Christmas Hampers, Food Gifts & Nibbles

This post featuring foodie gifts may seem a little late, or even very premature, but the Christmas festivities are never over for us until my mother has had her Christmas dinner, featuring a locally reared free range goose and something special for me. Sometimes this happens on Christmas Day, sometimes on New Year's Eve, which is her birthday and sometimes it's later. For Christmas 2012, we were all away on a big family gathering at one of my aunts near Cambridge. My mother decided to extend her stay for a couple of weeks so has not had a chance to have her dinner until today.

Usually, it is my prerogative to bring along a dessert to complement my mother's famous Christmas pudding (the only one CT will eat). However, this year, she has that already sorted so I am bringing the pre-dinner nibbles instead. As well as various nuts, I have marinated some olives, originating from a friend's place in Liguria, with olive oil and oregano.

I've also made some of Nigella's Parmesan shortbreads that look so very tempting on the BBC food site, but look completely different here. Luckily, they taste wonderfully naughty and I've found it very difficult to keep CT at bay and save the majority to take with me today. One of the guests is gluten sensitive, so although these are not completely gluten free, I made them with half gluten free flour and half wholemeal spelt, so the gluten level is very low. Spelt flour can often be tolerated when standard wheat flour cannot. In making the mix, I found it was far too dry, perhaps because these flours absorb more liquid than plain white wheat flour. I ended up adding the white of the egg as well as the yolk and a tablespoon of water. When I cut the rounds (43 in total), they flattened out into rectangles and ended up looking like mini slices of toast I thought - quite cute really.

As these are a Nigella special I am entering them into Forever Nigella, a monthly blog event from Maison Cupcake. This month is being hosted by Recipe Junkie and the Attack of the Custard Creams and the theme is Food to Cherish Your Loved Ones. Making these virtually gluten free is a loving touch I reckon and they will also be shared out lovingly amongst our friends.

So what were in my Christmas hampers in 2012?

Fig, Apple and Pomegranate Jam

Chilli & Chocolate Mincemeat

Chewy Apricot & White Chocolate Cookies

Cinnamon & Honey Christmas Stars

Rosemary Chocolate Truffles

Cookies in a Jar

Ginger Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies

Mincemeat Buns

Chocolate Spoons & Dinosaurs

Peppermint Bark - yet to be posted

Almond and Cinnamon Balls from Belleau Kitchen

Mincemeat Slices - yet to be posted

Chocolate Coated Caramel Brazils

Chocolate Crackles - yet to be posted

Breton Butter Biscuits

Vanilla Extract

Lemon Marmalade