CHRISTMAS TREE FLING

Getting rid of your Christmas tree can prove a bit of a problem. If it has roots you can always plant it. Or you can drop it off at a local zoo (check they want it first) as many animals enjoy playing with a discarded tree.  Or you can get your neighbours together and do as they do in Weidenthal, Southern Germany and have a Tree Flinging Competition. Competitors bring their own trees, minus the tinsel and baubles. They then attempt to throw them as high and as far as they possibly can.

Frank Schwender, 48, won the tournament for the third year in a row, with a total distance of 22.45 metres. Phew. The other plus side to flinging your trees is you would definitely burn off the extra pounds you piled on from the Christmas pud!

GALETTE DES ROIS

Happy New Year! Now Santa has delivered his presents and can take a break, he really enjoys January 6, Epiphany, or as it is also known, Three Kings Day. In many countries, including France, Italy and Spain children get more presents on this day to remember that Jesus was given gifts by the three kings.

In France, families enjoy Galette des Rois, a cake made from puff pastry filled with sweet almond cream. Inside La fève, a tiny porcelain figurine is hidden.  When the time comes to cut the cake, the youngest person present must pop under the table and say when to cut for each serving. The person who has the figurine in their portion gets to wear a paper crown and be king or queen for the entire day.

Santa and Mrs Claus love  Galette des Rois and always enjoy eating it with the elves.  If you would also like to partake in this tradition, here is the recipe.  If you don’t have a small porcelain figure you can use a dried broad bean. Mrs Claus now collects the figures every time she goes to France. You can get them in the form of movie characters, animas, biblical figures, in fact just about any shape or form.  Whatever you decide to add, just make sure it’s scrupulously clean and nobody swallows it. The children could make and decorate a gold paper crown or maybe you have one spare crown leftover from the crackers.

GALETTE DES ROIS

Ingredients


500g puff pastry


250g ground almonds


125g caster sugar


½ tsp. orange flower water


3 eggs

125g butter, melted


A pinch of salt


1 tbsp. icing sugar

FOR EGG WASH

1 egg yolk and 1 tbsp. milk

1. In a mixing bowl mix together the sugar and ground almonds. Add the butter and cream it together until thoroughly mixed.

2. Beat in the eggs one by one, mixing thoroughly between each addition. Mix in the orange flower water

3. Divide the puff pastry into two even portions. Roll out each portion and cut out two puff pastry circles, each 25cm across and 3-4mm thick.

4. Place one puff pastry disc on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment.

5. Make the egg wash by beating together the yolk and milk.

6. Spoon the almond cream into the centre of the pastry disc, leaving a 5cm edge around the diameter.  Pop the figure or bean somewhere in the mixture.

7. Brush the edges of the pastry disc with the egg wash.

8. Place the other pastry disc over the almond filing and seal the edges together firmly.

9. Chill the Galette des Rois for 1 hour in the refrigerator.  Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4.

10. Brush the Galette des Rois with the egg wash. Using a small, sharp knife to neaten round the edges and use the tip of the knife to create a pattern on the top of the pastry.

13. Bake the Galette des Rois for 40 minutes, until beautifully golden.

Best enjoyed after the decorations have been taken down and everybody can reflect on what a magical  Christmas this last one has been and what hopes and dreams they have for 2013. Remember, even though Christmas has gone, Santa Is always happy to see his friends at his home in Lapland. 

WAITING FOR SANTA

It is definitely getting to feel a lot like Christmas. The December days are whizzing by and it’s getting closer to that magical time when Santa pays a visit to boys and girls around the globe.  On Christmas Eve, everyone is very excited and it’s hard to get to sleep. But you know all has to be calm and quiet in the house to get that special visit. Here are some things to do before Santa’s arrival to make the Christmas Eve anticipation a little calmer but keep everyone in the mood.

How about snuggling down on the sofa in the afternoon and watching a festive film. Be it a perennial classic like It’s A Wonderful Life or a family favourite such as the Polar Express.

As Christmas day is a day of feasting, it’s quite a nice idea to make Christmas Eve dinner a light affair.  Maybe a seafood salad or perhaps something you can make in advance like a cottage pie. You don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen on this evening.

When the stockings are hung up and before the little ones are snug in their pyjamas you could prepare some food for the reindeers. They love oats, carrots, mixed in a bowl with some edible glitter.  Take it out into the garden, or on a balcony and sprinkle it merrily. If you don’t have any outdoor space you can always bag it up and leave it for Santa to take with him.

To see how close Santa is to you, check out NORAD’s website. It charts Father Christmas’ position on the globe.  No excuse for not being fast asleep when he arrives if you keep tabs on him at www.noradsanta.org

Doesn’t matter if you can’t hold a note, singing carols is great fun. If you haven’t got any musical instruments to hand, have a look online, as there are many websites that provide music and lyrics.

A lovely book to read every Christmas Eve is Clement Clark Moore’s 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. There are some beautifully illustrated copies available and the poem’s description of Santa’s arrival is magical.

Then when everybody is ready to go to the land of nod, it’s time to get out the goodies for Santa. He does love something sweet to help fill his round belly so don’t forget to leave him a treat. A mince pie, a gingerbread snowman or a slice of Christmas cake is always very much appreciated.

Maybe dad can share a little holiday spirit and pour one of his favourite tipples in a glass for Father Christmas to keep him warm as he journeys on.  The reindeers also enjoy a bowl of water.

Then after one more chorus of Away in A Manger, it’s time to snuggle down to sleep and dream of Santa and reindeers.  No peeping remember.

If you have any ideas for Christmas Eve activities please share them.  Here’s hoping you have a very merry Christmas.

GINGERBREAD HOUSES

Thought we would fill you in with what’s going on with Santa just now, as Christmas Eve gets closer and closer. He is, of course, frantically busy at the moment. He’s working hard, with the help of his elves, putting the finishing touches to the presents, checking the good children list and making sure everything is in order for the big day! Of course, he’s also busy meeting visitors in Lapland and is delighted when children come with families to Lapland to see him.

When he has a bit spare time, Father Christmas does like to relax by making gingerbread houses. He decorates them beautifully but does have to make sure a cheeky elf doesn’t have a nibble of the gingerbread chimney!

This year a Gingerbread Town called Yurachako, made by the Japanese shop Muji, has particularly inspired Santa. . The diorama of 100 houses is installed in a Tokyo store but Father Christmas and everyone else can keep an eye on life in Yurachako as there is a live stream.

http://homemade.muji.com/#/live

If this gives you a craving to create a gingerbread masterpiece, Santa has kindly offered his own recipe.

  

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE THE HOUSE

   250g unsalted butter

         200g dark muscovado sugar

         7 tbsp golden syrup

         600g plain flour

         2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

         4 tsp ground ginger

WHAT YOU NEED TO DECORATE...

         2 egg whites

         500g icing sugar, plus extra to dust

        

A variety of sweeties, silver baubles, chocolates, whatever your heart desire to make your home delectable and delicious.

HOW TO MAKE IT

Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a pan. Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground ginger into a large bowl, and then stir in the butter mixture to make a stiff dough. Add a small splash of water if it is too dry.

Cut out your house’s template – you can draw your one or find some free templates on the webs. Put a quarter of the dough on a sheet of baking paper on and roll it to thickness of two £1 coins. Cut out one of the sections, and then slide the gingerbread, still on its baking paper, onto a baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, re-rolling the trimmings, until you have two side walls, a front and back wall and two roof panels. Any leftover dough can be cut be used to make people, cats, dogs or as Santa likes to Christmas trees and reindeers.

Bake all the sections for 12 mins or until firm and just a little darker at the edges. When it’s cooled a little, trim the edges of templates again to give clean, sharp edges. Leave to cool completely.

 Put the egg whites in a large bowl, sift in the icing sugar, then stir to make a thick, smooth icing. Spoon into a piping bag with a medium nozzle. Pipe generous snakes of icing along the wall edges, one by one, to join the walls together. Use a small cup to support the walls from the inside, then allow to dry for a few hours.

When it’s dry you can take away the supports and pop on the roof panels. Hold onto it firmly for a few mins until the icing starts to dry. Dry completely and then let your imagination run free as you decorate!

Hope you have as much fun making your gingerbread house as Santa does! Not long now until he’s heading for your chimney. And don’t forget it’s not just at Christmas when you can pay a visit to Santa at home at Lapland. He’s happy to have guests at any time of the year!  

Dutch Christmas Traditions : Sinterklaas & Pepernoten

Dutch Christmas Celebration.

In Holland, Saint Nicholas goes by the name of Sinterklaas. He actually arrives in the Netherlands by boat in mid-November and races around the country, visiting every town in just one afternoon. On 5 December, children must leave their shoes out near the chimney before bed with a note or drawing inside and sing songs to Sinterklaas. If they have been good his Dutch helpers, the Pieten will visit their homes to leave presents and perhaps some of these yummy biscuits called Pepernoten, or spice nuts.  If you would like to enjoy this Dutch delicacy, here’s the recipe, which has been especially passed on by Sinterklaas or Santa as we call him.

PEPERNOTEN

Makes 50 – 60 biscuits

What you need

150g honey

100g soft brown sugar

300g rye flour

1 ½ tsps. salt

2 tsps. ground aniseed

25ml water

10g baking powder, sifted

Sunflower oil, for greasing

1.   Place the honey in a pan and gently heat. Take the pan off the heat; stir in the sugar and rye flour. Once it’s created a dough, turn the heat off and let the dough cool a little then carefully knead.

2.   Add the salt, aniseed, water and baking powder. Knead the dough again. Add a splash more water if the dough is too dry. Then put in a bowl and cover with Clingfilm. Let the dough rest for 1 day at room temperature.

3.   Preheat oven to 180C/gas 4. Grease your hand with a little sunflower oil and take small pieces of dough and roll into marble size balls.  Put the balls in a greased cake tin and bake in oven for 20 minutes. Once cooked, simple tear the Pepernoten apart.

Enjoy! And should you decide to make this a Christmas your family will never forget then you could always visit Santa in his Lapland home and take him some Pepernoten! 

Christmas Holly Trees

Christmas is getting closer. So exciting! While we look forward to a visit from Santa, or maybe a trip to see him at home in Lapland, here is a quick glance at the traditions and story behind a popular Christmas symbol.

Holly been used as a festive decoration for a very long time, ages before it was used in the Christian festival of Christmas.  As the Holly tree is in full glory in the colder months, with its brilliant red berries and glossy green leaves, it is hardly surprising that our pagan ancestors regarded it as magical.

The Romans believed that the leaves prickly leaves scared away evil spirits. They would send the branches with presents for the festival of Saturnalia.

For the druids, the holly represented eternal life. The Celts would put holly on their doors to keep any passing demons at bay.

An old Christian belief declares that the Holly first sprang up under the footsteps of Christ, and its thorny leaves and scarlet berries, like drops of blood, have been thought symbolical of the Saviour's sufferings. The tree was once called the Holy Tree. Other popular names for it are Hulver and Holme, and it is still called Hulver in Norfolk, and Holme in Devon, and Holme Chase in one part of Dartmoor.

Christian legend says one winter night, the holly miraculously grew leaves out of season in order to hide baby Jesus from Herod's soldiers. Since then, it has been an evergreen as a token of Christ's gratitude.

In Germany, holly is called Christdorn in memory of Christ's crown of thorns. According to legend, the holly's branches were woven into a painful crown and placed on Christ's head while the soldiers mocked him. According to this legend, the holly's berries used to be white but Christ's blood left them with a permanent crimson stain.

To see a spectacular display of holly, visit Kew Garden’s Holly Walk, which has the largest collection of hollies in Europe with over 56 species and hybrids. Much of the collection is over 130 years old.

For a natural look in your house this Christmas you can use holly to make a wreath or make a swag to go on your mantelpiece. Just make sure it’s not positioned anywhere its likely to give Santa an unpleasant surprise as he descends down the chimney. Also bear in mind Holly berries are toxic so keep all decorations out of the reach of small hand and pets.

Christmas in Germany: Stollen, Nikolaustag and Gingerbread cakes

German Christmas Traditions

Christmas is called Weihnachten in Germany and officially begins on the first Sunday of Advent. Stollen and spicy biscuits to decorate the tree are often backed at this time. Christmas markets pop up in towns throughout Germany and region has its own speciality. The most famous and largest Christmas market is the Nürnberger Christkindlesmarkt, which is known for its gold foil angels and locally produced gingerbread cakes. At least 375 years old, it is also one of the oldest Weihnachtsmärkte in Germany.

The market at Aachen is known for its gingerbread men. The regions around the Erzgebirge mountain range are famous for their handmade wooden crafts. Augsburg has a life-sized Advent calendar and starts the season with the "Angel Play." At the Frankfurt Christmas Market, visitors will find Quetschenmännchen (little prune men) and Brenten (almond cookies).

The night before December 6^th which is Nikolaustag, (St. Nicholas Day); children leave their shoes or boots outside the front door.

That night, St. Nikolaus, visits and fills them with chocolates, oranges and nuts if the children have been been good. Nikolaus’ sidekick, his servant Knecht Ruprecht, will leave bundles of twigs in the shoes for the children who have been naughty and have had their names written in his ‘black book’.

STOLLEN

This traditional German Christmas fruit bread may seem to have a lot of ingredients but it does make a large bread, which will be enough for around 15 helpings. Offer it to guests as an alternative to mince pies.

WHAT YOU NEED

1kg plain flour

1 teaspoon lukewarm milk

Half teaspoon caster sugar

80g fresh yeast or 25g dried active baking yeast

200g caster sugar

350ml lukewarm milk

200g sultanas

250g blanched almonds, coarsely chopped

200g cut mixed peel

1/2 tablespoon salt

250g butter

2 egg yolks

Plus, to decorate

2 tablespoons melted butter

Icing sugar for dusting

What to do:

Prep: 25 mins

Cook: 30 mins

Extra time: 2 hours, proofing

1. Crumble yeast over the flour in a bowl. Sprinkle with caster sugar and pour milk over. Cover and prove in a warm place for 1 hour.

2. Heat together remaining milk and butter in a pan over low heat.

3. Mix all the remaining ingredients together, except the sultanas. Work into the risen dough. Finally, add the sultanas.

4. Cover bowl and prove in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in volume.

5. Remove dough and shape into an rectangular loaf tin. Transfer to a baking parchment lined baking tray. Bake in a preheated 180 C / Gas 4 oven for 30-35 minutes.

7. Immediately after baking, brush Stollen with melted butter and dust liberally with icing sugar.