Lakeland

Our Lakeland elves have worked very hard this year to fill our Christmas shop with everything you need to have a very merry time indeed, from beautiful wreaths and garlands to add a festive flourish to your home, to Christmas crackers that’ll have you bowling, racing, or creating a musical symphony after dinner – and cracking hilarious jokes, of course! As well as stunning mix and match tableware ranges, we’ve got fabulous gift ideas for everyone on your list and our best range of delicious foodie hampers yet.

And if you’re cooking the Christmas dinner this year, our fab kitchen kit will make dinner prep a doddle, from the perfect roasties to succulent turkey, we’ve got you covered – you won’t even have to peel the spuds thanks to our Potato Rumbler! And once everyone is stuffed full of turkey, our selection of luxurious hot chocolate, mulled wine kits and scrumptious biscuits and chocolates is perfect for a cosy night in front of the fire, made all the more magical when you add Northern Lights Fire Cones... So sit back, relax, grab a brew (or mulled wine and a mince pie) and journey through our wonderful Christmas range in store or online.

OUR MOST ECO-FRIENDLY CRACKERS EVER

Everyone loves a cracker, but nobody loves all the hardto-recycle waste they produce after pulling. Happily for you, and the planet, all our crackers are made from glitterfree, foil-free, fully recyclable card – packaging and all. And the only plastic you will find in them (like our racing pigs) is either biodegradable or comes with a storage bag so they can be used again and again.

6 Lakeland Racing Pigs in Blankets Crackers £19.99 6 Lakeland Gingerbread Bowling Crackers £19.99

Have you joined our myLakeland club yet?

Our members regularly enjoy special discounts, hand-picked partner offers, exclusive competitions and so much more. Plus whenever they shop and show their membership card, a few pennies go into our charity pot which supports deserving UK charities.

We’d love you to join so you don’t miss out. Sign up in your local store or Lakeland.co.uk/mylakeland and we’ll post your free membership card within a couple of weeks, along with a voucher to say thanks for joining… and that’s just for starters!

Once you’ve joined, you can look forward to invitations to myLakeland member-only events where you could enjoy delicious free gifts or even meet a celebrity chef. Plus we love to give our members ideas and inspiration that just can’t be found anywhere else, like exclusive recipes and prizes draws – what’s not to love?

HOW TO MAKE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Have you ever known anyone say no to homemade cookies? Neither have we. They’re irresistible to everyone, and surprisingly easy to make. Even if you’ve never baked before, you can knock up a batch of yummy cookies in no time.

INGREDIENTS • 115g softened butter • 200g plain flour, plus extra to dust • 50g soft light brown sugar • ¼ tsp salt • 50g caster sugar • 50g dark chocolate chips • 3 tbsp milk • ¼ tsp almond extract

INSTRUCTIONS

1Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/Gas 4. Line 2 baking trays with baking parchment.

2Put the butter into a large mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add the flour, salt, light brown sugar, caster sugar and chocolate chips. Stir to combine. Mix together the milk and almond extract and add to the mixing bowl, working them into the mixture.

3Use your hand to knead lightly to make a smooth dough, then separate into two equal portions. Lightly flour a work surface, then roll each portion into a thick sausage with a diameter of approximately 4cm. Wrap in baking parchment or cling film and chill for 30 minutes.

4Slice the chilled cookie dough into rounds (approx. 5mm thick) and arrange on the prepared baking trays. Bake for 15-18 minutes, then leave on the baking trays to cool. FEELING FESTIVE? WHY NOT TRY YOUR HAND AT A BATCH OF FESTIVE GONK COOKIE…

Quick to bake and fun to decorate, these yummy gonk-shaped cookies will go down well as homemade gifts. There couldn’t be a sweeter snack to munch on while you get busy wrapping Christmas presents. Get the cookie cutter at Lakeland.co.uk

FIND OUR RECIPE FOR MAKING A VERY FESTIVE GONK CAKE AT BLOG.LAKELAND.CO.UK

MAKE YOUR OWN LAKELAND HOT CHOCOLATE BOMBES

Fun to make and melt, as well as being mouth-wateringly tasty, hot chocolate bombes – also known as hot chocolate melts – are the gifts that keep on giving. With a few lovely ingredients, you can make them as colourful and creative as you wish – and they’re really easy to put together. You can find everything you’ll need at Lakeland.co.uk - Let’s get making!

STEP 1 – CREATE THE CHOCOLATE SPHERES Place a heat-resistant bowl over a pan of hot water, and melt some good quality chocolate, stirring to make sure it’s smooth and evenly melted. We like to use Guittard® chocolate chips, and if they’re good enough for professional chocolatiers… Using a silicone pastry brush, brush an even layer of chocolate onto each of the holes in our Silicone Mini Spheres Pan, and pop into the fridge to set. Once the chocolate has hardened, carefully turn the half spheres out of the mould.

STEP 2 – ADD YOUR FAVOURITE FILLINGS Add your fillings to a chocolate shell; you’ll need a good spoonful of your favourite hot chocolate. How much you add is up to you, but we recommend Charbonnel et walker Drinking Chocolate for a little bit of luxury. You could even try adding a drop of orange or peppermint extract to it for hint of festive flavour. For an all-in-one option, you can’t go wrong with our Hot Chocolate Flakes with Marshmallows, a delicious concoction of smooth mallows and dark chocolate flakes. Yum! To make your chocolate bombe, carefully dip the rim of a chocolate shell into a little melted chocolate, and pop it on top of the filled shell, then leave to set. STEP 3 – PIPE LIKE A PRO Now for the fun bit! Melt a small amount of chocolate (we can never get enough!), or mix up some icing sugar and water to a pipeable consistency. Spoon it into a piping bag fitted with a writing nozzle, and swirl and drizzle to your heart’s content. We find that using a colour that contrasts with the chocolate shell stands out best. And if the two halves of your sphere aren’t joined very neatly, who has to know? Pipe around the join, and cover it with sprinkles. Ta-dah! STEP 4 – ADD THE FINISHING TOUCHES Give your chocolate spheres some sparkle with a sprinkling of edible silk, or use the chocolate colouring kit to paint the surface and transform into colourful treats. Hot chocolate bombes make such a lovely gift for any friends or family with a sweet tooth, and they’ll be all the more special as they’re made by your own fair hands.

Visit blog.lakeland.co.uk for more festive recipes

Find everything you’ll need on Lakeland.co.uk • Guittard Maxi Milk Chocolate Chips • My Kitchen Silicone Mini Pastry Brush • Silicone 20 Cup Mini Spheres Pan • Charbonnel Luxury Hot Drinking Chocolate Flakes • Lakeland Hot Chocolate Flakes with Marshmallows • Writing and Chocolate Piping Nozzles with Bags • Edible Silk Assortment • Cocol Warm Hues Chocolate Colouring Kit