6 Things you make at Christmas that really you don't like.

Wow that sounds interesting Esmay! I love shortcuts too (and cheating!) I bought a Christmas cake but have been feeding it with alcohol so it will taste home made haha. By the time it's had a couple more drinks and marzipan and icing maybe no one will know. My father is also the only one who will eat it.

I want to make a gingerbread cheesecake as a dessert for all of us who don't like Christmas pudding. (My father is the only one who will eat that as well!)

Oh wow, maybe book that cruise and hire carers for your father Esmay! Life's too short! Do something for yourself for a change! xo

Hi O ,

I add banana and apple plus some booze to shop bought mincemeat if I don't make it from scratch .
I used to make the pastry , now I buy ready made puff .
I love short cuts .
I cook my Christmas cake overnight on very low having protected it with turkey foil and my father is the only one who'll eat it .

At the moment , I'm wondering whether to make a chocolate filling for my new dessert , but I don't want it to be too rich .
I might experiment with a vanilla or almond filling .
Typical me !
Making a lot of hard work for myself !

One Christmas , I had to make duck forgotten my father , my son wanted roast beef .
We had a shop bought Christmas pudding
- only eaten by Dad , my dad's 1950's trifle and only liked by him and three desserts - a lemon mousse , Tiramasu and a raspberry and chocolate trifle .
The last three were requests .

I want to go on a cruise for Christmas and yes I'm not sure that I want to come back !

Your new dessert sounds nice Esmay. I really like Tiramisu too. This year my son and I decided we are going to make a gingerbread cheesecake and no idea how to yet as I haven't looked for a recipe. We have to have Christmas pudding but only my Dad will eat it. I bought one. The same with Christmas cake.

I like mince pies but with mince meat I have doctored (shop bought with stuff added) and with the addition of Baileys cream. I don't know if I will bother this year though.

When it comes to Christmas cooking -I do a fair amount of tweaking.
I love bread sauce with turkey.
Brussels are okay with some butter maybe with bacon .

I don't like mince pies - too sweet and sickly for me . I prefer my own mince meat .
I make an old fashioned trifle with Swiss roll , jelly and custard with hundreds and thousands on top -but only my father will eat it .

Christmas pudding is so heavy -I eat some for luck every Christmas .

Otherwise it's three cold desserts perhaps something light and lemony , maybe a Tiramasu .
This year , I'm already inventing a new dessert using Amaretto biscuits and Bacci chocolates which I bought from an Italian delicatessen

Leftover bread sauce is lovely with lots of cheese mixed in and then used to coat leftover vegetables, baked in the oven.

I would like an onion chutney... or maybe a fruity one. Just think I won't even buy pickled onions this year as last year nobody ate them.

Witzend Both of ours were gifts from people returning from holidays, one in a tin and one in a box thing, so we assumed being proper Italian panatonne they would be good. They weren't. I think there must be a touristy version made for souvenirs 😁 So many people I know rave about it there must be nicer versions. Or maybe it's meant to be really dry and it's just not for me ?? There are so many lovely foods at Christmas though that I'm not worrying about it.

Onward&Upward I'm not pickle-averse, they have their place (especially onions) but it's not next to my Boxing Day ham. A nice fruity chutney might go down nicely for supper though.

Brussels sprouts

The only panettone we’ve ever had, AreWeThereYet, was a present, in a tin, and so dry it mostly ended up going out for the birds. At least they enjoyed it!

I'm not a fan of pickle! I also don't like Christmas foods much.

I have decided - on Christmas day I am doing a charcuterie board as a buffet for starters at 11.30... then at 1.30 we will have the main roast dinner and at 4pm we will have all the cake and puddings laid out as a sweet buffet. Then I'm done. YAY.

Wish I'd decided this years ago as my cantankerous father will be horrid to me until he gets his Christmas cake and then will want to go straight home. I'll do my duty but at least he'll have a sugar high to go home on. My husband does not have a sweet tooth or a large appetite so at least spacing it out means he can enjoy a little dessert.

Nothing. I can't think of any Christmassy foods I don't like to be honest.

I wouldn't be too impressed if someone presented me with pickles and chutneys to eat with my ham though (saw Nigella doing that on TV earlier on 😁) and I've never liked panatonne but I'm not sure if that's because the ones I've been given were too dry.

Thanks Urmstongran, they look good.

Oh Urmston I had fig jam with yogurt today!!!
I hate sage and onion stuffing but I make it because everybody else likes it. Only DH and DGD like sprouts but the rest of us have one on Christmas Day just to show willing. Which reminds me, I’d better get them on if they’re to be ready in time …

When my mum was alive, I'd make bread sauce from scratch - but nobody else liked it. Now, I won't bother making anything I don't enjoy - except the meat for the meat eaters!

Urmstongran

It’s figs that freak me out. I read once they have a wasp crawl inside them to die. Then kind of decompose ... or syrup away...
😱

I've never liked figs, even less now!

It’s figs that freak me out. I read once they have a wasp crawl inside them to die. Then kind of decompose ... or syrup away...
😱

hazel93

Have made Limoncello this year - when the grandchildren are going ballistic a quick shot should restore my happy face !]

I'm on my way hazel93, I love Limoncello

Lucca, I liked stuffing the dates! And some had almonds in and we made them look "fancy".
All very exciting.
I still love them - and the Turkish delight. I liked mixing them in the icing/cornflour mix.
Always preferred the rose to other flavours though.
Was always disappointed if Dad dipped the cubes into chocolate though.

Happy days.

I never liked the box of dates as a child either. I do now like the medjool ones and I also buy chocolate covered ones from Holland and Barrett. Those ones are incredibly moorish!

These are yummy hollysteers. I buy them all year round from Sainsbury’s. They were on my shopping list this morning!

As a child my mother always made dates stuffed with marzipan in different colours for “afters” along with Turkish delight in a round wooden box….and Stilton etc….good Lord how much we ate

hollysteers

Never made them, but always avoided the ubiquitous dates in a box which turned up every year.

Medjool dates are nicer hollysteers
Unless you don't like dates at all, of course.

Never made them, but always avoided the ubiquitous dates in a box which turned up every year.

I love everything Christmassy but don't do Christmas cake or pud as no one understands them here.

I never cook anything I don't like but, anyway, the only thing I don't like is beetroot and that is hardly a Christmas staple.

I don't do anything special for my vegetarian DiL - there is enough with potatoes, mushrooms, chestnuts and all the veg to compensate for not eating meat.

I love all the Christmas food and would hav ethe lot even if I was spending Christmas alone.

However, other members of the family do not, so these are my alternatives

mince pies = spiced biscuits
Christmas pudding = Yule log
Christmas cake = Christmas iced fairy cakes.