Last weekend I was invited along to a Christmas themed event by the Jet2 Holidays team to celebrate all of the amazing Jet2 Christmas Market City breaks they have on offer. I was joined at the event by around 20 other bloggers as we ate, drank and crafted our way to merriment. In fact, I got so merry I had to leave my car behind and get my husband to pick me up!
At the event, we were split into groups to make two different festive starters and some festive cocktails before we all got creative making our own living wreaths. Below are the recipes for the starters and cocktails that we made.
Christmas Blinis
For the Blinis
200ml milk
½ tsp caster sugar
25g butter plus extra for frying
175g plain flour
1tsp fast-action yeast
For the Toppings
Options are endless, from classic smoked salmon to pickled carrot
Method
Heat the milk in a saucepan until steaming, remove from the heat and stir in the sugar and butter until melted. Place flour and yeast in a bowl. Make a well in the middle and pour in the liquid mixture and the egg yolks. Whisk until you have a smooth batter, then cover and set aside for 1 hr
Once the blini batter is bubbly on the surface. Whisk the egg whites in a bowl until they peak. Fold into the blini batter. Cook over the batter, in a frying pan a tablespoon at a time leaving space between each one, over medium heat until bubbles pop on the surface. Flip over and cook for 1-2 mins more, place onto serving dish.
Christmas Gyoza
Serves 2 – Ingredients – You can change the filling and use chicken or pork mince, but we made a turkey version used leftover leg meat which was shredded and soaked in some stock.
8 gyoza wrappers
¼ Cabbage finely chopped
1 spring onion
1 teaspoon plum sauce to bind
Method
In a bowl, mix all the ingredients together to get a sticky texture
Spoon into the gyoza wrappers and fold and crimp using a little water to seal the wrappers
Steam for 10 minutes – the wrappers turn clear
Heat a teaspoon of oil in a frying pan and carefully place the dumplings into the pan, to crisp up.
Snowflake Cocktail
Ingredients
25ml vanilla vodka
12.5ml creme de Cocoa
12.5ml coconut purée
100ml milk
Desiccated coconut & lime juice for garnish
Rim glass with desiccated coconut. Use lime juice to make stick. Tall highball glass works well for this.
Scoop ice into a cocktail shaker and add the vodka, crème de cocoa, coconut puree and milk. Shake vigorously for 30 seconds, strain over ice into the highball glass.
Christmas Cosmo
Ingredients
25ml Vodka
12.5ml Cointreau
12.5ml gingerbread syrup
100ml cranberry juice
Garnish with candy cane
Serve in a classic martini glass.
Place ice into the shaker, add all the liquid ingredients and shake for 30 seconds. Strain into a martini glass (no ice) and hang candy cane on the outside as festive garnish.
After creating then sampling all of these festive delights it was time to get creative and make our own living wreaths. There was actually a competition to win a weekend city break but sadly my wreath was not chosen. I did have lots of fun getting creative though.
I had a brilliant day so a huge thanks to Jet2 for hosting us and allowing me to join you for this festive fun. It certainly helped give me some great ideas for some festive cocktails to enjoy over the coming weeks.