Festive wishes

Home Baking treats seem to be the dominant force in the Ayres household at the moment.

I’ve just had one of Meg’s gluten-free "iced gems" biscuits, which she made herself - and very tasty it was too. Maggie’s magical skills with flour, fat and sugar are legendary, and she has passed many of her abilities on to the offspring.

Maggie herself has, of course, been busy making more food that an army could fight its way through, despite the fact there are only 5 of us here for Christmas this year.

Rogan has made some delightful chocolate-chip cookies and the most amazing chocolaty, crumbly peppermint slices.

Even I gave it a go yesterday, making some truffles with dark, 70% chocolate. Inspired by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Christmas special I decided to create my own concoction, mixing chilli jam, lemon marmalade and a dash of single-malt whiskey to the melted chocolate. After letting it cool, I rolled the mixture into small balls and dipped them in more melted dark chocolate.

The result is quite an intense hit of flavours but, if I’m honest, it didn’t turn out quite as well as expected. In hindsight, I should probably have used a chilli jam that didn’t have garlic in it, as the lingering aftertaste is just a bit too... lingering.

I could probably have enjoyed 2 or three of them, sharing the rest with the family, however the family have decided my creations should be left entirely to me.

5 down, 11 to go...

Meanwhile, in keeping with the traditions of the blog, you should find below our annual greeting card. There’s been no snow this year, just relentless rain, so I was quite pleased to be able to photograph a robin in a holly tree, which is not too bad where festive images are concerned.

So whatever your beliefs, non beliefs and state of mind, I wish you all the very best over the coming festive season and for the New Year.