Truffles are simple to make and guaranteed to please
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Home-made presents and cards are so much more thoughtful than bought ones, show your loved ones you care this Christmas with a crafty gift
Christmas cards
To start, buy good quality card. Keep it simple and go for plain white for the card background, then get some nice patterned card to cut shapes out of to stick on the front. Paperchase does a fantastic array of card, and it’s around £2 for an A2 sheet – enough for you to make around 15 cards. Avoid covering a card in glitter and sequins – it will look like a five-year-old has made it, instead stick one basic shape on the card (drawn and cut out from your patterned card) such as a dove, baubles, holly or a tree and use sequins and gems sparingly. If you’re not the best at drawing print out an image off the internet and trace it. For your colour scheme avoid the obvious reds and greens, instead use deeper reds, navy, gold and purple. If you want to put a message on the front of your card, avoid letter stickers and stencils. If you have nice handwriting, write it on yourself, otherwise, avoid putting a message on the front.
It’s a wrap
For a stylish alternative to wrapping paper use spare wallpaper to wrap your gifts. It’s especially useful for wrapping easily broken items as it’s a lot tougher than wrapping paper.
Charm offensive
Use a chain from a necklace you no longer wear, or buy stretchy thread from a haberdashery or bead shop, and thread on beads or charms for simple home-made jewellery. Visit www.the-beadshop.co.uk to purchase beads from 12p each, or search on eBay where you can buy packs of 50 beads for as little as £1. For charms, try vintage shops in your area.
Picture perfect
Photos are a lovely personal gift. Simply frame a favourite photo, or create a photo collage on a photo mount of lots of different snaps. Photo mounts are available to buy from WHSmith or your local art shop from around £6. Or you can create your own photo gallery the easy way using hanging photo pockets, (£7.99, www.cleverlittleideas.com)
Sweet treats
Chocolate truffles by Jane Milton for Divine Chocolate are simple to make, but the results are impressive
Makes about: 30
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooling time: 24 hours
Ingredients
200ml single cream
50g unsalted butter
500g 70% Divine dark, white, milk or hazelnut chocolate
Optional – 2 tbsp rum, brandy or whisky
Method
1 Heat the cream and butter together in a pan until the mixture reaches boiling point. Turn off the heat and add the chocolate – and liqueur if being used.
2 Stir until all the chocolate has melted. Pour into a tin or plastic container, set aside and allow to cool and set for 24 hours (leave on the side, do not put in the fridge).
3 Take teaspoonfuls and roll into balls with cool hands, dust with cocoa or dip in chocolate using a fork.
Flower power
Instead of spending £40 on an overpriced flower arrangement that’s past its best, arrange your own at home. Florist to the stars Jamie Aston, who has his own flower-arranging school says, ‘I often send planted amaryllis bulbs out to my mother’s friends on her behalf. All I do is plant two large amaryllis bulbs in a ceramic pot and add a few glittered sticks to make them more festive. They flower quickly and last for weeks. December is a great month for early spring flowers so hyacinths and tulips are all around. Mini bunches of fragrant hyacinths wrapped in sparkly paper and tied with a red bow are cute, little inexpensive gifts. You can also plant hyacinth bulbs in lovely glass containers and cover them with moss or glass stones for a more special, longer-lasting gift. Or give a simple bunch of ilex berries and pine. Ilex are pure red berries on tall wooden stems and last for weeks in the home. Add some scotch pine or pine from the back of your Christmas tree and simply wrap this up with decorative paper, add a bow and you’re all done.’
Christmas chutney
Chunky piccalilli recipe by Annie Bell from her book Gorgeous Christmas (Kyle Cathie, £14.99, WHSmith)
Ingredients
Makes about: 1.2 litres
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 red pepper, core and seeds removed, cut into 1cm strips
200g cauliflower florets, stalks trimmed
150g romesco florets
4 fresh medium-hot red chillies, left whole
2 medium carrots, ends removed, peeled and cut into 8 batons each
6 shallots, peeled
2 tbsp cider or white wine vinegar
500ml white wine
100ml water
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp golden caster sugar
1 bay leaf
1½ tsp sea salt
2 tsp cornflour, blended with 1 tbsp water
2 tsp wholegrain mustard
Method
1 Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add all the vegetables and fry for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the vinegar, wine and water, the spices, sugar, bay leaf and salt, then bring to the boil and simmer over a low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2 Stir in the cornflour paste and simmer for a couple of minutes longer until the sauce thickens. Stir in the mustard, transfer to a bowl and leave to cool.
3 Sterilise your jars. Wash and dry them, then place them in an oven preheated to 170˚C/340˚F/gas mark 3, for five minutes.
4 Remove and fill with the hot vegetables, packing them down, then pour over the liquor. Seal the jars with their lids and leave to cool completely. Store in the fridge for up to a month.
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