Gift ideas for the table setting

Bring equal amounts of sugar and lemon juice to the boil and boil for a few minutes until all the sugar has dissolved. Allow for the syrup to cool down completely.

Transfer the lemonade syrup to a beautiful glass bottle and add a few drops of Grenadine to the syrup. Do not shake or stir inside the bottle but allow for the Grenadine to make a swirl pattern effect in the lemonade syrup. Bind a nice ribbon around the bottle and put it as a gift on your guest’s place settings.

To serve the lemonade syrup it can be mixed with sparkling water or any other fizzy or soft drink such as Appletizer or Ice Tea.

 

Take a few crunchies and bind them together with festive ribbon.

Home-made chutney is also a wonderful gift as it is something that can keep for long in the cupboard. All you need is a beautiful jar, a recipe and some ribbon. I will share with you a pineapple chutney recipe but the pineapples can be replaced with any other fruit such as mango, tomatoes, apples, pears and the mint and chillies can be replaced with any other herb or spice.

Pineapple Chutney:

1ea Onion (Finely Chopped)
2ea Chillies (Chopped)
500ml White wine vinegar
500ml Sugar
4ea Pineapples
2tins Granadilla Pulp
Fresh Mint
Salt & Pepper

Method:

• Bring the vinegar, sugar, onion and chilli to the boil and cook until a syrup.
• Peel and cut the pineapple into brunoise.
• Add the granadilla pulp and pineapple.
• Cook further until the chutney reaches the right consistency.
• Choppy the mint finely and add to the cooked chutney.
• Season with salt pepper.
 

 

Christmas cookies


 

These Christmas biscuits are a bit more advanced to make but they can still be ordered or bought and just be packed over into a tin to make up a stunning gift.

 

Take an empty canned fruit tin and cover the sides with beautiful paper and ribbon. Put a bunch of fresh or potted herbs into the tin and add a Christmas wish note.

 

Bake a small fruitcake or buy a fruit cake and cut out individual portions with a round biscuit cutter. Bind a ribbon around the sides and garnish the top of the cake with some small meringues. This one is served in a small individual cupcake glass dome as a gift.