As we begin December and the lead up to Christmas, my attention keeps returning to food. Not about what I’m eating at any given moment or what I’m going to eat for my next meal. But I am stuck in a brain loop of sorts about the prospect of cooking and baking everything in time for Christmas. Every year, it is a logistical nightmare to find the time to bake Christmas cookies, pies and cakes, amongst work, family and holiday commitments. And the timing is pretty crucial. If you bake too early, you risk either running out of everything or being completely bored by it by the time Christmas rolls around. But if you do it too late, you will find yourself facing towers of leftover mince pies until Valentine’s Day. Then there is the big question of what to cook on Christmas day itself. Do you make the same traditional meal yet again or make the bold choice to mix it up with some new flavours and sides? It’s always a risky move to ‘go big or go home’ when you can’t hide in your own kitchen.
Of course, you could always outsource all of your cooking and baking to M&S and the rest and blame them if it doesn’t go down well. It will undoubtedly be more expensive but maybe the convenience and time saved is worth the high price. However, as someone who loves to cook and bake and for obvious reasons, cares about the nutritional quality and tastiness of what I serve, buying in Christmas is never an option. Which means that I have to find a way to carve out some time from somewhere else while thinking about how to create some new twists on old recipes. But after looking around for inspiration and seeing what foods and dishes are trending this Christmas, it may be wiser to play it safe.
Because one of the biggest flavour trends in Christmas food this year is gingerbread. Now I happen to like gingerbread but now it’s being added to just about anything and everything. Although gingerbread flavouring is hardly new and coffee drinkers can practically set their calendars to the annual advent of Gingerbread Latte season. It is, after all, the winter heavyweight of syrups. The season kicks off like clockwork every year the second that Pumpkin Spice Latte season officially ends in November. When every PSL syrup pump is ceremoniously switched off, the heavy flow of gingerbread syrup begins. However, this year it seems that every manufacturer has decided to push the gingerbread flavour boundaries to breaking point. They have added it recklessly, willy-nilly to Christmas-ify all their wares. As a result, there are some questionable flavour combinations available for the holidays in some supermarket aisles you don’t expect.
Clearly, the flavour of gingerbread adds a Christmassy touch so pairing it with some foods and drinks, such as coffee, works very well. Which explains why several confectioners manufacturers have gone full gingerbread with their cakes, biscuits and chocolates. You can now buy limited edition Gingerbread Oreos, McVitie’s Gingerbread Digestives and Sainsbury’s Custard Cream Twists with a Gingerbread Flavour Filling. Then there’s KitKat Gingerbread Flavour, Tony’s Chocolonely Gingerbread Milk Chocolate and Maltesers Gingerbread Chocolate Reindeers. So far, the gingerbread combos are pretty tame and would hardly raise an eyebrow. However, other manufacturers have ventured a little further into some different supermarket aisles to add some gingerbread flavouring.
Starting with food items that seem sensible to try and pair with gingerbread. Such as Ambrosia, who have launched a special edition Gingerbread Flavour Devon Custard that comes with a cute gingerbread house on the tin. The reviews of this new combo have been mostly positive. Then again, there’s no way to tell whether they came from adults or children. There’s also Soreen Limited Edition Gingerbread Mini Loaves, which are advertised as being ‘deliciously snowy’. Curiously, there are no clues to what this actually means. Despite this, they seem to be going down well in the current reviews and I’ve yet to see a complaint about their lack of snowiness. Twinings Tea has also jumped on the gingerbread bandwagon and have come up with Gingerbread Joy Tea. The tea is ‘merrily blended with warm spices and the flavour of holiday gingerbread’. This has had quite high reviews among tea-drinkers, many of whom say that each mug is like ‘a little taste of Christmas’.
Next we have some slightly more questionable gingerbread pairings found in the alcohol aisle. Tesco has played it safe by using a tried and tested flavour combination in their Finest Gingerbread Latte Cream Liqueur. In fact, it has proved to be so popular among those who like nothing more than spending the holidays with a tumbler in their hands that it has already sold out. On the other hand, some alcohol manufacturers, such as Sipsmith, went that bit further. They say they were inspired to produce Gingerbread Gin as gingerbread and gin was the first ever recorded alcohol and food pairing. According to records, vendors sold hot gin and gingerbread to visitors on the frozen River Thames to keep them warm in the 1600s. The few reviews of Gingerbread Gin I could find were positive though I am finding it hard to imagine drinking a GG&T, let alone, a hot one. Though if gin is not your tipple, what about gingerbread and vodka? Lakes Gingerbread Vodka Liqueur is described as a ‘pudding in a glass’ so I think it is safe to assume that it is quite sweet. Again the few reviews give it top marks including one enthusiastic fan who said, ‘You would hardly even know there is any alcohol in there!’. Time will tell whether that is a selling point.
But back to food, where a couple of manufacturers have gone more rogue with the gingerbread trend and their offerings have caused slightly more controversy. Step forward, the slightly offputtingly named Flipz Gingerbread Coated Pretzels which is ‘the ultimate seasonal treat to share with your mates’. Er…depends on whether you like your mates. Then again, maybe their salty sweet flavour profile is aimed at last year’s salted caramel aficionados. Even so, the pretzels seem to be landing like marmite, with some people loving them but just as many finding them simply ‘weird’. Then there is Asda, with their new Gingerbread Flavour Cheddar Truckle which comes in the shape of a gingerbread man that is ‘not just pretty on the outside, but combines tasty Cheddar with crystallised ginger and cinnamon for the ultimate festive treat’. This interesting flavour combination goes alongside another of their festive cheeseboard offerings – a maple syrup infused Pigs In Blankets Flavour Cheddar Truckle. Oddly, I cannot see any reviews to date, so we’ll just have to imagine how the sales are going.
Last but not least, we have one manufacturer who has exceeded expectations and has gone the most rogue with gingerbread this Christmas. It has to be Doritos, with their Limited Edition Gingerbread Flavour Corn Chips. They may sound like a car crash of flavours but they have taken off on TikTok. Described as a sweet and spicy snack with a slightly chemical aftertaste, they are apparently an acquired taste with just as many lovers as haters. Of course, everyone who manages to buy a pack uploads themselves on social media attempting to eat the tortilla chips. The sales show that it doesn’t matter whether they taste any good because they have been sold out since their launch some weeks ago. Unsurprisingly, several enterprising people are re-selling them on eBay for a tidy profit. Which means that Doritos have got to be crowned this year’s winner of the Christmas gingerbread trend.
Unfortunately, after all this research, I am no further in deciding what to make this Christmas. Because although I may have enjoyed having the challenge of trying to pair gingerbread with Christmas dinner, there is a difference between being bold and being stupid. So in the meantime, while I wait for some inspiration to land, I might as well share a new recipe for a winter side I tried recently whilst travelling. Influenced by The Smith in New York, these Roasted Brussel sprouts with green goddess dressing show that when you get the flavour pairings right, it tastes heavenly.
