christmas supermarket food is Iceland and their Top Iced Christmas Cake is a cracker. It costs just £6 and has great reviews on their website. This is a very rich fruitcake and is packed with glace cherries and sultanas and then topped with soft icing and marzipan. It has also been hand finished with a star-shaped edible decoration. Again, this is a cake that is suitable for vegetarians and is great value for money. If you want a rich fruit cake for your Christmas cake, then this is a very fruity and not overly sweet creation that is good to eat at any time. We also really enjoyed the Iceland Luxury Christmas Cake that weighs in at 1kg and costs just £8. It has won a vote of approval from the Good Housekeeping Institute and is another popular choice with customers. There’s also the smaller, Luxury Rich Iced Fruit Cake that costs £3 with a nice taste of cognac and brandy.   Aldi Luxury Iced Fruit Cake Another popular supermarket destination for Christmas goodies is Aldi and their Luxury Iced Fruit Cake is a very tasty creation. This brandy-infused offering is packed with vine fruits and has a sweet marzipan and a hand-finished icing topping. The marzipan is fairly thin, but this is a great offering that doesn’t detract from the excellent selection of fruits in the cake. The Christmas.co.uk team also like the Rich and Fruity Iced Fruit Cake that costs £2.69 and is a smaller offering. Again, it’s packed with lots of fruit with a sweet marzipan and icing topping.   ASDA Extra Special Brandy-Soaked Fully Iced Fruit Cake Asda doesn’t disappoint at Christmas time and their Extra Special Brandy-soaked Fully Iced Fruit Cake is a dream. It costs £9 and will serve 14 people with a cake that’s made with raisins and sultanas, along with candied citrus peel, glace cherries, split almonds as well as chopped walnuts. There’s also a detectable amount of French brandy and the soft icing and marzipan really is a standout creation. The sugar decorations are edible, and this is an eye-catching offering. Again, it’s a popular choice with customers who have left rave reviews for a Christmas cake that is also suitable for vegetarians. One of the attractions is that this is a moist offering without being too sweet and is packed with fruit to delight. There’s a smaller, cheaper version of a similar cake which costs £3.50 and will serve six people. It’s still a very tasty brandy-soaked iced fruitcake to impress.   Sainsbury’s Free From Iced Christmas Cake Of the Christmas cake range from Sainsbury’s, we like their Free From Iced Christmas Cake offering from their ‘Taste the Difference’ range. It’s a gluten-free fruit cake that costs £5 and has been finished with a large splash of brandy. This is a rich offering with plenty of fruit including glace cherries, raisins and sultanas and nicely finished with marzipan and icing. There’s a very nice gold snowflake decoration and this is an ideal Christmas cake to serve up with a cup of tea with friends. There’s also a smaller version, the Free From Iced Fruit Cake bar that costs £2.50 and is a very tasty Christmas cake to enjoy.   Lidl Favorina Top Iced Christmas Cake Not everyone wants to spend a small fortune on a Christmas cake which is where the Lidl Favorina Top Iced Christmas Cake scores well. It costs just £4.49 and weighs in at 907g but it’s a very tasty creation that doesn’t have as many plump vine fruits as some rivals do. The icing is also a tad thicker than on other cakes, but some people really like icing! It’s a flavoursome creation with a striking design on the surface. Again, there’s a smaller version available, the Favorina Top Iced Christmas Bar which costs £1.99, and this is also packed with …

Best supermarket mince pies Aldi

The best supermarket mince pies 2021

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They are usually a cheap and tasty festive treat, and here we look at the best supermarket mince pies for 2021. Most of the pie recipes used here are traditional, and most supermarkets are offering classic mince pies as well as gluten-free mince pies. But who can resist a deep filled mince pie with butter shortcrust pastry? Today, though, supermarkets are experimenting with their mincemeat filling and festive spices to make their Christmas treats even more attractive. We have checked out everything from Tesco Finest mince pies to the M&S Collection mince pies and the Co-op’s Irresistible All-butter Luxury Mince Pies. There’s a lot to recommend supermarket mince pies, particularly when they have lashings of brandy and port to help boost the flavours though we still love traditional vine fruits and some icing sugar on top. For the best festive flavours and to learn which are the best supermarket mince pies for 2021, read on!   Tesco Finest Mince Pies It was a close-run thing deciding which is the best supermarket mince pie for 2021, with Tesco Finest Mince Pies just edging it. Not only is the all-butter pastry crumbly and rich, but the mincemeat is a gorgeous mix of glace cherries and plump vine fruits and then infused with the French brandy as well as ruby port. We also like the festive spices and there’s a twist of lemon zest too before everything is finished with a dusting of sugar. The pies cost £2 for a pack of six and are just as delicious when eaten hot or cold. Tesco also offers an excellent Finest Crumble Top mince pie and ‘Plant Chef’ mince pies for vegans. And if you’re entertaining, the Tesco Finest mini mince pies which come in a pack of 12 are also an excellent and very tasty offering.   Co-op Irresistible All Butter Pastry Luxury Mince Pies Coming a close second with the Christmas.co.uk mince pie taste testers is a very flavoursome offering from Co-op. Their Irresistible All Butter Pastry Luxury Mince Pies are definitely worth searching out and cost £2 for a pack of six. The all-butter pastry contains a delicious mincemeat made with apple and vine fruits and it too has a brandy and port infusion. There’s a sweet dusting of sugar to help give this a flavour boost and the star topped pastry casing crumbles nicely. Overall, this is a delicious festive offering that will win friends! The Co-op also offers a pack of six cheaper mince pies, at £1 and while they are tasty, they lack the flavour of the luxury mince pies. The supermarket also offers nine mini mince pies to help those who are entertaining, and they deliver a delicious mouthful that’s a perfect match for a nice cup of tea.   Iceland Luxury All Butter Mince Pies For some, this will be a surprising entry for our taste test to find the best supermarket mince pies. We thought that the Iceland Luxury All Butter Mince Pies were worth every penny of the £1.89 it costs for a pack of six. Delicious hot or cold, there’s a delicious mincemeat filling with yuzu juice – a Japanese citrus fruit juice similar to mandarin orange being mixed with lemon. The overall result is a nice mix of festive spices and a citrus taste that come together really well to deliver a flavoursome and well-balanced mince pie. There’s a nice icing sugar dusting for the star-shaped casing top and this is a well-made treat to enjoy.   Morrisons The Best Deep Filled Mince Pies We absolutely loved the Morrisons The Best Deep Filled Mince Pies which has a chunkier mincemeat filling than most rivals. There’s a good taste of mixed spice, vanilla as well as apple and orange oil. This is a satisfying mince pie to enjoy, and they cost £2 for a pack of six. The all-butter pastry is well made, and the mincemeat has lots of cider and brandy infused flavours. The spices are also warming and Morrisons says that their mince pies are a premium offering. We would agree! It’s also an award winner, picking up a number of taste approved gongs and these mince pies are also suitable for vegetarians and have an impressive flavour. Morrisons also offers a pack of bake at home mince pies that are very tasty, plus they have a standard box of mince pies at 99p for six. And if you are entertaining, you can buy nine mini mince pies with their deep filled offering to impress. Like many other supermarkets, there are also ‘Free from’ and gluten-free alternatives and vegetarian choices.   M&S Collection 6 Mince Pies This is probably a disappointing result for M&S food lovers everywhere but we thought the M&S Collection mince pies were not as good as their rivals. It costs £2.50 for a pack of six and while the pastry is genuinely melt in the mouth, including the star shape lid with icing sugar, the deep filled mincemeat contains cranberries, glace cherries and dried vine fruits didn’t quite hit the mark – we were expecting something a tad more special. There’s also a splash of brandy, cider and cognac to deliver a rounded taste. These pies can be served warm or cold and with a dollop of cream, they are more palatable. For vegetarians, there’s the M&S Plant Kitchen mince pies that are very tasty and there’s a box of nine mini mince pies available for parties or for lots of visiting guests. There’s also their ‘Made Without’ range and the gluten-free mince pies are quite a nice alternative.   Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference All Butter Mince Pies There’s a nice blend of festive fruits, Christmas spices and aromatic peel – with lashings of brandy used to infuse the mincemeat. It tastes quite decadent but these Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference All-butter Mince Pies are a tasty treat and cost £1.50 for six. Sainsbury’s say their mince pies are made by a family with four generations of baking expertise and the pastry does melt in the mouth and the mincemeat filling is quite traditional – though it’s not as good as the Tesco Finest offering. If you like something with an unusual taste then the Sainsbury’s Winter Berries, Clementine and Gin Mince Pies from the Taste the Difference range are worth trying out. They cost £2 for a pack of four but the gin really adds an unusual edge to the mincemeat filling. Sainsbury’s is also offering ‘Cookie-cutter pies’ as an alternative, along with traditional deep filled pies which cost £1 for a box of six. For a really sweet mince pie, then the Sainsbury’s iced top mince pies at £1.25 for six are also worth trying.   Aldi Specially Selected All Butter Classic Mince Pies Aldi has an impressive range of mince pies available for 2021, and we rather like their Specially Selected All Butter Classic Mince Pies. There’s a deep mincemeat filling that has been infused with cognac and brandy to deliver a deep, rich flavour. The star-shaped lid for the pie has been dusted with sugar and at £1.49 for six classic pies, these are a satisfactory offering. There’s plenty of taste and the texture and the all-butter casing crumbles nicely and we also like the 12 All-butter mini mince pies – a great compliment with a cup of tea if you have friends or family calling round. Elsewhere on the Christmas.co.uk site we have already mentioned the excellent Aldi Specially Selected Frangipane Mince Pies but there’s also a quite tasty ‘Free From’ mince pie offering that is a suitable gluten-free creation. Aldi is also offering All-butter Sloe Gin mince tarts as a spin on mince pies, and they have some Specially Selected Exquisite Mini Mince Pies which cost £2.49 for a nine pack. These have been hand finished with three different toppings to impress.   Lidl Deluxe 6 All Butter Mince Pies Another supermarket that doesn’t quite reach the peak of offering ground-breaking mince pies but delivers a tasty creation, is Lidl and their Deluxe All Butter Mince Pies are worth trying. The all-butter shortcrust pastry is nice and crumbly, and the contents have been deeply filled with a mincemeat that is lightly spiced and is dominated by plump vine fruits. There’s also a generous splash of cognac and the sweet dusting on the pastry crust underlines the pies’ sweet offering. The pies cost £1.49 for a pack of six and if you are a regular Lidl shopper, you won’t be disappointed. The mincemeat filling lacks the depth of flavour that is found in rival offerings but it’s still a nice mince pie to enjoy with a cup of tea. A better choice would be their Luxury Brandy Butter mince pies which cost £1.99 for a pack of six. Again, there’s a very crumbly all-butter shortcrust pastry that has been filled with mincemeat and then finished with a brandy flavour buttercream. These are quite tasty for those who don’t like too much pastry and there’s enough about them to be a winner when offered to guests …

Best supermarket Christmas puddings 2021 Co-op

The best supermarket Christmas puddings 2021

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Whether you like spiced, nutty or boozy Christmas puddings, this guide to the best supermarket Christmas puddings in 2021 makes the job of finding a favourite easier. That’s because the Christmas.co.uk team has carried out a supermarket sweep to find the best puddings available for this year’s festivities. They range from a traditional Christmas pudding offering, a 12-month matured Christmas pudding, and our testers carried out a blind taste to find the one to deliver a tasty surprise at the Christmas table. All of the puddings highlighted here are great to enjoy with lashings of cream or a big dollop of brandy butter to underpin the flavours for what is a traditional festive dessert. Whether you fancy a Tesco Finest Christmas pudding, or something from Waitrose or an Aldi Specially Selected treat, we’ve sorted through the plump fruit, glace cherries and nuts to find the pudding lover’s dream pud.   Tesco Finest 12-month matured Christmas Pudding Having mentioned the Tesco Finest Christmas pudding, the Christmas.co.uk team thought this was a cracking creation for £8. It can either be microwaved or steamed and has eight servings. However, the standout feature for this Christmas pud that is packed with vine fruits including currants, sultanas and raisins along with glazed cherries and nuts is for the alcohol taste. Tesco has added cider, but the impressive alcohol addition is Courvoisier VS Cognac. It’s this that helps this Christmas pudding rise above its rivals to deliver a fruity and tasty Christmas pudding creation with a subtle alcoholic kick. It’s highly recommended and for those wanting to end a Christmas dinner in style, then Tesco’s Finest 12-month matured Christmas pudding is certainly worth considering. We also really enjoyed the Tesco Finest black forest Christmas pudding which at £10 is an unusual and tasty creation.   Waitrose No.1 Christmas Pudding Coming a close second in our roundup is the Waitrose No.1 Christmas Pudding. It costs £12 and again comes with lashings of Courvoisier VS Cognac. It’s a richly fruited Christmas pud that is packed with pecan nuts, plump vine fruits and with the Cognac, there’s a rounded, rich flavour. It too has been matured for 12 months and can be microwaveable on Christmas Day. The pudding itself is more of a traditional offering but it’s a real delight for those who like an annual Christmas pudding treat and it’s a quality product to enjoy.   Iceland Luxury 12-Month Matured Christmas Pudding For the money, we thought the Iceland Luxury 12-month matured Christmas pudding was a real tasty delight. It costs £4 and will tick most Christmas pud lover’s boxes. There are large pieces of vine fruits, including glazed cherries, and nuts. It will safely serve four people and it smells and looks fantastic. The Iceland Christmas pud can be steamed or microwaved and it is one of the best puddings with a rich texture.   ASDA 9 Month Matured Luxury Christmas Pudding Another tasty offering that manages to balance rich fruits, spices and booze is the Asda 9 month matured luxury Christmas pudding. It’s packed with plump vine fruits, nuts and glace cherries and is a fantastic creation for the entire family. This may not be the moistest of Christmas puds, but adding brandy butter, custard or cream will alleviate that. It costs £8 and for the size, it serves eight people, it’s a value for money offering.   Sainsbury’s Winter Berry Clementine & Gin Christmas Pudding The Christmas.co.uk team were rather disappointed by the Sainsbury’s Christmas pudding offering last year but this year, their Winter Berry Clementine and Gin Christmas pud is a cracker. It’s from their ‘Taste the Difference’ range and costs £10 for a pud weighing in at 700g. It is a Christmas pudding packed with vine fruits including raisins and sultanas, but it has been laced with gin. This is an interesting alternative to brandy or cider, and it has been topped with a ‘winterberry and gin’ glaze. They have also added blonde glace cherries and blackcurrants. It looks like a stylish offering and Sainsbury’s also offers a cheaper sticky toffee Christmas pudding that an interesting spin with lots of vine fruits and lashings of caramel and we also liked their ‘Free from’ Christmas pudding, which is a tasty, gluten-free offering. However, it’s also worth noting that Sainsbury’s also offer smaller puddings there are six months matured, along with 18 months matured which may be more suitable for those dining alone or have small appetites.   Aldi Plum Damson and Pink Gin Pudding If you want to try a Christmas pudding that is rather alternative, then consider the Aldi Plum Damson and Pink Gin pudding. Don’t turn your noses up just yet, because this pud is covered in gold glitter with a plum, damson and gin in the centre. Not only is this a standout creation that will attract attention when being delivered to the Christmas dinner table, but it is also a festive and fun pudding. It’s bursting with flavours delivered from crunchy almonds and juicy vine fruits, and the plum flavour is deliciously sweet. While it’s not a traditional Christmas pudding, it is unusual but it’s worth trying if you want to stand out from the crowd! It’s also worth noting that Aldi is a regular winner when it comes to tasty Christmas puddings and if you would like a very tasty offering, then consider their Champagne Christmas pudding. There’s a nice balance of flavours and there’s an excellent topping using glace cherries and nuts and rather than use brandy, Aldi has soaked their pudding with champagne. The result is a light texture that sparkles.   Lidl Deluxe Luxury 9 Month Matured Christmas Pudding Lidl never seems to get any coverage when a Christmas pudding review is underway which is a shame because they do a Luxury 9 Month Matured Christmas pud that is worth searching out. It costs £3.99 for a pud weighing 400g that will serve four people. It too has been laced generously with Cognac and also sherry and is packed with crunchy almonds and walnuts along with large, juicy vine fruits. It has then been left to mature for nine months to allow the flavours to develop a full and rich taste experience. For the money, this is a tasty offering though not as moist as most others but again you could simply add brandy butter or cream to complement what is a rich, full-flavoured pudding.   Co-op Irresistible 12 Month Matured Christmas Pudding Another interesting creation to consider for the best supermarket Christmas puddings in 2021, is the Co-op Irresistible 12 Month Matured Christmas pud. It costs £4 for a pudding weighing 400g and this is a richly fruited offering with lots of vine fruits, along with almonds and walnuts. The flavours are enhanced with a splash of sherry, brandy and rum and the overall impression is for a pudding that impresses. It’s also a deliciously moist creation and if you like a fruity Christmas pud, and this one is definitely for you.   Morrisons The Best Christmas Pudding We always think that calling a product ‘The Best’ is a gamble but here Morrisons is correct with its 9 Month Matured Christmas pudding. Not only is this a very tasty and rich pudding, it’s packed with pecan nuts, almonds and walnuts and plump vine fruits, but it has a nice moist even treacly content to enjoy. That’s down to the sherry, rum and cider that have been liberally added to the mixture which is then steamed and left to mature with a lacing of Cognac. It costs £8 for a pudding weighing 800g and there’s a lot to like about this great looking and one of the best supermarket Christmas …

Best mince pies for 2021 Yumbles

The best mince pies for 2021

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One popular festive treat in the UK is a mince pie and here we check out the best mince pies for 2021. Whether you are looking for deep filled mince pies with a crumble topping or a gluten-free mince pie, they all come with a delicious mincemeat filling. A quality mince pie will melt in the mouth and have a butter shortcrust pastry to deliver a heavenly treat. Luxury pies are also worth buying if you would like a quality offering but there are still tasty supermarket mince pies to enjoy too. Here, the Christmas.co.uk team has been taste testing the offerings for 2021 and there are some very impressive choices to enjoy.   Harvey Nichols mince pies Our first tasty offering are the Harvey Nichols pies, and this is a store that knows what people want to enjoy. They are a luxury mince pie offering and we loved their 12 Mini Traditional Rich Fruit Mince Pies at £9.95. Harvey Nichols calls these buttery pies ‘decadent’ and they are packed with rich fruit that has been soaked in rum and brandy and flavoured with Christmas spices. They are baked in small artisanal batches, so you need to ensure that you eat them within the relevant ‘consume by date’. These small pies are ideal if you have guests or family dropping by for a cup of tea because they have a ‘wow’ factor with a lovely texture and great taste. We also enjoyed the Harvey Nichols 12 Mini Traditional, Ginger & Amaretto Mince Pies Selection at £9.95 which offer a tasty alternative to a traditional mince pie filling. The store also offers the same recipe for its traditional size pies at £6.95 and we also loved their large traditional Rich Fruit Mince Pies at £9.95 for four. Again, they are made in small artisanal batches and the buttery pies have Christmas spices and delicious fruit that have been soaked in rum and brandy. They are very flavoursome and an ideal accompaniment for a cup of tea!   Heston from Waitrose Night Before Christmas Mince Pies Another great offering are the pies from Waitrose and these ‘Night Before Christmas Mince Pies’ are a real treat. They are made with a caraway and carrot shortcrust pastry and the mincemeat consists of carrot, vine fruits, Clementine and lashings of cream sherry. If you and your young ones are leaving out pies for Santa and his reindeer on Christmas Eve, then these pies really will be a treat to see them on their way. They cost £3 for six delicious pies. Waitrose also offers a range of other pie alternatives, including their No. 1 Brown Butter Mince Pies that have a nice aftertaste. The retailer’s Christmas All-butter Mini Mince Pie Selection is also worth considering for parties or guests and their standard Christmas All-butter Mince Pies cost £1.80 for a box of six and are a real treat. We also quite like their Cherry and Almond Pies which are a nice spin on traditional offerings and cost £2.25 for a pack of four.   ASDA Extra Special Extra Indulgent Orange Zest Mince Pies Asda has a great tasting range of pies, but their Extra Special Extra Indulgent Orange Zest Mince Pies really are something else. They cost £1.95 for a pack of four and the all-butter orange zest pastry contains mincemeat that has been matured for three months. The result is a surprisingly deep flavoured pie that delights and will impress guests or family. The mincemeat has a quite boozy overtone with port and brandy being used along with warming spices. It’s a lovely fruity finish and it’s a nicely sweet mince pie that stands out from the crowd.   Meg Rivers Mince pies We love the products from Meg Rivers, and their Mini Frangipane Mince Pies are a real delight. They cost £18 for 12 and were hugely popular in 2020. There’s a reason for this, and Meg Rivers has used a traditional pastry base and their own special recipe mincemeat. Instead of using a pastry lid to seal the mince pie, they use a layer of frangipane and a sprinkling of toasted almond flakes. Again, these pies that are baked in small batches, so you need to be aware of the ‘consume by date’ but these creations really do deliver a delightful mince pie experience. If you’re looking for a real festive treat and you are entertaining family and friends who love a mince pie, then these mini frangipane creations will undoubtedly impress.   Bettys Classic Mince Pies If you want a top-class mince pie, then the offering from Bettys this year is an award-winning delight to impress. The pies are baked to order every day and make for a great gift. They cost £13.75 for 12 classic mince pies, and they are regular winners of various taste tests. Bettys use a special mincemeat recipe consisting of golden cherries, vine fruits, almonds as well as seasonal spices and everything is then soaked in brandy and left to mature. Each mince pie has a classic pastry star as a decoration and the gift box they come in is also impressive. This really is a classic mince pie, and a standout creation is worth every penny.   Morrisons Short Crust Mince Pies We thought these Morrisons ‘bake at home shortcrust mince pies’ were a great idea and they are a very tasty treat. They cost £2.50 for a pack of six and they take 20 minutes to bake from frozen. These are the same pies that they sell in-store. The pies are suitable for vegetarians and are packed with flavoursome mincemeat and lemon peel to bring a zesty rewarding taste. While you may not get away with pretending that you actually made these from scratch, they smell delicious when baking and being dished up. There’s no preparation or washing up to do and along with a very tasty fruity filling, the rich buttery shortcrust pastry impresses.   Yumbles mince pies – Nummy Yumbles is a food platform packed with talented bakers offering their mince pie goods and we were really impressed by the vegan and refined sugar-free creation by Nummy. They cost £19 for a box of six but they are packed with flavour and style and offer a classic sweet treat. The mincemeat is made with cranberries, dates, sultanas, spices and hazelnuts and baked on a crumbly oat base. These are flour-free, alcohol-free vegan creations with no artificial content. The pie is definitely a great taste with lovely consistency and is obviously made with premium ingredients. Even if you’re not a vegan, these Nummy refined sugar-free pies are a tasty delight. Yumbles also offers other great pies such as keto pies, vegan pies and mince pie brownies. There are also handmade luxury brandy and orange pies and vegan Christmas mince pie blondies. It’s a very interesting selection and worth exploring.   cutter & squidge Mince Pies These all-butter mince pies from cutter & squidge are handmade in London and baked every day to order. They are 100% vegetarian, and the mincemeat has been made with mixed dried fruits, chopped apples, spices and almonds. These pies taste fantastic when warm with a dollop of cream a commission might They cost £10.24 a box of six and have a long shelf life of three months and have all-natural ingredients. They are very impressive and extremely tasty.   Tesco Finest Crumble Topped Mince Pies Of all the pies we tasted to find the best mince pie to buy in 2021, we were really taken by these Tesco Finest Crumble Topped Mince Pies with salted caramel and festive spice. Growing numbers of retailers are offering crumble topped pies and here there’s an all-butter crumble base and the mincemeat filling is impressive with apple, sultanas, currants, mixed spices and orange peel. It’s a really flavoursome offering and between that and the all-butter crumble is a salted caramel filling that brings a very tasty spin on a traditional pie. These pies are also delicious when warmed with the mincemeat flavours really coming to the fore, but the salted caramel sauce softens to create an impressive and delightful mince pie The Tesco Finest range also includes Traditional Mince Pies that are very nice, and there’s also a quite boozy Crumble Topped Mince Pie with cognac, brandy …

best Christmas cakes in 2021 christmas.co.uk

The best Christmas cakes in 2021

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When it comes to finding the best Christmas cakes in 2021, cake lovers will be impressed by the sheer range of quality products available. While many people will go to the time and trouble of making their own Christmas cake, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t buy a wonderful, tasty Christmas cake instead. Here, we look at some of the best Christmas cakes from independent producers, and we also have a look at what the supermarkets are producing too.   Waitrose No1 Rich Fruit Xmas Cake The Christmas.co.uk team loved the Waitrose No1 Rich Fruit Xmas Cake offering for 2021. This is a richly fruited Christmas cake, and while it’s pricey at £16, it’s packed with glace cherries, plump vine fruits and chopped almonds. It has also been hand decorated and covered with marzipan and there’s a big splash of brandy to bring the moist, rich fruit cake’s flavour alive. This looks like a traditional Christmas cake with an effective and classy decoration and it’s something of an all-rounder that will impress family and guests whenever it is served up.   Harvey Nichols Christmas cakes Another cracking offering comes from Harvey Nichols and their mini-Christmas cake. It costs £5.95 but it’s packed with taste and flavours and has obviously been handcrafted in the traditional way. For us here at Christmas.co.uk, it is the perfect festive treat with decent layers of marzipan and icing and lots of brandy-soaked, juicy fruit to enjoy. It’s designed as an ideal size for one – though you won’t want to share this. The mini-Christmas cake is made by Meg Rivers in the Cotswolds (see below) as an exclusive offering. We also loved the Harvey Nichols’ Quaranta Forest Fruits Nougat Christmas cake. It costs £30.00 and is an authentic, handmade Italian soft nougat recipe. The bakers who make this, Quaranta, have been using the same recipe since 1924. It’s not only a creamy delight but there’s a crunchy surprise too. Studded with hazelnuts and chopped almonds, it is packed with raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and blueberries – this is an impressive Christmas cake to impress with.   Morrisons The Best Christmas Fully Iced Cake If you are looking for an impressive cake for the festivities, we can highly recommend the Morrisons The Best Christmas Fully Iced Cake. It costs £9 and is an all-butter fruitcake with a delicious cognac flavour and lots of plump vine fruits and there’s orange zest to add a lovely twist. The mixture has been matured to perfection to deliver a rounded and deep flavour. The iced design is simple and impressive and cutting through the ice and marzipan reveals a rich sweet-smelling fruitcake. When this is dished up for family or friends with a cup of tea, there will be demands for seconds!   Biscuiteers Christmas Greenery Christmas Cake Following on from the very tasty Morrisons Iced Christmas cake and its simple design, here’s a more extravagant design to get your teeth into. At Christmas.co.uk, we love the team and creations at Biscuiteers and their Christmas Holly cake at £58 is an excellent creation. It not only has a vintage look and feel, but there’s a real homemade taste to the cake itself with big pieces of cherry and lots of spice. It should serve up to 16 people and the biscuits also make a mini luxury Christmas cake alternative, and they also a Christmas cake featuring Santa’s sleigh.   Meg Rivers Classic Fully Iced Christmas Cake We have already mentioned Meg Rivers and their slogan as ‘Bakers of Happiness’ really is true when tasting their Classic Fully Iced Christmas Cake. It costs £45 but it’s a regular award-winning creation and the cake has been laced generously with French brandy and is packed with nuts and fruit. The cake itself has been slow-baked in small batches and then matured for at least three months before being finished with an ivory sugar paste and natural marzipan. This means that you can create your own decoration for the cake’s top with a personal message or creative design. The cake itself is delicious with a rich, well-rounded flavour and it comes in a stylish tin. As a regular winner of best Christmas cake awards, this Meg Rivers creation for 2021 really is hard to beat.   Elf Colin the Caterpillar Christmas cake Christmas cakes don’t just mean enjoying fruit cakes and this Elf Colin the Caterpillar creation from Marks & Spencer’s is a case in point. It’s an extremely chocolatey sponge roll that is covered in milk chocolate and has chocolate buttercream. The decorations are edible and it’s a chocolate lover’s delight. Colin the Caterpillar is something of an icon, and he’s been dressed up as an elf for the festivities. The cake costs £10 and is a great alternative if guests aren’t always so keen on Christmas fruitcake.   Christmas Gingerbread Vegan Cake What happens if you have family or guests who don’t like fruitcake or chocolate cake? The simple answer could be this excellent Christmas Gingerbread Vegan Cake from cutter & squidge. This vegan offering cost £30.20 and is a spiced gingerbread cake that is available for delivery. It consists of two light gingerbread sponges that have been flavoured with nutmeg and cinnamon and then sandwiched together. The creation is then covered with a decadent vegan golden syrup buttercream, along with a layer of Biscoff. On top of that, there is a generous spread of sweet candid orange, cranberries, cherries, crushed pistachios, and a gingerbread tree. It’s delivered in an embossed cutter & squidge tin to make this a great offering for the vegan or cake lover in your life. We also love their Christmas Pecan and Cranberry Fruit Cake at £30.20. It consists of sponge cake spiced with nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger and filled with cranberries, sultanas and apricots. The cake is topped with rose petals, glazed cherries and berries, candied orange and edible gold.   Lakeland Ginger Bakers Gluten-Free Fruit Cake This great looking Christmas cake is ideal for those who may be wheat intolerant which makes the Lakeland Ginger Bakers Gluten-Free fruit cake an excellent creation. Suitable for vegetarians, this cake has been flavoured with fragrant rosewater and brandy and is packed with sultanas and raisins. It has been made by hand using locally sourced ingredients in Cumbria and is packed with excellent flavours that impress. The cake cost £19.99 and can be safely dished up to family and guests alike – and because it’s gluten-free doesn’t mean it doesn’t have to like flavour!   Yumbles Festive Iced Topped Fruit Cake Our last recommended tasty offering for the best Christmas cakes in 2021, is this from Yumbles. While Yumbles is a food marketplace, this Festive Iced Topped Fruit Cake has been produced by the Original Cake Company and costs £19.95. It’s a moist and very rich fruitcake that is packed with sultanas and then topped with marzipan. The standout feature here is that each slice of the cake has been wrapped individually so there’s no need to worry over slicing – it can just be served straight onto plates. The artisan bakers have been delivering tasty produce for nearly 50 years and these Christmas cakes are sold around the world. You only have to read the reviews from satisfied cake lovers because this is a standout cake that is head and shoulders above many …

When is Christmas Jumper Day 2021

When is Christmas Jumper Day 2021?

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It’s an increasingly popular event which sees millions of us Brits taking part and there will be lots of people searching online asking, ‘When is Christmas Jumper Day 2021?’ One reason for this is that it’s a great way to raise money to help Save the Children, a charity that is dedicated to helping children around the world. And this year, celebrities including Holly Willoughby, Emma Bunton and Kate Garraway have teamed up to lend their support to the popular event. Indeed, last year more than 4 million people decided to wear jumpers to support the cause, says the charity. This year, the charity says that participants should shop for second hand garments, upcycle old jumpers or dig out their vintage jumpers. And after a year which saw many of us wearing leisurewear, this could be your opportunity to wear bright and bold winter woollies. This is last year’s advert for Christmas Jumper Day – see how easy it is to take part!   How to take part in Christmas Jumper Day 2021 The process to take part in Christmas Jumper Day this year is straightforward. You simply need to wear a festive jumper to school or work – basically, any organisation that is participating in the event – and donate £2 to do so. For those in school, it’s £1. Your £2 donation will help keep medical clinics clean, while a £10 donation will pay for five children to have antibiotics that will help them beat malnutrition. £60 will help buy toys and books to support those children from England’s struggling families, while £100 could help pay for a first aid kit for a Somalia health worker. You can wear any type of Christmas jumper, of course, the sillier your jumper is, the better it will be. And by donning festive garb, you will be helping Save the Children too. You can also donate more than £2 should you want to, or even denote less but the main aim is to take part in Christmas Jumper Day whatever your financial circumstances are. Also, there’s no reason why you should not hold your Christmas Jumper Day on another more convenient date – or celebrate on more than one day if you choose to.   How many people take part in Christmas Jumper Day? There’s no doubt that millions of people take part in Christmas Jumper Day every year because it’s a worthy cause and a great way to help. There’s even a counter on the Save the Children website that shows how many homes and workplaces, as well as youth groups and schools, have signed up to take part. There’s also a counter showing how many people look set to wear their best Christmas Jumper this year. When we last checked, there were nearly 2.5 million people signing up to take part – and you can do too.     When did Christmas Jumper Day begin? Christmas Jumper Day has grown in popularity since it first took place on 14 December 2012. It was the idea of Save the Children to highlight the plight of millions of children in poverty around the world. Since then, it has grown in popularity and has raised more than £27 million for children in the UK and around the world. Last year, around 15,000 schools took part and more than 4 million people put on their festive jumpers for a great cause. Register for this year’s Christmas Jumper Day here.   Why take part in Christmas Jumper Day 2021? Apart from having fun with school friends, workmates and colleagues, there’s a good reason for taking part in Christmas Jumper Day 2021. And that’s to support the great work that the save the children charity does around the world helping those who are living in poverty. The charity helps to deliver education, shelter and food for children with the aim of giving them a better quality of life. The charity also aims to ensure that those children have access to medical treatment, which includes vaccinations, to keep them safe from infection and disease. And if your workplace is taking part this year, it might be an idea to offer a prize for the best festive jumper. This encourages the bravest to wear garish garments and raise money through sponsorship.   When is Christmas Jumper Day 2021? The day that has been dedicated as Christmas Jumper Day is Friday 10 December. You can donate the money to save the children using their website, or you can donate £5 by simply texting JINGLE to 70050. If you are organising Christmas Jumper Day at your workplace or school, and you simply sign up for the event and save the children will send you a text code for your team. This will able you to pay the money you raise in a Covid-friendly way. You can also claim a Just Giving page which has a QR code that also enables money raising to be done safely. You can also opt to sign up for your own pay-in form on the Save the Children website. There’s a great page of frequently asked questions about Christmas Jumper Day 2021 on their website for any questions that need to be …

The best Christmas hampers in 2021

The best Christmas hampers in 2021

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Whether you are entertaining family and friends, you’ll need a plentiful supply of quality food and drink which is why this guide to the best Christmas hampers in 2021 could prove to be invaluable. And who wouldn’t want to have an impressive Christmas hamper overflowing with luxury items as a great way to celebrate and treat those who are close to you? Christmas hampers come in a range of choices including afternoon tea and brunch selections, as well as hampers of alcoholic drinks – and teetotal offerings. Indeed, a festive hamper may also include mulled wine, Christmas pudding, hot chocolate drinks, sweet treats as well as mince pies to celebrate the festive holidays. As festive gifts go, not only will the recipient get to enjoy luxury food and drink, but they will get to reuse a wicker basket in future months and years. There’s no doubt that while a wicker hamper packed with festive gifts may not be for everyone, for most of us, gift hampers are a great Christmas gift to enjoy. Here, the Christmas.co.uk team has been working to find some of the best Christmas hampers available to send as a gift, or for you to help celebrate and entertain house guests.   Carluccio’s ‘Merry Cherry Duluxe’ hamper One of the most intriguing Christmas hamper offerings every year comes from the team at Carluccio’s – and this year is no different. Along with a touch of Italian class, these hampers deliver festive cheer, and some are a luxurious offering. This year, Carluccio’s have teamed up with Malfy gin and with Hotel Starlino for other items, and along with their signature artisanal classics, there’s also a luxury advent calendar. Essentially, the Carluccio’s Christmas hampers have something for everyone at a range of prices. For example, we love the ‘Merry Cherry Duluxe’ hamper at £95 which features everything with cherry, including a new Panettone Maraschino that is packed with delicious pieces of dark chocolate and Maraschino cherries. There is also a bottle of Starlino Rosé Italian Gin and a bottle of Prosecco. Along with tasty preserved Starlino Maraschino cherries, there are also two stylish cocktail glasses from Starlino. There’s also a new offering for those who like a traditional Italian supper hamper at £36, which includes authentic Italian pastas, infused oils and sauces, including a delicious tomato and basil sauce.   British Regional Hampers’ Warwickshire Hamper Lots of people love to receive a hamper at Christmas and one of the best providers are British Regional Hampers. They have an impressive range of hampers available, and the Christmas.co.uk team were rather taken by their Warwickshire hamper for 2021. It costs £150 and includes an excellent gin and bramble cocktail that comes in a pouch so it’s ready to shake and then be poured over ice and drink – and then you can open the rest of the hamper. There’s also an excellent English rose wine, a bottle of spirit from Ragley Estate and some handmade cheese shortbread dough that’s easy to bake to create cheesy, warm biscuits in just 10 minutes. There’s also an impressive ploughman’s platter that includes two cheeses along with one of the best pork pies around. There’s also a jar of honey and runner bean chutney, plus celery and sea salt oatcakes. Recipients also to get to enjoy delicious, sliced ham along with a collection of tasty chocolate and fresh coffee. British Regional Hampers works hard to support local small businesses around the country to deliver limited edition and very tasty British produce. For those who enjoy environmentally friendly products that are also sustainable, the Warwickshire hamper is certainly worth considering.   Social Supermarket ‘Sweet Chestnut’ Christmas hamper There’s a real opportunity to do some good in the world when you select the Social Supermarket’s ‘Sweet Chestnut’ Christmas hamper. It costs £139.99 and is packed with great treats from various social enterprises. This means that you’ll be discovering new food and drink that is not only just good for the planet, but also for people. The ‘Sweet Chestnut’ hamper includes some very nice wines and beers, but also a tasty Christmas pudding and a richly fruited Christmas cake. There are also very nice coffee beans, tasty chai teabags, oatcakes, and a very delicious chutney. There’s also a chocolate bar, a scented candle and a nice snacking seeds and nuts mix. Everything in the hamper is of the best quality and the wicker basket also impresses. If you want to make a difference this Christmas by supporting those ventures that aim to make a difference either in the disabled people they employ or the recycled materials , then the Social Supermarket’s ‘Sweet Chestnut’ Christmas hamper is certainly one way of achieving that.   ‘Konnichiwa’ The Cheese & Sake Selection If there’s a cheese lover in your life who enjoys unusual food and drink pairings, then the Fine Cheese Co has something for you. It’s the ‘Konnichiwa’ cheese and sake selection which costs £64 and pairs delicious cheese with sake. The hamper contains a cheese from St Jude which is a complex and delicate cheese that has been handmade in Suffolk and it’s packed with flavour. The wrinkled, thin coat offers a refined taste that lingers. There’s also a Comte St Antoine cheese that is an unpasteurised French offering from the Jura mountains and it offers a nutty, mellow and smooth flavour with a long finish. The hamper also includes Cashel Blue which is a famous blue cheese from Ireland and when young it is a crumbly creation, but when mature it delivers a full flavour from a creamy texture. This hamper also includes all-butter charcoal crackers from the Fine Cheese Co that have a delicate flavour and a crumbly texture that help underpin the taste of the cheese in the hamper. But let’s not forget the Te To Te sake which has layers of complex flavours that are expressed when tasting the cheese with balanced acidity and a wonderful rounded offering. The Fine Cheese Co has created an impressive hamper with this great cheese a sake pairing.   Christmas hampers from Harvey Nichols Among the impressive range of Christmas hampers at Harvey Nichols is their Merry Christmas gift box priced at £120. This is a real treat for the recipient, which is a cheeky, boozy gift box containing quality Champagne, mulled wine, flavoured tonic water – and includes the Harvey Nichols snow globe orange plus their very popular gingerbread gin liqueur which quickly sells out. There’s also the ‘Jolly Gingerbread elf’ to snack on, though you need to be aware that the food has been made in small artisanal batches and needs to be consumed before the end of January. All in all, the Harvey Nichols Merry Christmas gift box is a great way to treat someone for the festivities.   Sam’s Larder ‘It’s Christmas….!’ Hamper Here at Christmas.co.uk we like to find unusual Christmas hampers and we were rather taken by Sam’s Larder ‘It’s Christmas’ hamper which costs £260. This popular Hammersmith restaurant now has its own shop to offer a great selection of quality ingredients, and this is reflected in the excellent Christmas hamper. The recipient will get to enjoy Vallebona traditional panettone, Figgy’s Christmas pud, a bottle of Chateau Bechereau Pomerol, Querubi Organic extra virgin olive oil, a Bamford Rosemary Candle and Joe’s Tea Co Ever-So-English Breakfast creation, plus a jar of Melrose & Morgan Good Morning Marmalade. We also rather like the sound of ‘Sam’s Hammersmith’ hamper which costs £75 and is packed with quality biscuits, tea, marmalade and piccalilli.   Other offerings in the best Christmas hampers in 2021 to consider   Christmas hampers by Marianna Leivaditaki It’s also worth mentioning the Christmas hampers by Marianna Leivaditaki, the head chef at Hackney’s Morito restaurant. She has put together a number of interesting and very tasty hampers including the Aegean wild and foraged box from Crete at £45. It’s something of a foodie delight with a selection of hand-picked herbs and wild teas, including wild sage and oregano, Cretan thyme honey plus a honey spoon, and a blend of Cretan Mountain tea. There are also two handmade ceramic tumblers from the island of Crete. Oliveology ‘Christmas Star’ hamper Another hamper that caught our eye is the ‘Christmas Star’ hamper from Oliveology at £70. It contains impressive Greek-style Christmas treats including wild thyme honey, an olive wood honey dipper, dried figs, molasses, walnut olive oil and kalamata olives with orange and herbs. Biscuiteers Christmas decoration biscuit tin The Christmas.co.uk team also enjoyed the Christmas decoration biscuit tin from the Biscuiteers at £45. The tin itself is attractive and will be a lovely keepsake while the 12 gingerbread iced biscuits are very impressive and tasty. The Biscuiteers also create other novel and great festive treats, including a Christmas tree-shaped biscuit at £9, and also a limited-edition Advent Calendar at £125 – which is a very impressive …

Christmas hampers to give as gifts in 2021

Christmas hampers to give as gifts in 2021

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One of the best things about the festivities is to give a present that the recipient can really rummage around in which is why finding the best Christmas hampers to give us gifts in 2021 is an undertaking to enjoy. Not only will you treat someone you love or admire to an excellent festive present, but they will unearth not just one but lots of gifts to enjoy. And if they are something of a food and drink lover, and there’s no better way to celebrate than sending someone special a festive treat in a wicker basket. If they have a sweet tooth, they will get to enjoy lots of new creations including mince pies though you can buy a chocolate hamper too. Usually, luxury Christmas hampers are quite a pricey gift, but they are usually packed with a Christmas pudding, smoked salmon and other quality food to enjoy. Gift hampers have a range of price tags and are a great way to acknowledge someone’s efforts over the year, but they are also an excellent way to stock up to celebrate in your own home and also to entertain lots of guests on Christmas Day. Gift hampers are also a great way to show appreciation because whatever your budget is for a Christmas gift – there is a Christmas hamper available for it. You can buy hampers filled with white wines and other alcoholic drinks, while some hampers are geared towards the teetotal. Here, the Christmas.co.uk team has been working to find the best Christmas hampers to give as gifts in 2021 and you find that these festive treats will meet a wide range of needs – and will impress the recipient.   Carluccio’s Il Grandioso If you really want to make a magnificent gesture when gifting a Christmas hamper this year, how about Carluccio’s Il Grandioso? It does cost £350, but it comes in a beautiful wicker basket packed with artisanal Italian produce. The selection includes Italian festive table staples from some of the country’s finest suppliers including Vin Santo dessert wine, extra virgin olive oil and marinated tender figs. If the intended recipient loves to entertain and cook, particularly Italian dishes, then this Christmas hamper is a real treat. Alternatively, Carluccio’s is offering an Italian larder hamper at £69 which includes organic vegetable sources, pasta and enough items to dish up three meals to feed a family of four. There’s also a dry white wine and a fruity Chianti.   Christmas food hampers from Harvey Nichols One of the great retailers of luxury Christmas hampers is Harvey Nichols and this year is no different. Their handpicked selection includes food hampers designed for connoisseurs, alcohol-free hampers for those who are teetotal and for those who do enjoy a drink there is an excellent choice of wine and spirits hampers. If you are planning on a lot of entertaining this Christmas, then the Harvey Nichols bartender hamper at £1,400, is certainly for you. The contents have been hand-picked by expert buyers and include the most popular drinks sold by the store. You’ll get to enjoy bestselling wines and exclusive spirits along with magnums of Champagne. The hamper includes stocking filler miniatures, dessert wines and port for the cheese board. There’s also a good range of gins plus flavoured premium tonics and a limited-edition Russian vodka. Harvey Nichols says this is the world’s greatest drinks hamper, so who are we to disagree? If the price tag for the Harvey Nichols bartender hamper is a tad too high, they also offer a Christmas drinks cabinet hamper or the Christmas cocktail cabinet hamper, both priced at £299, and they are packed with drinks and goodies you will need for an impressive season of entertaining.   British Regional Hampers Christmas afternoon tea hamper This alcohol-free Christmas afternoon tea hamper is a great offering from British Regional Hampers for recipients to enjoy limited-edition but very tasty British produce. The firm supports local small businesses by packaging environmentally friendly products to create a memorable and unique gift. There’s no doubt that lots of us enjoy afternoon tea and if you know someone who enjoys pushing the boat out, then this alcohol-free Christmas afternoon tea hamper at £65 is a delight. There’s a beautiful tea from Hoogly Tea, which are based in Sussex, and a very tasty English conserve from Cornwall. There’s also a twist on marmalade with a Christmas pudding marmalade that features sultanas, glace cherries lemons and oranges. The excellent hamper also contains a delicious Christmas cake along with hand-crafted chocolate mince pies. This excellent Christmas gift is topped off with Muscat grape juice, a lovely bottle of bubbly from Devon. British Regional Hampers also offers an impressive alcohol-free New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day hamper at £110 containing smoked duck, spicy smoked flower and chilli crackers, black garlic pickle and salmon. There are lots of other items, including some very tasty honey chocolate. However, the Christmas.co.uk team were taken by the alcohol-free Christmas celebration hamper at £90. The idea is to create a grazing table that contains organic Cotswold brie, plum and date ultra-crispy toasts and beechwood-smoked duck breast. There’s also a spiced plum chutney, some tasty cheese and a selection of lovely handmade chocolates and mince pies.   Social Supermarket’s Royal Frost Birch Christmas hamper One great way to make an impression with a cracking Christmas hamper, is to visit the Social Supermarket’s site and select a hamper with quality goods selected from social enterprises. Here, the Christmas.co.uk team really like the Social Supermarket’s The Festive Feast Hamper which costs £159.99. It’s the perfect mix of savoury and sweet treats, chocolates and alcoholic beverages. There’s a lot to like if there’s a food or drink lover in your life and there are some great back stories about some of the products too. Along with a selection of wines and beers, there are hot chocolate melts, quality coffee beans, and some tasty liberation nuts. We also like the Summerdown peppermint tea bags – perfect for when you’ve had enough of Christmas indulgence and are ready to relax. This is one of the pricier offerings from Social Supermarket, but they also offer letterbox gifts, various gift boxes and an ethical Christmas essentials gift box. There’s also a nice Christmas morning gift box to help enjoy Christmas Day and the spirit of Christmas gift box will delight the gin lover in your life with sustainable gin and complimentary snacks   Sam’s Riverside Christmas Hamper If you would like to make an impression with a hamper packed with quality tastes, then Sam’s Riverside Christmas hamper at £100 is certainly worth considering. This popular Hammersmith restaurant offers hampers and this one is packed with quality items including Prosecco, salted caramel milk chocolate, all-butter wheat crackers, Earl of Grey tea, pitted olives and Dr Will’s Original Mayonnaise. We also liked the England Preserves English mustard and the red onion marmalade. It’s an intriguing hamper with a range of quality goodies that the recipient will enjoy and it is certainly a foodies’ delight. We also rather like Sam’s Larder Hammersmith hamper which contains biscuits, marmalade and jams, as well as a variety of tea blends to offer breakfast lovers another real treat.   Other Christmas hampers to give as gifts that we loved   Marianna Leivaditaki Christmas hampers While there are lots of Christmas hampers to enjoy this year, we really like the efforts from top chef Marianna Leivaditaki. She’s put together a number of very tasty Christmas hampers, including the excellent Aegean Christmas pantry box at £120. It contains small farm olive oil, wild oregano, hand-picked sea salt, sour cherry spoon dessert, Cretan thyme honey and Graviera cheese. There’s a lot more in the box but for those who are foodies, this is an unusual and impressive offering and a chance to create Cretan dishes with original ingredients.   Oliveology Christmas luxury hamper We also like the The Everything Hamper from Oliveology priced at £160. This is a luxurious Greek-inspired treat with some items designed to impress. There’s a handcrafted olive wood serving board, balsamic cream with mandarin, roasted almonds, apple olive oil, vanilla honey, dried cherries and truffle honey. There are more items, but everything is tasty and delicious with the Kalamata olives with oranges and herbs particularly impressing.   Biscuiteers Christmas hampers Great Christmas hampers to give as gifts also include the products from the Biscuiteers. They are offering an advent biscuit tin filled with 24 vanilla iced biscuits in the shapes of polar bears, penguins and Christmas trees. It’s a novel take on what most people would consider to be a hamper, but the £58 gift is certainly worth considering if the recipient loves biscuits (and who doesn’t?), or if you simply want to make a big impression with a stylish and very tasty offering when visiting friends and family at Christmas. The talented team also make a Christmas Eve letterbox gift of biscuits in the shape of a fireplace, a letter to Santa and a carrot for £25. There’s also a selection of winter walk biscuits with a woolly hat, scarf gloves and a big coat. All-round, the biscuits are excellent products and worth making the effort to buy …

Which are the best Christmas hampers for 2021?

Which are the best Christmas hampers for 2021?

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Searching for festive presents can be a chore but with this guide to the best Christmas hampers, you will be able to enjoy an easy win. Not only are there a wide range of Christmas hampers available in the UK, but just about everyone will enjoy receiving one. And since food and drink make up a big part of the festivities, a well-chosen hamper is a great way to deliver a festive treat for the recipient and their guests to enjoy. Or you may decide that some of the Christmas hampers are so good that you buy one for yourself! Buy the best Christmas hampers You can buy the best Christmas hampers filled with bottles of wine, or sweet treats for someone you love who has a sweet tooth. Food hampers from the likes of John Lewis and Fortnum & Mason are incredibly popular and include treats such as Christmas pudding, a mince pie selection and they are all contained in a stylish wicker hamper that the recipient can use in future. These festive treats don’t just focus on food and drinks, for Christmas Day, some hampers deliver a pick me up on Boxing Day too. And don’t forget that Christmas hampers make for a great gift for a loved one – plus, they are a sound choice as a corporate gift – because there will be something in the hamper that the recipient will love. If not, they can give what they don’t like to friends and family. Here, we check out some of the best Christmas hampers for 2021, including the offerings from John Lewis, and other foodie treats including olive oil hampers, gift boxes containing smoked salmon to deliver a classic Christmas that a loved one will enjoy.   Daylesford Organic truffle lovers hamper One of the most popular festive Christmas hamper providers every year is the range from Daylesford Organic. They utilise the very best in artisan drink and food from their organic farm to create luxury hampers to impress. This year’s no different and along with the artisan cider and beer hamper and the Cotswold cheese and wine hamper, we rather liked the truffle lovers hamper at £125. This is a great creation for anybody who enjoys the heady flavours of truffle and includes a truffled single Gloucester cheese, a truffle honey jar and a mini truffled Penyston brie. The recipient also gets to enjoy a bottle of Prosecco, seeded star savoury biscuits and truffle and pecorino nuts. The truffle lovers hamper from Daylesford Organic sees the contents being packaged by hand in white wicker baskets and they are a great idea for Christmas presents.   Kylie Minogue Wild Rosé Christmas Hamper It’s one of the most popular offerings for wine lovers, and the Kylie Minogue Wild Rosé Christmas Hamper is a limited edition to impress. There’s a wicker hamper including hand-embroidered linen lining and there’s a good range of food and wine chosen by the Queen of Disco. Contents include two bottles of Kylie’s wine, a corkscrew and bespoke wine glasses along with a rosemary and sea salt chocolate bar and Yorkshire chardonnay crisps. The hamper costs £149 and it’s an intriguing creation for those who like wine or love Kylie. Recipients also get an English farmhouse cheddar from the Fine Cheese Co, orange candy, sweet and salty popcorn and mandarin orange crisps. If there’s a Kylie lover in your life, then this wild rose Christmas hamper will hit the right note.   Delicario Italian Gourmet Hamper Delicaro is an online delicatessen that works with small-scale producers to deliver authentic regional European tasty delights. They have a range of hampers this Christmas and the Christmas.co.uk team was really taken with the Delicario Italian Gourmet Hamper which costs £60. From earthy saffron biscuits, there’s something for those who like traditional Italian food but done really, really well. There’s a Paté di Olive Rosate and aubergine in a cream. Each item is carefully wrapped in the hamper before sending and recipients also get to enjoy a very light Venetian focaccia and a traditional almond nougat. The Delicario hamper also stands out because there’s a greeting card that’s included and you can add a personal message to it.   Melrose and Morgan 12 Days of Christmas’ hamper Another tasty treat when it comes to gourmet Christmas hampers comes from Melrose and Morgan, the modern grocer and kitchen based in North London. They’ve unveiled a new range of food and drink hampers for the festive season, and they can be bought online or in-store for delivery across the UK. If you like to enjoy some of the best produce from small-scale artisan producers, then they have a range of hampers to enjoy. For those who want to create an impression, they offer the ’12 Days of Christmas hamper’ at £595 which delivers ultimate luxury. Along with six fine European wines, a lovely champagne, and a bottle of Negroni, this is an excellent offering. Along with Secret Smokehouse smoked salmon, cured charcuterie, a festive cheeseboard, truffle crisps and two types of chutney, there’s something for everyone. For the sweet-toothed recipient, there’s candied chocolate ginger, sea salt caramel and dark chocolate coated oranges. The hamper also includes Christmas cake and traditional mince pies, plus marmalade and jams. For the money, this is a great way to enjoy Christmas.   Black Mountains’ Gourmet Deli Gift Hamper One of the bestselling choices from the Black Mountains Smokery is the gourmet deli gift hamper at £95. This is a great hamper choice for a discerning foodie who gets to enjoy sliced smoked salmon, oak roasted salmon, duck liver pate along with smoked chicken breast and duck breast. There are various chutneys, crackers and a caramel sauce to enjoy plus chocolate coated coffee beans. The firm offers hampers in three price categories and it’s worth checking out the £49 hamper boxes and the £75 gift box hampers. Everything is freshly prepared and then delivered in chilled packaging. It’s an unusual and tasty creation.   John Lewis & Partners Winter Warmer Christmas Basket Another popular outlet for Christmas hampers is John Lewis and Partners and their winter warmer Christmas basket which is a bestseller for the firm. It costs £75 and is a stylish offering that includes wine, almonds and savoury biscuits. There is also a tasty Christmas pudding, various biscuits, chocolate bars and a Christmas chutney. This is a tasty and stylish offering delivered in a woven basket that can be reused for future storage purposes. John Lewis also offers a seasonal cheer gift box at £50, a Christmas ladder box at £100, and a stylish festive treats hamper at £60. Whatever your needs when it comes to Christmas hampers, John Lewis has something for you.   Hotel Chocolat ‘Eat, drink and be merry hamper’ As should be expected, chocolate lovers are well-catered for this Christmas with a great range from Hotel Chocolat. We love their ‘Eat, drink and be merry’ hamper which costs £150 and has great reviews on the site from recipients. For a decadent Christmas, the basket includes chocolate macarons, chocolate puddles and a milk caramel selection box. There are other chocolate choices too including a hot chocolate drink, chocolate cream and biscuits, plus there’s a bottle of Prosecco to enjoy. It’s a great offering and a tasty one with quality chocolate in a lovely hamper. Hotel Chocolat has other festive delights this year including a chocolate wreath box, lots of selection boxes and a grand advent calendar.   More best Christmas hampers for 2021 to consider With so many great Christmas hampers available, it’s worth giving some other impressive creations a mention. Among them is Honey & Co who have restaurants dishing up middle eastern food and an online shop. Among their Christmas hampers this year is a mulled wine hamper offering at £55. It includes a fig, chocolate and hazelnut Christmas cake, a small bottle of brandy, a bottle of red wine and a mulled wine spice mix. There’s also a giant gingerbread cookie. Another restaurant offering a range of hampers is Jikoni with its ‘Joy at Home’ hamper at £270. It offers a bottle of English sparkling wine, a Bordeaux and a Grand Cru. There are also four jars of chutney, a tote bag and the restaurant’s block print table napkins and tablecloths. The restaurant also adds its cookbook, a selection of nut mix and paan and cashew fudge. A great alternative for those who love unusual gifts at Christmas comes from Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil. This family-run business offers award-winning cold-pressed Yorkshire rapeseed oil with a range of hampers including a ‘Build your own gift box’ from £11.50. You essentially mix-and-match the various rapeseed oils, plus dressings, to create a great gift for those who like to cook and love flavour. Corporate Christmas hampers are also big business and growing in popularity because they are an ideal way to reward staff and to present at events or meetings. Peach Hampers offers a great range including the opportunity of branding and personalising the hamper. Among their choices is the Christmas cracker hamper at £47.50 with the option of choosing the drink you want, including alcohol-free choices. There are lots of chocolate and a Christmas spiced fudge, jams and mince pies that are presented in a recycled black hamper box. Another unusual choice as a Christmas hamper is the ‘Movie marathon hamper’ from Healthy Nibbles. It costs £20 and is a mix of sweet and salty favours for food lovers. Recipients get to enjoy sweets and chocolate that will see them enjoy binge-watching box sets or watching lots of films in one day. Healthy Nibbles aims to deliver healthy snacks that have no artificial colours or hydrated fats sweeteners or preservatives. There’s also a reminder too from Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses that you don’t have to spend a fortune on Christmas hampers. Their website has a range of Christmas hampers but their perfect British cheeseboard at £5 is certainly worth considering if there’s someone in your life who loves different varieties of cheese. The cheeseboard contains three excellent choices with Button Mill, Bluestacks Blue and Sunday Best to be savoured. Finally, we have to highlight the excellent offering from Aldi this year with a range of hampers to impress. They really have shaken up the market with some well-priced offerings and there are nine hampers to choose from, starting £19.99 – that’s 50% cheaper than the cheapest hamper from Fortnum & Mason’s. Last year, Aldi’s hampers sold out in record time and buyers get to choose from the ‘Ultimate celebration hamper’ that is packed with chocolates, cakes and wine and there’s the Sommelier’s six wines hamper and the ‘Ultimate decadence hamper’. All in all, Aldi has an impressive range to meet various budgets and is certainly worth …

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