Win a fabulous festive hamper with DFS

Photo of author

By In The Playroom

Website | + posts

Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.

314 thoughts on “Win a fabulous festive hamper with DFS”

  1. Every Boxing Day my mam uses up the turkey leftovers to make a turkey pie and I love it! She uses a few tins of condensed mushroom soup for the sauce and adds chopped turkey and slice peppers – all encased in her homemade pastry!

    Reply
  2. Rather than a traditional stolen, my mum used to make a “marzipan roll” which was covered in puff pastry and glazed with apricot jam. This was a family favourite and I know make it for my family every Christmas …

    Reply
  3. I’ve been testing gluten free mince pie recipes for hubby. The batter is incredibly difficult to work with but taste nice

    Reply
  4. That sounds delightful! I can picture myself by the Christmas tree, sipping some tea and dipping some biscuits in for good measure. Sounds so relaxing! I make a yule log every year, but Christmas cookies are my favorite.

    Reply
  5. Mine is a rich welsh fruit cake,from a recipe handed down by my great grandmother, which is baked all through the year and then also as our Christmas Cake. It’s a real.cut and come again cake. I even still have my great grandmothers original Welsh recipe book ????

    Reply
  6. I like making Mince pies but using filo pastry instead of shortcrust which makes them a bit lighter on the stomach leaving more room for other treats ????

    Reply
  7. We have a family tradition to make a Trifle for Boxing day it is a little different from the usual ones.Sone base with a little sherry added,jelly lots of fruit, strawberry’s, ,peaches,then Strawberry blancmange and finally wipped cream,we decorate it with sprinkles and Christmas figures

    Reply
  8. I always make a homemade trifle as none of us really like Christmas pudding. It’s nothing fancy but everyone likes it and there’s never any left to take home so it must be good 🙂

    Reply
  9. Very simple. But my favourite is Boxing Day Bubble & Squeak. Just all the uneaten brussels, potatoes, carrots etc mashed up and fried and eaten for breakfast. much better than it sounds 😉

    Reply
  10. My favourite Christmas recipe is a Baileys and chocolate cheesecake, so easy to make yet so delicious and a great alternative to Christmas pudding after lunch.

    Reply
  11. Now, I can’t divulge the recipe (more than my life is worth), but I can tell you that my mince pies are amazing! The neighbours and a few people in my street have me baking just for them after they heard about them!

    Reply
  12. I don’t like Christmas cake or mince pies, or anything else with candied peel in, so I rather like cherry things at Christmas. Cherry trifle with kirsch, or morello cherry tart. Very easy, drain some bottled morello cherries, pack, in one layer, into a short crust pastry case, bake. When cool, glaze with redcurrant jelly. Really yummy.

    Reply
  13. A lovely Boxing Day turkey curry with lots of spices and a little chilli that my husband has grown, all with basmati rice and a nan, just the job after the feast the day before.

    Reply
  14. Made in desperation several years ago and went down so well we make them every year! Puff pastry mince pie whirls. I bought puff pastry instead of short crust when we were having a Christmas party. I used it anyway just spread the mince meat over the pastry, rolled it up and cut into even size slices. Lay them to bake on an oven sheet and they looked fab! I sprinkled them with sliced almonds and they went down a storm. Requested every year since 🙂

    Reply
  15. I have NO idea the Recipe but my mum makes the Tastiest Stuffing ever!!!!!! She has mushroom onions and garlic and i have no idea what else 🙂
    Ive attempted to Replicate it but i need to get the Full Recipe 🙂
    Merry Xmas

    Reply
  16. I make carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese icing, at Christmas instead of a carrot I make them look like Christmas puddings 🙂

    Reply
  17. Herby Cheese Straws – made with leftover pastry after making the Mince Pies – easy and delicious and the perfect nibble with drinks!

    Reply
  18. I love mince pies and I bake puff and shortcrust but my favourites are the “bakewell” mince pies topped with an almond sponge. Very moreish 🙂

    Reply
  19. My mother in law’s homemade Christmas pud is absolutely divine – I don’t know the recipe yet unfortunately but i’m definitely going to find out before we have to host Christmas for the first time!

    Reply
  20. Gosh so many, cauliflower cheese with nutmeg, sprouts with bacon, sesame seeds and maple syrup, my hubby just loves bubble & squeak!

    Reply
  21. Love this Ham recipe from good housekeeping mag…….unsmoked gammon..simmered on top of oven with some cloves , onion and peppercorns.Drained when cooked. Skin removed.Brushed with mixture of brown sugar, honey and brandy mix. Baked in oven for 40mins but out every 5 mins for basting in brandy mix. Divine hot or cold.

    Reply
  22. My partner does his own mince pies – they are easy, but it’s the only thing he can bake! So I love when he makes them. He does do his own vegan pastry, too!

    Reply
  23. I make a Xmas Pavlova with two different recipes. I use 8 eggs on the bottom layer and make a smaller crunchy top with 6 eggs and fill with fruit , so too layers it is yummy:)

    Reply
  24. Christmas Pudding Ice cream if I can call it a recipe- crush and mix a pudding into vanilla ice cream and put back in the freezer. It is amazing

    Reply
  25. Peppermint bark. It’s a US thing but I found a good recipe and we all love it. Two layers of white chocolate with crushed candy canes mixed in, sandwiched together with a layer of dark minty chocolate cream.

    Reply
  26. With the remaining Turkey I make my now infamous Turkey and Ham pie, using my grandma’s secret pastry recipe that was passed down to me. If I say so myself, it is delicious.

    Reply
  27. I adore the hummingbird bakery’s recipe for gingerbread. It is perfect for gingerbread shapes as it doesn’t spread when baking.

    Reply
  28. Bread sauce
    Simmer an onion stuck with cloves in milk, very slowly , for several hours. Add white bread, crusts off, cubed to 1cm, lots of pepper, salt and let sit till thick. Stir in butter and/or single cream

    Reply
  29. My personal favourite is christmas pudding ice cream . This is simply made by soaking dried fruit including pineapple, cherries, sultanas and mixed peel in brandy or alcohol of choice. mix with ice cream . Place in bowl and then put in freezer Remove from freezer 10 minutes before serving . Easy dish tastes great!

    Reply
  30. Hot chocolate – a few pieces of your favourite chocolate (we use dairy milk), add warm milk and a either a few big marshmallows or half a handful of little ones, Add squirty cream on top then sprinkle with chocolate shavings and a bit of cinnamon, Perfect!

    Reply
  31. It’s a boxing day favourite,leftover turkey on toast with fried stuffing,so basic,so simple and yet oh so yummy.It’s also so quick,after a massive cook on Christmas Day where we cater for twelve this is about all we feel like doing x

    Reply
  32. On Boxing Day we all sit down for a huge fried Full English & Irish Breakfast / Brunch. The Full English part is pretty normal: fried eggs, fried bread or toast, mushrooms, fried tomatoes and baked beans, plus bacon & sausage for my husband who is the only non-veggie. The Irish part is colcannon made with well-seasoned mashed potatoes and left-over Brussels sprouts cut in half or quarters. Somehow having the sprouts combined into mashed potato cakes and fried in butter until they are browned makes them much more yummy.

    Reply
  33. My mum’s pork, apricot and sage stuffing!

    My gleam is logged in as my husband on instagram for some reason (tomkirby83) however my entries are on my account (sayhelloflo)

    Reply
  34. My dad invented a recipee for the naughtiest yet yummiest festive dessert, he shared the secret with me and I’ve made it every year since!

    Reply
  35. Let’s be honest, you can’t beat a cracking chocolate yule log to totally annihilate you after a big Christmas lunch.

    Reply
  36. I use my great great grandma’s cake recipe for Christmas. It’s delicious! Add a dram of brandy for that little kick 🙂

    Reply
  37. We have cold leftover turkey on boxing day with pickles. As there is only 2 of us I then cook up lots of veggies divide into 2 pots and make one into a stew and the other I curry. I then freeze it in 2 person portions keeping us going for months

    Reply
  38. My favourite christmas recipe is for mince pies made with an orange pastry mincemeat (of course!) and a sweet cream cheese filling (it’s nicer than it sounds!) 🙂

    Reply
  39. I love making all types of mince pies, shortcrust, open, puff, and turnovers but my favourites have to be those topped with an almond sponge, I have to be careful not to eat too many.

    Reply
  40. I love making my little ones egg nog on xmas eve. The recipe is simple but my children love it, even the older ones

    childrens Eggnog Recipe

    3 cups whole milk
    1 cup double cream
    1/2 cup sugar
    4 large eggs
    2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    nutmeg

    1.Whisk together the milk, cream, sugar, and eggs
    2.Cook over low heat, whisking constantly. Do not let it boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
    3.Serve immediately, topped with nutmeg to taste.

    Reply
  41. Stilton and broccoli soup – 500g of broccoli, 125g of Stilton, 750ml stock, one medium onion. small pat butter, braise onions in the butter, add the stock and broccoli, simmer until soft, blend, then add Stilton after to melt in the hot mixture.

    Reply
  42. Traditional Italian chocolate salami..
    It’s dark chocolate with crushed biscuits and assorted crushed nuts.. a little dark rum… place ball of ingredients onto clingfilm. . Roll out into salami shape.. dust wirh icing sugar… slice & serve with cream … yummy!

    Reply
  43. I don’t cook so best to ask my wife for the recipe but I love her Christmas pud. I have noticed the brandy bottle seems to take a hammering for a couple of weeks prior to Christmas though!

    Reply
  44. My favourite Christmas recipe is pork and chestnut stuffing. Combine sausage meat, tin of pureed chestnuts (or rough chopped if you prefer) packet of stuffing mix (like paxo) and egg to bind and use to stuff the turkey – it is delicious! Can also make it into little balls if you prefer.

    Reply
  45. My favourite Christmas recipe is my Austrian Great Grandmother’s Vanilla Kipferl recipe, yummy Christmas cookies that taste like Christmas to me 🙂

    Reply
  46. Every Christmas I make a sherry trifle for my family, I don’t use and fruit just Swiss roll. And plenty of sherry. You can’t forget a broken up flake for in too of the cream layer

    Reply
  47. In our house we make a kind of stuffing cake, completely wrapped in bacon. We made it by accident a few years back and we’ve been making it ever since!!

    Reply
  48. My husband makes the Christmas Pudding every year (it’s literally the only thing he’s ever cooked :), it’s Delia Smiths recipe and it’s gret

    Reply
  49. My favourite recipe is my raw carrot cake which I like to make for visitors because one of then is likey to be guten free as she is coeliac and another is lactose intolerant. It is basically a nutty bese with dates and raw carrot and a cream made of cashews, vanilla, agave syrup and coconut oil which sets it as it turs to solid when cold. I can eat anything but I really like this cake as it makes me feel light.

    Reply
  50. My favourite is a mince pies and mincemeat & Vanilla ice cream all home made including the mincemeat. It is so Christmassy.

    Reply
  51. Microwave chocolate brownies has to be my favourite recipe, so easy and tasty, Christmas them up with some marshmallows and Christmas sprinkles 🙂

    Reply

Leave a Reply