Mince pies etc....

[Anna]

I will eat an occasional mince pie of course, just to be polite, but I think home made are the best rather than supermarket, their pastry is somehow not right. The worst one I've ever had was a Heston Blumenthal made of puff pastry and dusted with pine sugar. Absolutely dry and tasteless (imo)

[mercia]

I've just seen an M&S ad. and their mince pies look decent - my main problem with shop mince pies is there's, to my mind, too much hard crusty pastry and not enough mincemeat, certainly compared to what mother used to make. I usually have to put shop pies in the microwave for a few seconds to soften up the pastry, though I then have to consume with a spoon otherwise mid-air disintegration occurs.

so now you know

[Madame Suggia]

I prefer homemade,

with extremely short pastry, and a dollop of brandy butter placed under the lidl before being warmed for serving

[antongould]

I've just seen an M&S ad. and their mince pies look decent - my main problem with shop mince pies is there's, to my mind, too much hard crusty pastry and not enough mincemeat, certainly compared to what mother used to make. I usually have to put shop pies in the microwave for a few seconds to soften up the pastry, though I then have to consume with a spoon otherwise mid-air disintegration occurs.

so now you know

I do and I'll not forget in a hurry.....

[EdgeleyRob]

Trouble is,one mince pie is never enough,and once the box is open,well they start to go off.....so....
With custard for me.

[BBMmk2]

Ah yes! Custard! Thanks Rob!

[amateur51]

Certainly Wensleydale

Never heard of Coverdale before...



Oh... and Ammy, Christmas comes but once a year, tha' knows

Aye lad, but t'Diabetes Nurse comes twice a year and those leetle red cells tell all your naughty dietary secrets

[Ferretfancy]

Gives us a call DracoM!! :)

Tesco's aren't too bad either(their Finest range).

What about homemade? Anyone?

Home made? Well, I made my own mincemeat last year courtesy of Delia, and it was OK, but my pastry could have been crumblier. That was a shame, as I usually manage pastry very well.

I spent quite a lot of yesterday making my Christmas cake, which needs to be kept for a few weeks and topped up with liquor regularly until I add the marzipan and icing.. I use a very old recipe cut out of one of the early Observer colour magazines circa 1963. It's by Clement Freud, and he gets quite excited by the fact that it uses 6 eggs ! I suppose we could not normally afford to be so heavy handed back then.

While it was slowly cooking and scenting the house deliciously, I popped round to our local Winter Festival as the lights were switched on. There were some very nice real reindeer all the way from Market Harborough, not presumably their natural home, and a splendid Santa in a large grotto - admission free. There was also a silver coach with a slightly over the hill fairy who nevertheless played a happy part while the coachman in his grey topper slightly spoiled the magic by chatting on his mobile. This was compounded by the fact that the rear of the vehicle sported a banner advertising Goldschmidt and Howland, one of our many local estate agents!

The families all enjoyed it, which is the main thing -- a bit early perhaps ?

[amateur51]

There was also a silver coach with a slightly over the hill fairy

Oh Ferret, how could you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi4muhme1P4

Nobody loves a fairy when she's forty
Nobody loves a fairy when she's old
She may still have a magic power but that is not enough
They like their bit of magic from a younger bit of stuff
When once your silver star has lost its glitter
And your tinsel looks like rust instead of gold
Your Fairy days are ending when your wand has started bending
No-one loves a fairy when shes old

[mangerton]

I usually have to put shop pies in the microwave for a few seconds to soften up the pastry, though I then have to consume with a spoon otherwise mid-air disintegration occurs.

so now you know

That reminds me of about thirty years ago, when the then Mrs m and I got our first microwave shortly before Christmas.

She: We could heat mince pies in this.
Me: Yes, they wouldn't take long..... 30 seconds should be plenty.
She: Oh, they'll take a lot longer than that. I'll give it five minutes.
Me:

Well, you can guess the rest. To redress the balance, I must confess that it was I who set the chip pan alight around the same time.

[Anna]

There was also a silver coach with a slightly over the hill fairy who nevertheless played a happy part

Nobody loves a fairy when she's forty!
I admit I do love the Christmas lights - and a few of the houses here entwine small white lights in their trees, coming back home in the dark they look quite magical. Our Council splashed out on new lights a couple of years ago, quite tasteful snowflakes and stars in white, they usually go up at the end of November, they put up the town tree about 2 weeks before the day.

My Nan used to come over to make our Christmas cake and puddings, and we all had to stir and make a wish, the spicy smell was wonderful. Another smell which instantly conjures Christmas is that of cigar smoke and orange peel, after the dinner my father always smoked a cigar whilst we tucked into nuts and clemantines. Then, as traditional, we all went for a walk with the dog, returning to jacket potatoes with crispy skins, Nan's special crunchy spicy pickled red cabbage, and the left-overs. And that was it, done and dusted in a day! Oh, and the delicious rustle of the stocking at the end of the bed when you woke up!

Edit: Oh drat! Ams got there first with the fairy! I was too busy with Christmas memories to see his post.

[amateur51]

Edit: Oh drat! Ams got there first with the fairy! I was too busy with Christmas memories to see his post.

Oh pardon my dust, I'm sure!

[Anna]

Oh pardon my dust, I'm sure!

I am not adverse to some pixie dust ..... !! Feel free to scatter it around ......

Oh, this thread is going rather offtopic. We always had the same decorations on the Christmas cake, my mother used to rough ice it with a fork to resemble snow and stick on a tree, Santa, holly and - that was it. So, I used to meticulously pick off all the icing and home in on the marzipan (love marzipan)

[amateur51]

Anyone into stollen?

Does anyone go through the faff of making their own when Lidl/Aldi sell wonderful examples at cheap prices?

http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/SID-C8E32387-F37146D8/www_lidl_uk/hs.xsl/4036.htm?action=showDetail&id=6284

[mercia]

do we eat stollen and/or panettone ?

oops - crossposted