I've never been one much for going out on New Years Eve.  I'm pretty much a stay at home, have a few nibbles, watch the ball drop on the telly kind of a gal.  I suppose that comes from years of having a huge family and not being able to afford tickets to go out and a baby sitter!

 

I never minded much and as my children got older it got to be more fun. We would have a nibble buffet of finger foods, and watch some great things on the telly, or play a few board games, and then watch Dick Clark's Rockin New Year's Eve!

 

Because my ex was a Military Policeman, he used to have to work on New Years Eve anyways, so it was pretty much me and the children on our own celebrating!

  

We all had our favourite nibbles.  I would out a variety of crisps and cheese snacks, cheese and crackers, pickles . . .

 

Pretzels,  mini pizzas, dips and other nibbles and mocktails, of course!

 

These Sweet & Spicy Pepitas are really tasty.  They go down great with drinks and are incredibly moreish.

  

They are also very easy to throw together and roast, plus you can do them ahead of time which makes them ideal!

  

Another nibble we really like are these Spice Toasted Pecan nuts.  I adore Pecans.

 

Pecan pie has long been my favourite kind of pie, next to lemon meringue of course. I can remember when I was pregnant for my oldest daughter I picked up a frozen one at the store and bought it home.  Once it thawed I cut out a piece and savoured every morsel. 

 

It was so good. I was so afraid that I would eat the whole pie myself so I then dumped the rest of it in the bin and then I emptied an ash tray on top of it as well, just to make doubly sure. (Pregnant women . . .  you never know!)

  

It has been a very long time since I have had a pecan pie  . . .  and I can't say that these toasted pecans are as good as a slice of pecan pie, but I can say that they are mighty tasty as a nibble and quite a bit healthier than a pie!

 

So what are your favourite nibbles for New Years Eve?  Are you a party goer, or do you prefer a more intimate affair?

 

Of course we are Latter Day Saints so we don't drink alcohol, but I do enjoy a Mocktail or two, or even a glass of punch.  Sparkling water with a slice of lemon or lime is also quite nice.

 

And these tasty nibbles go with all of them!  Enjoy and Happy New Year! 

 

I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for your visits throughout the year and your lovely comments.  A very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, or whatever it is that you celebrate at this time of year.  May your days truly be Merry and Bright!  Eat good food, enjoy good people, be happy and be blessed! I had not planned on shutting shop quite so soon this season, but you know what they say about plans!  I am looking forward to another year of sharing good food and recipes with you.  In the meantime, happy, happy!

 

 

If you are looking for a fabulous dessert to finish your Christmas celebratory meal with I say look no further!  This wonderful Christmas Gingerbread Roll fits the bill on all counts! 

 

Not only is this really delicious but it is also very simple to make.

 

I am not sure what it is about those warm baking spices and gingerbread.  They go together with Christmas like peas and carrots! 

The smell alone speaks Christmas to me!

 

The cake smells heavenly when it is baking . . .  the scent of Christmas  . . .  ginger and cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and a bit of ground cardamom for good measure . . . 

 

Gets your tastebuds to tingling  . . . 

 

I think Mary Berry herself would be very proud of the distinct roll I achieved, don't you? 

 

I was rather well pleased with how it turned out.

 

Flavoured and sweetened with warm, earthy molasses and fragrant vanilla  . . . mmmm.

I love anything with molasses.  As a maritime Canadian, molasses runs through my veins . . .

 

That filling is lush and moreish  . . .  light . . .not in the least bit heavy or cloying.

 

Its simply whipped cream mixed with lemon curd  . . .  perfectly flavoured. 

 

Lemon and Ginger are perfect partners.

 

Not too sweet, not too tart . . .  just perfect with the sweetness of the cake.

 

You could also stir in a TBS of ginger syrup from a jar of preserved stem ginger if you wanted to inject even more warmth and flavour, but I can assure you it is pretty perfect just as it is.

  

It cuts beautifully into lovely slices . . .  a light dusting of icing sugar is the only adornment it needs  . . .

 

Oh this would be lovely with a hot cup of something like coffee, or tea  . . .  herbal or otherwise  . . .

 

This is the perfect finish for any meal, be it on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day . . .

 

I can't think of anyone who wouldn't be happy with a slice of this set before them, can you?

 

This will probably be the last sweet recipe I post before Christmas.  I think most people's menus have probably already been decided now and you can only eat so much sweetness.  I may post one or two quick ideas for suppers, but we will see how it goes!  In the meantime, don't forget to take some time to relax a bit and to enjoy the sweet spirit of these final few days before the big day itself.  If you are like me, its all done now and you can breathe a bit easier until the big day itself!  I am doing the Easy Turkey from Piper's Farm this year so all I have to do is cook the side vegetables.  The turkey comes with stuffing and bacon wrapped sausages and stock for gravy.  All I have to do is pop it all into the oven.  Easy peasy.  Since there is just the two of us, I am taking the easy route this year!

This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again! 

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I don't think anyone can ever call me an expert at presentation.  Sometimes I get it right and sometimes I get it wrong.  

 

Somethings are just difficult to present attractively no matter what. They might be an awkward shape, or the wrong colour.  Kind of like people I guess.

 

These delicious date squares are just such a thing. I don't think there is a really attractive way I could show them to you where I could  actually convey accurately just how very delicious they are! 

 

Again kind of like people. Often you need to dig deeper than the surface to find out the treasure which lies within.

 

They are wonderful delectable little bites of Christmas happiness that I only make once a year. When I taste how good that they are, I am glad that I only make them once a year.

 

This is purely because I could surely inhale the whole lot were I not intending to give most of them away.

  

Yes, they are that dangerously delicious!  Amazingly delicious! Wonderfully tasty!  A deliciousness you won't want to miss.

Yes, I do go on, but I can't help it.  These are just so very, very good.

 

Sweet and buttery and crunchy  . . .  in short very moreish.  Addictively moreish.

As I said up there  . . .  positively dangerous.

 

There is no baking required.  Yes, its true. Absolutely no baking at all.

 

You simply melt a few things together in a saucepan on top of the stove  . . .

 

Chopped dates, butter, brown sugar   . . . .  vanilla  . . .

 

Once you have done that all you need to do is to stir in some crisp rice cereal and chopped toasted nuts.  I like to use walnuts, but you can use whatever nut floats your boat. 

 

 Just make sure that they are toasted and that they are chopped to a size that is compatible with the rice cereal.

 

Once you have done that you press the mixture into a square pan that you have lined with buttered foil.

 

I use foil because it is easier to lift the squares out of the pan after they have chilled and the foil peels off of them lickety split.

 

You want to chill them in the refrigerator until they are really well set.

 

Once set you take them out, cut them into 1 inch squares and then roll them in icing sugar to coat . . .

  

I don't know whether to call this a cookie or a candy . . .  they lie somewhere in between both.  They are  so easy to make.  It just wouldn't be Christmas without a few of these on the cookie trays!

 

I know the time is getting short before the big day, but this amazing little bit sized treat is so quick and easy I thought I would share it with you!  If you make them, I guarantee you won't regret it!

Now all I have to make is my mom's Feather Squares and a Ginger Cake Roulade.   I love being busy.  I miss the days that I had all my chicks around me and gathered beneath my wings.  Pity we never realise how quickly the years are going to pass until they have already passed!

This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again! 

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It was a really gloomy day around here today (Wednesday as I write this) and I thought I would decorate my cake for Christmas.  I have been diligently feeding it since I baked it and I was afraid that if I left it any longer it wouldn't get done.  Christmas is less than a week away after all!  

This year I took the easy route and didn't do anything complicated.  I am not the most skilled person in the world when it comes to sugar craft.  I ordered a cake topper and ribbon from an on line cake supply company back in October.  Easy peasy and I love the rustic look of a red vehicle with a tree on top!

The first step in decorating/icing your Christmas cake is filling in the holes that inevitably show up, being left behind from raisins, etc. that drop out of the cake. I just pinch off little pieces of marzipan and stuff them into the holes.  This results in a much smoother finish for the fondant you will be adding at the end.  Once you have the holes filled, you need to brush the cake all over with smooth apricot jam which you have heated in the microwave to loosen it. About 30 seconds does the trick.

 

You know when I was rolling out the marzipan for putting over the jam, I never noticed any lines it it, and neither did I notice them on the cake, but I can see them in this photo.  Weird that.  Anyways, you need to roll out a quantity of marzipan thinly and then place it over the jam coated cake.  I roll it out on a surface dusted with icing sugar, with an icing sugar dusted rolling pin.  Once you have it the right size then carefully lower it onto the cake and down the sides of the cake, gently so as not to tear the marzipan, and gently pressing it against the cake so that it adheres.

 

Once you have done that you need to brush the marzipan layer with some water all over and cut off any excess marzipan from around the bottom of the cake.

 

I cheat and buy my fondant ready rolled.  Its so easy to use, and has a perfect consistency in thickness throughout that I have always had difficulty getting when I do it by hand.

 

You lay your fondant over top of the damp marzipan and again smooth it all down to get it to adhere and keep it in place.  Once you have done that, you can burnish it a bit with the palm of your hand to make it shine and trim off any excess from the bottom all the way around with a sharp knife.

 

And that's it. You can now decorate it however you want to decorate it.  I made a quantity of Royal Icing and iced the small cake board that came with the cake topper.  I wanted it to look like snow. 

 

I also added some glitter sugar snow flakes and some cake glitter that you can just about see in this photo, but cake glitter flakes are very difficult to photograph.  I put some of the snowflakes around the top of the cake also, and added some bottle brush trees and holly berries.

 

I covered a square place mat with aluminium foil and affixed the cake to that with a bit of royal icing as well, so it wouldn't move about.  The cake topper had come with a nice piece of ribbon, in a generous length.

 

I put that around the cake, affixing it at the back with a couple of glass headed pins. I did not put it all the way to the bottom because I had in mind to put a length of glitter snow garland around the bottom.  So I put it roughly centred around the circumference of the cake.

 

Once I had that properly affixed, then I put the snow glitter garland around the cake at the very bottom, which did a great job of finishing things of nicely.  I was really pleased with how it turned out!  The whole exercise didn't take me much more than an hour to do and I thought the finished result was exactly what I was looking for!  Merry Christmas! 

You can see some of my other Cake finishes from past years  here and here.  All very simple I can assure you!