Handmade Sweet Buns and Dumpling Masterclass
Christmas is coming to Xi Home this December, with four new sweet steamed bun styles and dumpling masterclasses available for gifting. Fully inspired by Northern China’s city of Dalian, Xi Home will transport guests to the beautiful port city of the Liaodong Peninsula, in both ambience and flavour.
Until January 6, the Spitalfields branch of Xi Home offers stunning seasonal specials to try in-store or gift-wrapped hand decorated sweet buns to take away from:
- Reindeer – classic custard egg yolk, offering a rich, creamy filling that’s both timeless and indulgent.
- Gift Box – taro, with its naturally sweet and nutty flavour, bringing a comforting and festive touch to the season.
- Christmas Glove – matcha, featuring a subtle earthy sweetness for a sophisticated holiday treat.
- Christmas Tree – Homemade red bean paste, a sweet and satisfying classic that’s always a crowd-pleaser.
Or try the dumpling masterclass gift experience for £49.46 per person, dumpling novices will receive an introduction to dumplings and their origin, a step-by-step guide to dough making and fillings, a chance to make your own dumplings in two different flavours and styles.
Which will be cooked and enjoyed at the end of the class, personalised tips for perfecting dumpling making at home, a complimentary drink, and a well-earned certificate to show off your newly acquired dumpling-making skills.
Hot Chocolate Gifts by Knoops
It’s not Christmas without a cup of hot chocolate. Knoops a fast growing hot chocolate company specialising in quality sustainable chocolate created a selection of gift ideas.
Available to purchase online and to buy in-store, Knoops has presents for partners, family, friends and loved ones. Choose between tubes of hot chocolate, hampers, individual chocolate sachets or festive flavours such as spiced hot chocolate.
As part of their festive wrapping service, shoppers will find a festive box band with Christmas tree design adorning all Christmas gift sets, or it can be bought for £1.50 for those building their own gift sets.
The chocolate density varies from 28% White to 100% Extra Dark. Each chocolate percentage over 54% is also vegan-friendly. With special 38% made with Oat M*lk single origin chocolate.
While the festive spiced flavour set has two percentages: 34% Milk Chocolate Flakes and smooth, mellow 54% Dark Chocolate Flakes. Created by the Knoops’ founder, Jens Knoop, and includes a warming mix of real ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, white pepper, cardamom and orange.
Martini magic
MOTH drinks have launched a brand new Martini glass set, with 4 of the best-selling cocktails. Just pour and go! Available from www.mothdrinks.com.
To get yours in time for Xmas Day itself, order before 2pm on the 19th (standard delivery) or before 2pm on the 21st (next day delivery).
Personalised doughnuts for dessert enthusiasts
For foodies with a sweet tooth Lena Lu Donuts has just opened up a donut bar in Primark Oxford Street West (Marble Arch) following the earlier popularity in Primark Lakeside and Primark Watford.
Originated in Australia, created by entrepreneur Kym Hall, the brand offers a menu of donuts, as well as bagels, coffees and shakes with the option for guests to create their own donuts from a changing menu of flavours, fillings, and toppings.
A personalised customisation makes Lena Lu Donuts a unique Christmas treat or a gift.
In Primark customers can choose a donut or minis as the base of their creation and customise their own sweet treats with a choice of fillings, toppings and sauces to make their ideal donut masterpiece.
Lena Lu’s also offers grab and go signature flavour combinations of donuts including Cookies & Cream, Jam, Chocolate Hazelnut and Biscoff Crunch. Prices start from £3 with each additional topping for 50p. Ready-made doughnuts range from £3.45 to £5.45.
A doughnut and hot drink is £4.45, or a bagel, doughnut pop, and any drink (apart from shakes) is £6.45.
Bubble Tea Kits delivered nationwide
Bubble Tea kits by TeaJoy for both tea lovers and beyond. Bubble Tea or boba is a type of a cold tea drink.
Incredibly popular in London and beyond, I spot at least one person with a boba cup and oversized straw just on a short walk to a supermarket alone.
Originated in Taiwan bubble tea uses strong tea often with milk for base and tapioca balls hence the name.
However, as the time progressed more varieties were created.
Now there are two groups: milk tea with tapioca and fruit normally jasmine with juice filled pearls. The flavours and varieties are endless.
TeaJoy kits are available nationwide for home delivery and include passionfruit jasmine tea with strawberry boba and pineapple jasmine with mango boba. All they need is water, instructions included. Priced at £12 for a kit.
Butchery Masterclass
Origin City, the family-run restaurant in West Smithfield is launching a Butchery Masterclass series in 2025 with vouchers available to purchase from now.
Executive Chef,Graham Chatham, who has over 35 years of fine dining experience and in-house butcher, Lee South, will host the pasture to plate, nose to tail butchery masterclass experience.
From breaking down, preparing and cooking the finest cuts, to enjoying a post-masterclass Sunday lunch, this is a truly special gift.
In the masterclass, guests will be taught how to break down a whole lamb into roasting joints, steaks, and cuts, as well as learn how the flavour and colour of lamb changes throughout the season, as it grows. Guests will also have a chance to peek inside the Origin City meat drying room, and find out how and why they age certain cuts of meat.
To commemorate the day, guests will also be given an Origin City apron, as well as their very own boning knife, alongside a selection of roasting joints and cuts from the masterclass, to take home.
The day begins at 10am with fresh coffees and delicious homemade bacon & sausage rolls on arrival, before being invited downstairs to the butchery room.
The masterclass cost per person: £199 and runs on Sundays from 10am-1:00 pm, including a welcome breakfast, and tea and coffee.
T&Cs: Valid for one year after purchase and usable against any of the available dates. Bookable online.
Tajin Cocktail Rimmer
Tajin is made from a select combination of world class spicy Mexican Chilli peppers with a delicious balance of salt and concentrated dehydrated zesty lime mixed in, and is the ideal accompaniment to many drinks and dishes.
You may know Tajin as being perfect on a Margarita cocktail rim but you can also have it sprinkled over guacamole and tortilla chips, great on juicy mango and many other delectable treats.
It is an essential to the spice cupboard and until now has been hard to track down outside of Mexico. It is now easily available online through retailer, MexGrocer, amongst an array of other Mexican goodies.
They have a special Tajin Rimmer which helps perfectly with those cocktail rims, ideal for Christmas Day Margaritas and as a stocking filler for foodies.
The rimmer costs £5.90 and the Tajin bottle costs £2.95
The Tormek T-1 Kitchen Knife Sharpener
This is a professional grade sharpener that’s small enough for the home chef, it sharpens the entire bevel of the knife, not just the outer edge. And it has a built in honer.
Seemingly made out of the sort of metal used to construct Klingon warships, it’s reasonably heavy with a cool industrial design and an aura of indestructibility (it has an eight year warranty).
It’s designed and produced in Lindesberg, Sweden, which explains its beautiful yet practical looks. A rather smart black coloured version is also available.
Cut along and buy one for Xmas. You’ll be carving the roast like a pro and not hacking it like a rube.
Buy the Tormek T-1 here.
Reviewed here
New Maldon Salt Gift Pack
Looking for a thoughtful and unique gift for the food lover in your life?
This Christmas, treat culinary enthusiasts to a present that will inspire creativity and add a touch of gourmet flair to their meals – the Maldon Salt Gift Pack, RRP £10, from Amazon UK.
This premium set, featuring the 125g Original Maldon Sea Salt, alongside the savoury depth of 100g Garlic Sea Salt and the fiery kick of 100g Chilli Sea Salt, is the ideal choice for anyone who loves to cook and explore new flavours in the kitchen.
Available on Amazon RRP £10.
The Winewizard Aerator, £49.95, Vin Alchemy
Not got a cellar to age your wine? This clever device replicates the ageing and decanting process of wine in just two seconds
No less an authority than Masters of Wine, sommeliers and the UK’s leading wine institution, Plumpton College, Winewizard endorse it. It’s fully recyclable and will do a boozy 80 bottles or around 500 glasses of wine before needing a refill cartridge.
It’s the first device to be scientifically proven to successfully replicate the effects of bottle ageing – bringing wines to their optimal potential in just seconds. This in turn enhances the complexity of the wine, accentuating qualities like fruit, nuanced flavour notes and minerality – as well as improving the nose – while also softening the harsher tannin and acids that can make wine taste cheap.
We gave a sample a test, and it was fun and rather impressive. You put the micro-diffuser at the base of the glass or bottle (two different lengths of tube are supplied in a velvet bag), squeeze the trigger for a second or two depending on the wine/glass/bottle and watch millions of micro-bubbles emerge. Be gentle though, our first attempt was a bit of a mess, it’s got a real hair trigger on it. You need to let the wine bubble up gently then subside before drinking. We did the suggested two glass test – one treated one not, and the treated easily came out ahead in blind tests.
We were a bit nervous of using too good a wine at first, so we used a red from a well known German retailer and it definitely improved it, lowering the acidity and replicating the decanting process and ageing process.
It’s best to treat a whole bottle not glass by glass, as it uses less gas and obviously means less hassle at the dinner table. You will have to drink off a glassfull first to allow room for the bubbling though, or simply use a decanter for the extra ‘head’ room.
It apparently also can knock back the sulphite additives that can cause the headache of a hangover! That has to be good at Christmas. So it’s the perfect gift for wine aficionados and novices alike.
vinalchemy.com
Hokan Bowls. Beautiful In Every Way
These Hokan innovative, sustainable, stylish, stoneware bowls and lids are oven, microwave, freezer and dishwasher safe.
The oven-safe bowls warm evenly and retain heat very well. When you cook or bake with the lid on you keep precious moisture in, and the temperature doesn’t fluctuate. Taking the lid off towards the end gives a nice crust or browning and you can take the bowl straight to table. In fact you’ll really want to. You can also use the lids as a side plate.
Whatever you might cook in a casserole – stews, curries, pasta, gratins, soups, risotto and individual pies – you can cook in a Hokan. Hokan, by the way, is the Japanese word for safekeeping.
Another great feature is that they are supremely stackable, the lids are all the same size no matter the individual volume, which makes them safe to store in a column or to keep leftover pre-prepped food fresh in the fridge.
As they’re stoneware there are no nasty plasticky odours to contaminate your flavours. And despite their beauty, they are super tough and durable.
Hokan Bowls RRP £80 for a set of three or individually:
- Small: 400ml, RRP £24
- Medium: 600ml, RRP £27
- Large: 1000ml, RRP £30
Available from hokanbowls.com
Happy Hampers At Xmas
Not sure what gifts to get friends and relations that live nowhere near you? A great British Hamper can send your best wishes as far away as Australia.
What might lucky recipients find in their hampers, which come in all sizes from bijou to whopping? Well a £55 Xmas hamper has Sweet & Salty Popcorn, Caramel Sea Salt Fudge Gifting Tin, Bean to Bar Milk Chocolate, Jalapeno & Lime Mixed Nuts, Festive Spiced Cookies, Sea Salt & Black Pepper Corn Crunch, All Butter Cheddar Biscuits and Bean to Bar White Chocolate. The options are almost infinite and all very tasty.
Prices include packaging and carriage to your chosen destination. And with a hub in the Netherlands, hampers and gourmet produce can be shipped across Europe with fast and reliable delivery and no additional customs fees.
You’ve still got time to order a gift hamper for someone special for Xmas, although the last dates for abroad are fast approaching.
Make your choice at www.britishhamper.com
Organic Italian Oil & Wine Delivered to Your Door
As the holiday season approaches, it’s time to find those perfect gifts that will make your loved ones feel truly special.
These curated gift boxes from Terre Di San Vito featuring the finest organic extra virgin olive oil and handpicked wines, are just what you need to spread joy and flavour this Christmas.
Most gift boxes include organic extra virgin olive oil, bottled in hand-painted terracotta jars—perfect for adding a rustic Italian touch to any kitchen. You can change the colour of the jar when you get to the checkout
From small-batch vineyards, comes rich, full-bodied wines that are perfect for toasting during festive celebrations
Every gift box is wrapped with care, making it a ready-to-give, show-stopping present that’s bound to impress.
Please note, to guarantee your gift arrives in time for Christmas, be sure to place your order by December 18th.
Sushi Masterclass. A great catch for Christmas
If you’re looking to Xmas gift a luxury experience to someone special, then raw fish could be the answer.
Go on a on a sushi journey at Gordon Ramsay’s Lucky Cat in Mayfair
This masterclass is great. Like so many non-Japanese people you might find sushi and sashimi both fascinating and mysterious, a whole different culinary world beyond you ken. As this class goes on though you’ll feel empowered, able to casually say Shari, instead of rice, when you next eat Japanese.
Try your hand at Maki rolls, both normal and inside out, learn about the fish, about tradition and also about knives. Eat a lot of superb sushi.
It’s a communal fun time sitting around the chef’s table watching, learning, trying and eating. You’ll leave with a luxurious booklet that contains lots of information about sushi as well as some recipes. And a gift, we won’t spoil the surprise on that.
The Sushi Masterclass experience at Lucky Cat is available to book here. A great gift idea.
Gift the gin lover in your life a personalised bottle of Caorunn this Christmas
Personalise your own bottle of Caorunn Gin this festive season – the perfect Xmas gift for any gin fan!
Finding a meaningful Christmas present can be a challenge, but the handcrafted small batch gin Caorunn has made it that much easier this festive season.
Caorunn, hailing from the Scottish Highlands, have launched a new bottle personalisation service available ahead of Christmas. Whether it’s for close friends or distant relatives, a personalised bottle of Caorunn is sure to delight and at no extra cost.
Simply visit Caorunn’s online shop and add a bottle of the award-winning Caorunn Classic Gin to your basket.
You’ll be prompted to add the name of the person you are gifting along with a personalised message, insert their address and soon their very own personalised bottle of Caorunn will be on its way to them.
Caorunn Gin is handcrafted at Balmenach Distillery in the Speyside region of the Scottish Highlands. Drawing on Scotland’s natural pantry and avoiding the use of any artificial flavourings or colourings, Caorunn Gin is infused with five handpicked Celtic botanicals and six traditional gin botanicals in the world’s only working Copper Berry Chamber to achieve its iconic, perfectly balanced flavour.
www.caorunngin.com / @CaorunnGin
Main Image Annie Spratt