Over the last few years my parents take my sister and I along with our partners away for a few days of fun and relaxation. This year we are returning to Powerscourt Hotel for the Christmas period. We will be leaving the hotel on Christmas day to pop out to my boyfriends family to spend a little time with them but as we wont get to be there for the main meal, I decided to host a pre-Christmas dinner with his family last night.

One of my favourite things to do is to host a dinner party, especially one with a theme! Ever since I was little, I have conjured up any excuse to have a party, I’ve always loved cooking, baking and hosting. I make a day out of it, turn up the music, try my best to have the kitchen to myself and get to work.

This year was no different except I decided to add an extra few courses to the dinner menu to challenge myself. I picked a menu of dishes and treats that I had never made before and set myself 4 hours to do it. We’re talking cookies, brownies, starters, main course and dessert all made from scratch, except for the potatoes (Marks & Spencers goose fat roasties are unbelievable and I will not mess with a good thing)

I decided to share a few of the stand out party pleasers from the night that have a big impact with low effort. Looking at some of these recipes online I would have thought there was no way in the short amount time I had, that I would have been able to make all of these along with a 6 course dinner but they really were super easy to make once you have all of your ingredients and utensils, it really is just a matter of following the instructions. And as per usual I kept everything cheap and cheerful so you can find most of these ingredients in Aldi or Tesco.

Reindeer Bubbles 

I’m a big fan of a themed aperitif for dinner parties and special occasions.  This recipe seemed very festive, easy to make and it was a great way to kick start the holiday celebrations last night. My god, it was DELICIOUS… however a little dangerous  as they are a bit too easy to drink hehe! The tart pomegranate flavour and rimming sugar combined with the dry prosecco will give your taste buds a delight which will be a great start to your night!

Ingredients 

• 1 bottle of your favourite prosecco
• Green powder food colouring, available from decobake.ie
• 3 raspberries per glass (were meant to be pomegranates but I had to substitute as I couldn’t find them anywhere)
• Pomegranate and elder flower cordial, available from Tesco
• Pomegranate syrup (1/2 simple syrup* and half Pomegranate cordial)
• Sugar
• Water
• Champagne flutes

Instructions 

1. *Simple syrup can be made by heating equal parts of sugar and water together slowly in a saucepan until the solution begins to boil. After it has started to boil and the liquid is clear remove from the heat and let it cool. Then add ½ a cup of your cordial and give it another mix and that’s how you end up with the pomegranate syrup.
2. In a small saucer, pour in a little of your pomegranate syrup
3. Make your green by adding 2 tbsp. of sugar to a small saucer. Add ½ tsp green food colouring and mix, to make green sugar.
4. Lightly dip the champagne flute into the pomegranate syrup (make sure to let any excess fluid to drip off so that none of it slides down the side of the glass)
5. Next, dip your syrup coated rim into the green sugar making sure its evenly coated
6. Pour 2 tsp of pomegrate syrup and add 3 raspberries to the bottom of each glass
7. Top with chilled prosecco

And cheers to a great night!

Gluten Free Christmas Sugar Cookies and Santa Hat Brownies 

Another two great Christmas party pleasers are these Christmas cookies and santa hat brownies. As I’m still trying my best to stay away from gluten, I was determined to find some fun recipes that wouldn’t disappoint on the flavour and I really hit the nail on the head with these two tasty treats. My guests and I were thrilled with the outcome and they also keep in the fridge for up to 7 days so can last you the full Christmas week, so get your apron on and start baking!

Christmas Cookies

Ingredients 

• 3/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
• 1/4 teaspoon almond essence, available at Tesco
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 2 1/4 cups blanched almond flour(I couldn’t blanch flour so I used ground almonds instead)
• 1/2 cup coconut flour, available at Supervalu.

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, and sugar. Add the eggs, vanilla and almond essence, mix until incorporated.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the baking soda, salt, almond flour, and coconut flour. With the mixer running on low, add the flour mixture to the creamed ingredients 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Form the dough into a ball with your hands and place on a piece of plastic wrap. Form the dough into a disc and cover with plastic wrap. As I was running short on time I popped my dough into the freezer for about 20 minutes and it was good to go. 
4. Preheat the oven to 180c. Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.
5. Sprinkle a clean, flat surface with coconut flour and roll the dough out until it is 1/4 thick. I decided to lay it on a piece for parchment paper and placing another sheet on top to roll it out. Or you may have to rub the rolling pin with coconut flour to do this. Cut out the cookies using your choice of cutters (I got mine from Decobake in Dublin city centre for about €4.00) Work somewhat quickly so the dough stays cold. Using a spatula, transfer the star cut cookies to the baking sheets.

   

6. Gather the remaining scraps back up into a ball and roll out again. Repeat rolling and cutting out cookies until you use all the dough. If the dough gets too warm while you work with it you may need to chill in the fridge.
7. Bake the cookies for 13-15 minutes, until lightly golden. These cookies need to bake longer than typical sugar cookies. They will stay soft and just get a little crispy, which is just what you want! Don’t worry if the feel a little soft and underdone when you take them out of the oven, this is normal. Cool on a baking sheet for 2 minutes then transfer to a wire rack. Cool completely before frosting.
8. I bought a packet of pre made icing from Tesco all I had to do was add a little water per instruction and mix with my mixer. With the back of a teaspoon I spread the icing over my cookies and shook my green and red sprinkles over them (also got these in Decobake)

Santa Hat Brownies

Ingredients

• 200g butter
• 200g dark chocolate
• 200g gluten free flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 2tbsp cocoa
• 150g golden caster sugar
• 125mls milk
• 3 medium eggs
• 1 punnet of strawberries
• Can of whipped cream

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, melt the butter and chocolate (in a microwave) or over a pan of simmering water stirring occasionally. Allow to cool slightly.
2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, cocoa and sugar.
3. Whisk together the eggs and milk and add to the dry ingredients, along with the melted chocolate mixture.
4. Beat together until thoroughly combined.
5. Pour mixture into a lightly greased and lined tin about 15cm(6inch) square tin and bake in a preheated oven
6. Bake for about 15-20 minutes at 180C until well risen and firm to touch.
7. Allow to cool a little
8. If you have different sized circle cutters use them, I used a scone cutter and shot glass to cut out different sized circles.
9. To save on time I used whipped cream from a can. I sprayed a little on top of each brownie and topped with a strawberry (trim the stem of strawberry to make a flat surface)
10. Top each strawberry with a little cream

And that’s it! Just a few party pleasers I think that will add an extra festive touch to your day! If you want to see how I made all of the above head over to my snapchat (Leonie.em) I will also be snapping my way through my Christmas at Powerscourt.

Hope you all have a great Christmas,