Christmas food ideas
Christmas planning can get stressful and it's easy for kids, or adults, to get hungry before the big Christmas meal. Make Christmas Day a bit more special and try some homemade savoury treats to keep everyone going while they're celebrating, chatting or playing with the presents they've just opened.
These recipes are all very easy and can be made in advance, with help from the kids if they're up for it…
Cheesy Christmas trees
- Make a dough by mixing 100g butter, 100g grated cheese, 100g plain flour in a blender.
- Cover your ball of dough with cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Roll out the dough on a floured surface then cut tree shapes out of it.
- Place the trees on a greased baking tray and brush each one lightly with a little whisked egg. Bake for just 5 minutes in the oven at 190°C (gas mark 5).
Mushroom 'pressies'
- Buy a pack of filo pastry and cut the stack of pastry sheets into squares about 10cm by 10cm (unless the pack of pastry is sized fairly close to this already in which case there's no need to cut the sheets to size).
- Lightly brush each square with oil.
- Saute a punnet of button mushrooms with a little olive oil and garlic or ground pepper (to taste).
- Pop one button mushroom into the middle of each square then gather up the corners of each square and twist the top to make a little parcel.
- Lightly brush each parcel with oil then bake for 2 or 3 minutes at 180°C (gas mark 4).
Spicy cashews
- Put 100g raw, unsalted cashew nuts in a bowl and drizzle over just half a dessertspoon (at most) of olive or vegetable oil.
- Lightly salt and sprinkle with cayenne pepper (a large pinch will be enough).
- Make one layer of nuts on a baking tray or microwaveable dish.
- In a microwave, bake on a high heat for 3 minutes then leave for a few minutes for the cashews to harden. OR Bake in an oven at 200° (gas mark 6) for about 10 minutes.
Savvy tip
Keep it homemade but simple and hearty: make a batch of soup (even slow cooked mixed veg in stock, whizzed in a blender is delicious) then serve it in funky teacups as a snack, passed around with a bowl of garlic bread.
Pass it on – warming Christmas drinks for the family Try our recipes to make delicious alcohol-free drinks that everyone will love.