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The Surprise Visitors

The Surprise Visitors

At this time of year, how often have friends and family popped by for a surprise visit? A knock at the door followed by a chorus of “surprise!” is often the only notice you get.

Don’t worry, a festive evening is easy to assemble with on-hand cupboard essentials and some quick thinking. You’ll soon gain a reputation for such a prepared host that you might have a few more ‘surprise’ visitors!

The menu

When guests show up unexpectedly, you’re not going to be able to cook a big feast in time. Instead, you want some quick and easy snacks to bring out and enjoy with your guests.

Snacks: Chutney, cheese and biscuits

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Festive chutney, cheese and biscuits

A platter of different cheeses and biscuits is perfect for sharing and nibbling while chatting with your guests. It’s the ideal snack to piece together when unexpected guests arrive. 

But cheese and biscuits aren’t complete without chutney. Rustle up our Christmas chutney to make your platter memorable. This can be made up to two months in advance and only gets more delicious the longer it’s left as the flavours mature and become richer. 

 

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour

Makes 9x 250ml jars (so as well as a tasty addition to your cheese and biscuits platter, it makes an excellent homemade gift for your loved ones)

Ingredients:

  • 750g cooking apples
  • 500g cranberries
  • 500ml white wine vinegar
  • 400g caster sugar
  • 250g soft pitted dates
  • 2 clementines
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1tsp salt
  • 1tsp ground ginger
  • ½ tsp ground cloves
  • ¼ tsp cayenne pepper

Method

Step 1.

Wash and sterilise your jars thoroughly with warm soapy water and leave them to gradually dry in a warm oven (140c/120c fan/gas mark 1).

Keeping your jars in the warm oven is essential as you’re going to add warm chutney to them later. Adding warm chutney to cold jars could cause them to crack.

Step 2.

Peel, core and chop your cooking apples into small chunks approximately one to two centimeters small. Add to a large pan.

Step 3.

Peel and chop your onion into small pieces and add to the pan with the apples.

Step 4. 

Next, add your fruit. Add the cranberries to the pan and place over a low heat.

Zest the clementines into the pan and squeeze in the juice and pulp.

Step 5.

Add the sugar, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and cayenne pepper, then pour in the white wine vinegar before adding the salt.

Step 6.

Stir the mixture and turn up the heat, bringing it to the boil before reducing the heat and leaving it to simmer, uncovered, for approximately an hour. After this time your mixture should be soft and pulpy. 

Step 7. 

Spoon the mixture into the jars, seal and leave to cool at room temperature.

Serve your delicious Christmas chutney with an assortment of your favourite cheeses and biscuits (we love this chutney with Jacobs mini cheddars and a knob of brie)

 

Dessert: Christmas cookies

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Quick and easy festive cookies to get you into the Christmas spirit. Try not to eat all the dough before it's baked! These cookies will stay fresh in a sealed container for up to a week after baking, so they’re ideal to whip up when guests might drop by.

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 10 - 12 minutes

Ingredients

  • 350g of all-purpose flour
  • 300g of sugar
  • 230g of unsalted butter
  • 1 large egg
  • 1½ tsp of pure vanilla extract
  • ½ tsp of almond extract
  • Pinch of salt
  • Icing sugar
  • Green food colouring
  • Red food colouring
  • Silver balls
  • White sprinkles
  • Heatproof lollipop sticks

 

Method

Step 1.

Preheat your oven to 180°C/160°C/gas mark 4.

Grease the baking tray with butter.

Step 2.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Step 3.

Beat an egg and add it to the butter and sugar. Mix until incorporated.

Add the vanilla and almond extract.

Step 4.

Sieve the flour into the bowl and fold it in as you go.

Step 5.

Roll out the cookie dough. Using a cookie cutter (we like Christmassy shapes), cut out your cookies. 

Insert a lollipop stick into each cookie while the dough is still raw.

Step 6.

Bake for 10 - 12 minutes until the cookies are lightly browned.

Step 7.

Now make your icing. Mix icing sugar and butter together in a bowl. Add a little milk, ensuring the icing still has a thick consistency. It's best to do this in small amounts at a time so you don't end up with runny icing.

Split the icing into two batches and use green food colouring in one and red in the other.

Decorate! Add the icing to your cookies, put the silver balls on and sprinkle!

 

Drinks: Rum hot chocolate

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A grown-up version of hot chocolate, our boozy take on a cosy classic will warm you through and through.

Prep time: 2 minutes

Cook time: 4 minutes

Serves: 1 people

Ingredients

  • 250ml milk (we prefer to use indulgent full-fat milk, but semi-skimmed is great too)
  • 45g dark chocolate
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 - 2 tbsp rum, it’s up to you how strong you like it
  • 2 tsp cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • A pack of mini marshmallows

 

Method

Step 1.

Chop up the dark chocolate into small chunks.

Step 2.

Slowly heat the milk until it starts to bubble.

Reduce the heat to low and gradually add the chocolate and cinnamon. Stir slowly until the chocolate is melted.

Add the cocoa powder and sugar and keep stirring for another minute.

Step 3.

Take it off the heat and stir in your rum.

Serve in a big mug and top with marshmallows.

 

Activities

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Once you’ve caught up with your guests and enjoyed some festive snacks, gather all guests to get comfy on the sofa and enjoy a Christmas film together.

Decor

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When unexpected visitors come to visit you’re not going to have time to decorate your house ready for the party. Hopefully they drop round close enough to Christmas that your house is already dressed for the holidays. You can always pop a last minute bit of tinsel in your hair to sparkle up your outfit.

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