Spend Less & Make More This Christmas
Is your purse or wallet feeling tight this Christmas? Why not make instead of buy?
Every Christmas there is the stress of buying your loved ones presents. Will my mum enjoy this book? Will my brother wear this shirt? Have I bought my boyfriend the right trainers?
The pressure to do well is everywhere - in magazines, on the TV, in emails - and with that pressure, there is cost. A cost that a lot of people can’t afford.
So this year for your last minute Christmas presents, why not join me in spending less and making more?
I can tell you first hand that it is so incredibly satisfying to give a handmade gift. The lucky receiver always appreciates the extra effort you have made - much more than if you had just grabbed a bath and lotion set from your chain pharmacy.
There are so many different things you can make too - for example, a woven plant pot, a macrame wall hanger, a painting or framed print? Or - if you’re not the arty type - how about compiling a special playlist or an album of your memories together? You can always go down the food making route too. There are so many options and I’m here to talk you through a few of my favourites, and most do-able, from this year.
Beetroot and Orange Chutney (thanks to BBC Good Food)
This is an easy but messy process but my word the mess is 100% worth it. Perfect for the cheese lover especially! Super easy to prepare and make, and can be put into cute little jars for small gifts (I filled some old jars here too, saving that extra small amount of money)
So I adapted the recipe a little bit for my own personal taste, but the original can be found here: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/spiced-beetroot-orange-chutney
Ingredients:
2 bunches of raw beetroot (I used around 900g here)
2 red onions
3 shallots
2 eating apples - I used Braeburn
Zest and juice of 2 oranges
1 small carrot (extra veg is never a bag thing)
2 tbsp of yellow mustard seeds
1 tbsp of coriander seed
1 tbsp ground cloves
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp mixed peppercorns
350 ml red wine vinegar
300ml malt vinegar (I actually forgot to check out how much red wine vinegar I needed to buy, and had to substitute with what I had in the cupboards - oops)
600g golden granulated sugar (again I forgot to check how much I needed and I ran out of this after 200g and substituted with normal granulated sugar instead)
Method:
1 - Chop the red onion and shallots (note I did this first to get it out of the way, my eyes were indeed streaming the whole time), peel and chop the apples and carrot. Zest and juice the oranges. Peel and chop the beetroot, do try to wear gloves otherwise your hands will stain, like below.
2 - Put this all in your biggest pan with the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for at least 1 hour (I cooked mine for about 2 hours before draining some of the liquid away in impatience). And please do not forget to open a window or put the extractor fan on while cooking this, you don’t want your home smelling like onion for days I can assure you. Cook until the chutney is thicker and the beetroot still is a bit tender.
3 - Make sure the jars are thoroughly cleaned in hot/boiling water before spooning the chutney into the jars. I made 6 small and 2 larger jars.
4 - As stated in the original recipe, ‘you can eat it straight away but it will be even better after a month. Will keep for up to 6 months in a cool, dark place. Once opened, refrigerate and eat within 2 months.’
Chocolate Macarons
Now this one’s a little trickier and requires a lot more patience, of which I found out I have little when it comes to baking. You don’t need to be a skilled patisserie chef to make macarons it turns out, but a good piping bag does indeed help.
For this, I’ve only made half the amount each time. You can find the original recipe here: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/macarons (If BBC Good Food would like to sponsor me at any time, I wouldn’t say no)
Ingredients:
85g icing sugar
80g ground almonds
2 medium egg whites, separated in half
80g granulated sugar
1/4 tsp red food colouring (or any other colour of your choice)
For the filling:
60g double cream
55g dark chocolate
12g unsalted butter at room temperature
Method:
1 - Put the icing sugar and ground almonds into a food processor or blender and pulse/whiz until completely combined. Sieve this into a large bowl and bin any bits that don’t sieve without having to force them through
2 - Add the egg whites of 1 egg to the almond-icing mixture and mix until it becomes a thick paste
3 - Put the other egg white into a heatproof bowl with an electric whisk ready (note the electric whisk here - I’m sure an electric mixer would work here too)
4 - Put 25ml of water and the sugar into a small pan on medium heat and stir until dissolved. Bring to the boil. This is where the original recipe gets technical with temperatures. If you have a thermometer then fab, use it. If not, like me, just gage it as best you can.
5 - Once the syrup starts boiling, start to whiz the egg whites in the bowl until stiff peaks form. With the syrup still boiling, and before it starts darkening in colour, pour it slowly down the side of the egg white bowl and whiz into the egg whites until glossy ribbons and peaks can be made (only about a minute or 2 here)
6 - Tip the whizzed sugar egg whites into the almond mixture and gently fold together. Do not over mix the batter here, otherwise you will lose the work of the whisking. As the original recipe says, ‘it should fall in a thick ribbon from the spatula. The ribbon should also fade back into the batter within about 30 seconds. If it doesn’t, fold a few times more.’
7 - Heat the oven to 170C/150C fan/gas 3-4. In the meantime, line 3 baking sheets with baking parchment. Carefully put the batter into a piping bag fitted with a large round nozzle, bare in mind this is the messiest process and the batter will go everywhere. Make sure the batter is pushed towards to nozzle to reduce the amount of air bubbles within the bag, it will make it easier to pipe. Holding the bag vertically down to the tray, with the nozzle about 1cm form the paper’s surface, pipe the batter into circles about 2.5cm in diameter. Once the sheets are full, leave to rest for around 30 mins or until the macarons have developed a skin.
8 - Bake the macarons, and here I advise you to watch them bake with your beady eye. The recipe says to bake them for 14 minutes, but mine have been slightly overcooked at 12 minutes on both attempts.
9 - Once the time is up, take them out of the oven and immediately slide the macarons onto a work surface to cool before careful peeling them off the paper.
10 - To make the filling, place the cream in a small saucepan and the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl. Bring the cream just to the boil and pour over the chocolate. Leave to stand for a few minutes and then stir to combine before adding the butter. Stir in until smooth and leave to set until thickened. I also added a little bit of icing sugar here in the mix as my filling wasn’t thickening.
11 - Place the chocolate mix into a clean piping bag with a smaller nozzle and pipe a circle on one macaron before placing another one of equal size and shape on top. Press together slightly to make sure the macaron sandwich is stuck together nicely.
12 - Once finished, the macarons will improve overnight in the fridge. Bon appetite!
Personalised Pillow Cases!
Almost everyone I know has a personalised pillow case from me. By personalised, I simply mean they have a basic handmade pillow case with their initial stitched on.
I am lucky that by coming from a Fashion Design degree, I have so many remnants of fabric leftover, scattered across parents’ and grandparents’ spare rooms and attics. If you do not have any spare material hanging around however, you won’t need more than 1.5metres length of 1 material and around 25-30cm square of another material, the more contrasting the better.
There are many techniques of making pillow or cushion cases but the simplest and easiest method is the wrap over technique, similar to that of a pillow from a bed set.
You will need:
1.5 metres length by around 50cm wide of your main fabric
A 25-30cm square of a contrasting colour or fabric
A long ruler or tape measure
Fabric scissors, or just general sharp scissors
Some pins
A needle and thread (a sewing machine is a lot easier here, but if you don’t have one, why give up eh?)
An iron
A cushion insert at around 45cm x 45cm to 50cm x 50cm (you can find these in Ikea or on amazon)
A leftover cereal box or shoe box, or actually any cardboard you can find
Method:
1 - Measure 45cm wide all the way down the length of the main fabric and draw a line in chalk to join these markings up. Then measure along this line to mark 3 main measurements at 35cm long and then from that point 45cm long and then from that point 35cm long to make a total of 115cm long. You can now cut this 45cm wide by 115cm long rectangle out.
2 - At both ends, turn the fabric over by 1cm towards the bad side of the fabric and iron. Then turn a second time the same direction and iron again. Stitch along the inside of the turn to make sure it is secure.
3 - Using the cardboard, draw out a letter and then draw around it to make it about 7cm thick all round. Draw around this letter template on top of the good side of the contrast fabric and cut out. Then iron all edges toward the back side of the fabric by approximately 1cm.
4 - Back to the main fabric, between the first and second measurement points we marked earlier, measure diagonally to find the centre on the good side of the fabric and mark a cross lightly with chalk.
5 - Find the centre of the letter and position centrally on this cross. When you are happy with the position, pin down. You can now stitch this letter to the surface of the main fabric.
6 - With the fabric the right side up and laid out on the floor, fold the top section first by bringing the stitched end over with the fold at the top measurement point. Pin this.
7 - Then do the same to the bottom part by folding the end over the top of the already pinned fold.
8 - You should now have a square with the raw cut edges on each side. Stitch each side down securely at a 1cm seam allowance (1cm away from the cut edge), you don’t want this to undo later on.
9- Once both sides are stitched, you can then fold the case through to the correct side and voila! Put in your pillow insert and done!
This is all just a flavour of what you can do… You can amend and add as you want! Buy a cheese board from an independent store and some cheese from another indie to go alongside the chutney. Maybe make some honeycomb to go alongside the chocolate macarons. You can add tassels to the pillow cases. How about making salt dough plant pots? Or cookie name markers for the Christmas table? .
Just have a go and experiment. What could go wrong?
Written by Jemma Leigh Conway
Hi I'm Jemma, a mid twenties designer for a handbag brand based in London. After working at various markets over the years for doughnut stalls and my own small business, I found the sense of community there is within Independent and small businesses. Ever since, I am always on the search to find my new favourite indie either in shops or online. My blog is undergoing a revamp ready to launch in the new year, but can be found at www.jemmaleighconway.com and @jemmaleighconway on Instagram.