Christmas Gift Guide: Top Festive Food & Drink
Over the past couple of months, I have been drafting Lilinha Angel’s World Christmas Feature and looking around for the best festive food and drink, and gifts for the ladies in Top Gifts for Her, gents and children. We have been trying and testing them ourselves and those are the Top Festive Food & Drink that we recommend in our Christmas Gift Guide 2013.
Top 5 Festive Food & Drink
Christmas is in my opinion the best time of the year, the time to be happy and jolly. It reminds me of a big family dinner with laughter and joy, followed by cheese and crackers and tasty chutney, lots of chocolates, ice cream and drinks.
Cadbury Festive Collection is wrapped in a beautiful Christmas knit pattern, a nostalgic and heart warming design inspired by the recent trend for retro Christmas jumpers. There is a wide selection available, a type of chocolate for everyone, the whole family can unwrap the joy of Christmas this year with Cadbury. Cadbury Festive Collection features the cute Cadbury Dairy Milk Mousse Snowman (RRP 0.65p), a delicious Cadbury Dairy Milk shell covering a light and fluffy vanilla mousse centre, it’s hubby’s favourite chocolate, it is very tasty and melts in the mouth.
Little man loves Freddo Faces (RRP £1.42), cheeky chocolate frog bursting out five new froggy faces, it is playful and fun. I am a fan of Cadbury Selection Boxes (RRP £2.99), you can find your favourite chocolates together, Fudge, Crunchie, Dairy Milk Caramel, Flake, Dairy Milk and Dairy Milk Buttons, it is a lovely selection. The countdown to Christmas asks for Christmas Advent Calendar (RRP £2.19), Cadbury has a few designs available, all with their lovely chocolate inside.
Ferrero Gift Sets are ideal for decorating the house, giving as gifts and adding to Christmas stockings. Ferrero Collection (RRP £4.69) features the classic Ferrero Rocher, new and improved Ferrero Rond Noir with new hazelnut centre encased in dark chocolate pearl, and Raffaello by Ferrero, a refined blend of almond and coconut. It’s a great selection with something for everyone to enjoy: Ferrero Rond Noir is hubby’s favourite, while little man prefers Ferrero Rocher and I just love Raffaello by Ferrero.
Ferrero Rocher Golden Tin (RRP £6.99) contains the classic Ferrero Rocher with their mouth-watering layers combining hazelnut, rich chocolate, smooth filling and wafer. Simply gorgeous! We were also sent Ferrero Rocher Mini Gift Box (RRP £2.99) and Raffaello by Ferrero Mini Gift Box (RRP £2.99), which come beautifully packaged in a box with a bow, containing 6 pieces of chocolate – gorgeous and delicious treats, small enough to fit in stocking fillers. The whole selection of Ferrero is absolutely stunning and very tasty too!
The English Provender Co. Christmas Chutneys Gift Set (RRP £10.00) features truly scrumptious chutneys made using the finest natural ingredients, free from artificial colours and flavours, and traditional open-pan cooking. The git set is presented in a hessian bag filled with delicious chutneys in four different flavours: Moroccan Spiced Chutney, Ploughman’s Plum Chutney, Sweet Tomato & Chilli Chutney and Caramelised Red Onion Chutney.
The Chutney Gift Bag pairs perfectly with all your favourite cheeses and savoury crackers, it is also a perfect gift for chutney and cheese lovers alike. As an alternative to a cheese board, chutneys can also be enjoyed with other food, Caramelised Red Onion Chutney is delicious with scotch eggs, Sweet Tomato & Chilli Chutney goes well with succulent sausages and honey roasted ham, while Ploughman’s Plum Chutney is great with pork pies and sausage rolls, and Moroccan Spiced Chutney is perfect with spicy samosas, kebabs and couscous.
Smirnoff Gold Collection with Cinnamon Flavoured Liqueur (RRP £21.95) is a mouth-watering blend of Smirnoff No.21 premium vodka with a hint of natural cinnamon flavouring, garnished with real edible 23 carat gold leaf. I love the look of Smirnoff Gold, it is very stylish and the beautifully suspended gold leaf flakes are gorgeous, adding a lovely touch of luxury to any Christmas drink and cocktails.
We will be enjoying ‘Apple Bite Gold’ cocktails this Christmas, a delicious blend of Smirnoff vodka, lemonade and apple juice. It can be made with any vodka from the Smirnoff range, however our cocktails will have the Midas touch from Smirnoff Gold. Apple Bite Gold is a long drink that blends the delicate cinnamon flavour in Smirnoff Gold with apple, fine combination of tastes that’s lifted by the effervescent citrus lemonade and the theatre of real edible gold flakes, a true Christmas cocktail.
Baileys Chocolat Luxe (RRP £16.99) is the world-first fusion of luxury Belgian chocolate, Irish whiskey and cream. The Irish whiskey-fused drink combines luxury products, including Madagascar vanilla and over 30g of real Belgian chocolate per bottle, ensuring that Baileys Chocolat Luxe has all the great taste of the highest quality chocolate with all the rich, creamy and caramel tones of a traditional Baileys.
I am already a fan of Baileys, and the new chocolate innovation recipe is a great combination, offering a multi-sensory experience of eating chocolate. You can simply serve it on the rocks for an explosion of flavours, resulting in a rich molten chocolate drinking experience, or add Baileys to cocktails and drinks, Baileys Hot Chocolate, Baileys Midnight Mint, Baileys Irish Latte, Baileys Eggnog. Or you can experiment by adding Baileys Chocolat Luxe to recipes, such as Baileys Baked Cheesecake and Baileys Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding.
Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream (RRP £4.99) adds a lovely sweet ending to any meal. I really like ice cream and can have it all year round, on its own and with warm desserts. Ben & Jerry’s has a wide selection of flavours available and our favourites are Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough, Vanilla ice cream with chunks of chocolate chip cookie dough and chocolatey chunks , and Caramel Chew Chew, Caramel Ice Cream with a Caramel Swirl and Chocolatey Covered Caramel Chunks.
We really like the creamy ice cream with crunchy pieces, they are very tasty on their own. Little man likes having his ice cream with sprinkles and chocolate sauce, I am thinking of enjoying Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream with Baileys Chocolat Luxe this Christmas, as a luxurious dessert after our Christmas dinner. Or should I have Ben & Jerry’s with warm Christmas pudding?
Hope you enjoyed our selection of Top Festive Food & Drink. Stuck for Christmas Gift Ideas? Check out our Top Gifts for Her, and look out for Top Gifts for Him and Top Gifts for Kids coming up in the next couple of days.
The products were provided free of charge for review purposes. However the opinions expressed in this review are honest and my own.