The “Brown paper packages” and “Christmas Box” series

First up - Cranberry and red onion relish.

I think I prefer a relish to a chutney – I like the combination of fruit and a vegetable, letting the remainder of the ingredients do their thing. The other huge plus is that it doesn't take long. A chutney is fruit with additional spices and aromatics – usually taking at least an hour to cook and you have to live with the aroma in your kitchen for quite a while.

Here goes :

Cranberry and red onion relish

300g dried cranberries

3 medium red onions, finely diced

3 tbsp olive oil

7 fl oz of Balsamic vinegar

3 tbsp of preserving sugar

celery salt and black pepper

6 jars – my discovered stash, they

are 7 sided and measure 5cms/1¾” in diameter

x 7cms/2¾” high

Sweat the onion in the olive oil. Add the cranberries, vinegar and sugar and simmer gently for 25/30 minutes until sticky and reduced, season with celery salt and black pepper.

This recipe will give you 780g of relish – I filled seven jars as per the photos that follow.

If you can't get hold the preserving sugar you can use granulated.

Here come the photos!

Choices to make … boxes to fill!

Remember that nothing is set in stone and you can change your mind and tweak – make a list of what comes to mind and then sleep on it – or in my case go for a run – fresh air helps clear away the “broken biscuits” in my head when I can't think straight!

I've decided to mix savoury and sweet and I've based my packaging choices to suit the size of the cardboard box already illustrated. An odd number of treats look good when arranging – take account too of the size of “preserve pots” or jars – they don't have to be exactly the same but a smaller pot or jar looks better than, as an example, an average jar of jam which is approximately 450g.

Here are my choices :

Cranberry and red onion relish

Rocky Road

Cheese scones

Hokey pokey

Three Cheese Dainties

I haven't forgotten the syrup – I have a couple of extra ideas up my sleeve – all will be revealed!

Action plan :

The relish can be made now and fridged, ready

to label and zhuzh

The Rocky Road and the Hokey Pokey ditto – and

then bagged and into the freezer ready to transfer to

your bag or box of choice

The scones and dainties I'll leave until nearer the

time so they'll be fresh and give the giftee the choice

of freezing or demolishing immediately

Sounds like a plan – next up is the series of recipes with photos to help, mentioned during my chat with Bernie Keith, on his Radio Show, The Bernie Keith Show, BBC Radio Northampton on Thursday 10^th December 2020 at 10.45am - these are the Brown Paper Packages tied up with string and Christmas Box ideas – just in case you'd like to have a go at making your own gifts!

Margaret's Christmas Box!

Before our second lockdown I saw my friend Margaret once a week, distanced, for coffee. I should explain that Margaret is a very fit 89 year old. During one of our coffee mornings I asked her what she thought of my latest nocturnal thought – being awake at 2am has its rewards - and pitched my idea of making a selection of her chosen favourite home-made treats as a Christmas Box.

In my head it was a personal gift and ticked more than one box – she got to choose what she wanted and I didn't have to shop for a gift which I knew she'd like – but I could do better. One of my best hits in recent years was to buy her an advent calendar and in each “window” was a small jar of preserve, all different, for each day.

Not only did Margaret love the thought, she admitted being concerned about the difficulty for her of being able to go out shopping – spare a thought for the people out there who do not use modern technology! We had so much fun bouncing around ideas for her “Christmas Box” and my gift from Margaret is a donation to The Donkey Sanctuary!

Here's a taster from her preliminary list – lemon drizzle syrup :

I “borrowed” this syrup from my Lemon Tiramisu recipe - any leftovers were committed to the freezer in small pots. I may even zhuzh it for the festive season and add a generous drop of Limoncello liqueur.

I gave Margaret a pot of syrup to try over desserts - fresh fruit or the last piece of cake that needs reviving, anything goes. The only problem was she finished up with a drop left and didn't want to waste it – here's her tip – poor into a tall glass, add a good glug of chilled soda water and swizzle – result – absolutely refreshingly fabulous! I do love it when nothing gets wasted – who'd have thought it!

At the time I pitched the idea we didn't know about the second lockdown - now we do know it would appear that our ideas are even better than we first thought. Now I'm expanding the “Christmas Box” to include a selection of stuff – so far I have four boxes to fill … and counting.

Thinking “outside the box” has now become thinking “inside a box”.

Gotta go … choices to make, boxes to fill!

BPP – bags for chocolate!

there's a large cellophane bag underneath

the pennant shaped bag and then the red ties – it's

to give an idea of choice and what size chocolate delight

will fill them

the measurements of both are set down below

large clear cellophane bag

28x12cms/11x5” - with side gussets

pennant shaped bag

29cms/11” long (to the tip) x 13cms/5” wide

I've scrunched the large cellophane bag so that

you can get a better idea of size when the sides are

opened and scrunched!

 

These bags are really festive and smaller

than the other example so you'll fill more of these

with a batch, say, of Rocky Road

Note to self : if you're going to make Rocky Road, make

sure you cut it into small pieces

Next up – deciding on the contents of your package

Brown paper packages … the photos

 

I sourced my boxes locally from SCS Packaging

in Finedon, NN9 5JG – check out their website

www.scspackaging.co.uk

I bought 25 - only because they were flat packed in

25s so any I didn't use wouldn't take up space

storing for another day – a bargain at £4.30

the measurements of the boxes is as shown

At this time of year even the larger supermarkets

sell what they call a “crate gifting pack”

the twine and tag will be excellent to complete

the vision of a brown paper package, tied

up with string

If you'd like to go smaller, here's another

idea – this box comes flat packed and if I can

assemble it believe me anyone can

the measurements are 16x16x7cms/6x6x3” 

I've had these a while and so can't remember what

I paid – all I do know is that they weren't expensive

and don't take up space – flat packed x 4 boxes

There's more … bags for chocolate to follow

Brown paper packages tied up with string

I realise it's nothing new to make your own gifts to give at Christmas – lots of us having been doing it for years. In 2019 I made pies and the year before I made more Rocky Road than I thought was possible to ship to friends and family.

This year is so different for everyone that I've decided to broaden the idea of making my own gifts, based on the title above – it's time to step it up!

If you like the idea, even in principle, choose items you know you can make with both arms tied behind your back – tried and tested – don't make life difficult for yourself. Think about how you're going to “present your present” it doesn't have to be big – small is beautiful – for example if you're great at making chutney or relish go for it.

A few hints and tips :

Have a root around your store cupboard and where you keep your food related stash too. You know exactly what I mean – that pack of six small jars with lids that was such a bargain at the time, hmm where did I put them?!

Decide what you'd like to make – are you good at jam, chutney, biscuits, festive cupcakes, the list is endless and the world is your lobster.

Your gift doesn't have to be a huge selection of stuff – one pot or jar or bag that looks pretty ticks just as many boxes. If however you are creating a package then odd numbers work well when snuggled into a bed of shredded paper or scrunched tissue paper.

Choosing the packaging for your festive treats is important and fun too. You may have your own ideas already but in case you need food for thought – sorry – have a glance at the photos that follow – they may give you a shove in the right direction – either way, fab!

Packaging photo guide up next …

The real deal – a photo guide

 

thinly sliced potatoes – I used Charlottes

rinsed thoroughly and dried in a clean

tea towel

prepped and ready for the oven

out of the oven, ready to roll!

Next – brown paper packages tied up with string …