Calories in Christmas Chocolates

I've just done a VERY brave thing! I had rather a lot of chocolate and other goodies for Christmas (my nearest and dearest know how sweet my sweet tooth is!) and have quite a lot of it still left to eat. As I have started calorie counting again today I decided to go through said sweeties and write on the packets in black marker pen the amount of calories and fat in each. Everything in moderation...

Gingerbread Cake with Orange Icing

I made this gingerbread cake to take to our Kernow Christmas meal. The recipe called for '2 tbsp stem ginger (from a jar), chopped'. I had seen some root ginger at the local market stall and thought that this was the same thing, halfway through the recipe, I phoned my mum to check and she informed me of the differences.

The recipe called for two tablespoons of stem ginger, I used about a tablespoon sized lump of the fresh ginger anyway. I also don't like the taste of ground ginger so much so I used a teaspoon and a half of ground ginger and made the rest up with mixed spice. 

I baked it and it took about ten minutes longer than the recipe suggests. The orange icing was easy to make and I didn't grate the orange rind as they suggest in the picture but it turned out OK. I was worried that it didn't look as good as the picture, it's different maybe even better and it tastes pretty good too. 

Work Christmas Meal

Some people dread their work Christmas party but not me. I'm lucky enough to have a great job that I love and  lovely colleagues, who are all very different characters but genuinely fond of each other.

We went to Carluccio's for our Christmas meal but started with a few mulled wines in a local pub first (at about 4pm).

The meal at Carluccio's was a 5 course extravaganza. We were greeted with prosecco and Christmas crackers (with chocolate Santas in them) followed by starters. Lots of people had the antipasto but I went for the spicy parsnip soup which was nicer than I was expecting. It was quite delicate in flavour and a very light soup rather than the thick creamy stuff that I make.

This was followed by lasagne de verdu, a lasagne made with mushrooms and courgettes which was nice but pretty average. I was not disappointed by my pudding though. The chocolate bread and butter pudding or pasticcio di cioccolato as it was called was absolutely delicious. It had just the right amount of chocolate.

We were then served coffee and chocolates and cheese at the same time! I'm not a big coffee drinker but the chocolate was delicious. The cheese was served on plates for two which had giant crackers on and three small blocks of cheese, one was a hard, taleggio type cheese, there was a soft port salut type cheese and a blue one too. I did try the blue cheese but I still don't like it. This was served with celery and honey. I've never tried honey with cheese before but it was good!

We also had rather a lot to drink and I wasn't feeling my best this morning when I got up to go to work and it didn't occur to me to check that I was actually needed. Turns out I wasn't and I could really have done with a bit more sleep. Oh well. Feeling very Christmassy now and am off to another Christmas party with my friends in Cornwall this evening.

What did you do for your work Christmas party this year?

Mince Pies with Cinnamon Pastry

And for dessert I had a fantastic combination of mince pie and custard. It was heaven, I've been meaning to have it since I made these on Sunday night and have been so busy that I've just gobbled down a mince pie on its own instead. 

I was a little disappointed with my last batch of pies, the pastry was nothing special so having seen a recipe in the Sainsbury's magazine at the hairdressers that had ground almonds in it so I googled away and found this BBC recipe for Almondy Mince Pies. I still has a jar and a bit of Tesco Finest Mincemeat left to use and I wasn't that bothered by the almondy taste so I just used the pastry recipe and it is AMAZING! Cinnamon is my flavour of the Winter and it does make your mince pies a funny colour but it's worth it. 

And here is my mince pasty - equally as delicious!

Ms Dahl's Peanut Butter Fudge

I'm a bit of a fudge-aholic since discovering this recipe for Baileys and White Chocolate Fudge last Christmas and so when I came across this recipe for peanut butter fudge I had to try it under the guise of making it for other people for Christmas of course!

It was extremely easy to make, no boiling cream and sugar for 45 minutes like the other recipe and it is delicious, very peanut-y but not quite as melt-in-the-mouth creamy as the baileys and white chocolate one.

I only caught a glimpse of one of the TV programs but the delicious Miss Dahl's recipe book is on my Christmas list so I hope all her recipes are as easy and tasty as this one.