Delia's Happy Christmas

I promised myself that I'd be organised this year and have everything ready for Christmas early but, so far, I've done very little towards the big day. There's now less than six weeks to go, and though that may sound like plenty of time, it will slip by in the blink of an eye. 

One thing I have been doing is having a look through my Delia's Happy Christmas book. I don't do very much baking, mainly because if it's there I'll eat it, so I tend not to make many sweet things. Christmas is different though, I'm allowed plenty of treats.

It was only two years ago when I discovered I like Christmas cake. I tried it as a child, proclaimed it wasn't for me and never tried it again until I wondered if my tastes had changed, and indeed they had. I won't be making my own Christmas cake though, it's really not worth it when there's only me in the house who eats it, but Mick's auntie is a wonderful baker and has promised me some of hers. I do think that this photo of Delia's looks delicious though.

Something else I've only recently discovered I like, after a childhood of picky eating, are mince pies. Last year, after this new revelation, I went through packets of them, all bought from various supermarkets. This year I intend to make my own.

I do love my crumbles in different guises but how does Chocolate & Sour Cherry Crumble sound to you? I have to admit it sounds right up my street. I don't think crumbles ever look particularly appealing but the taste and texture usually makes up for that. I think the combination of chocolate and sour cherry will work wonderful together so this is one I must try.

After a big dinner on Christmas Day, the last thing I want to be doing is cooking more big dinners in the days that follow so I admit that we let things go a bit in the cooking department and we eat easy things or picky things. Parmesan Twists are a favourite of the cheese lovers amongst us, there being only one who doesn't like cheese (how any child of mine can grow up not liking cheese I'll never know!). These will definitely be on the list of things I must make, Eleanor would never forgive me if her favourites weren't available.

I'm quite partial to a meringue and so are others in the household so I might give these Petits Monts Blancs a whirl. They look quite special with the sparkler in them. I'm not too sure about the sweetened chestnut puree that they're filled with though, I've never tried that before, I wonder what it's like. Does anyone know? I could always do meringues filled with something I know everyone will like and enjoy. That's the beauty of recipe books, they can give you inspiration even if you don't follow the recipes to the letter.

There's lots of other lovely things in this book, some of which I might have a go at, assuming I can get everything else that I need to do done in time. Wouldn't it be good if we could extend the days a bit at this time of year.