Going live effective immediately – and open right through to Christmas Eve, JB and I are on duty to answer your Christmas cooking questions. ✨Welcome to our Christmas Cooking Hotline!!✨
JB and I are on call!
I’m so excited to be doing this! I’ve had the idea of a Christmas cooking hotline bubbling away in my mind for years, but I always hesitated because I worried it would be too much to handle on my own.
But now that JB is part of the face of RecipeTin and it’s not just me, there’s two of us here to answer your questions. So for the first time ever, we’re opening up a hotline for Christmas cooking questions, bringing together home-cook practicality and actual proper chef experience (JB!), which means more ideas and better problem-solving for you!
So drop your question in the comments section below and we will answer as many as we can (we need to sleep, and we have some other work things to finish!). Ask anything you want, like:
Can I make this ahead, freeze it, or reheat it?
What can I substitute if I can’t find an ingredient?
How do I scale recipes up or down?
Help, something’s going wrong – how do I fix it?
Menu planning, timing, or oven logistics chaos 😅
Even though our last day of work is this Friday, JB has generously agreed to continue helping me with questions right through to Christmas Eve. Thank you JB, you’re the best.
And now…. the Christmas Cooking Hotline is now officially open. So drop your questions below and we’ll jump in to help wherever we can, because Christmas cooking is much more fun with backup! 🎄 – Nagi x
PS Few out-takes from today’s little Christmas shooting session. We know how to cook better than taking selfies. Promise. 😅
PPS Who nailed The Wink? 😉
Life of Dozer
My favourite Dozer Christmas outfit.
Though to be honest, Santa spends most of his time like this:
Which I’m sure is Santa after a few too many Christmas wines. This has absolutely nothing to do with his ride – or the stable hand who saddled up his ride. 😂
In the Notes to the Pumpkin Soup recipe, the alternative of 2 cans pumpkin puree is offered. What size of cans, please?
I’m in Canada and turn to your recipes first – so reliable and “do-able” – many, many thanks!
Good
I’m making Potatoes el gratin for Christmas dinner at my sons place your website says it can be made ahead of time and reheated please elaborate I want it to be perfect
The instructions to make ahead are in the notes, item 6. I have follwed these make ahead instructions and it was perfect.
Hey there! I’m excited to request your recipe for vanilla banana cupcakes. I’m confident that I can create something delicious from it, and I can’t wait to get started. Keep up the fantastic work—thank you!
Hi Nagi, JB and Dozer,
I’ve been using RecipeTinEats for years and last Christmas I made a gingerbread house with my son using your Gingerbread Boxes & Mason Jars recipe. It turned out wonderfully, but it was a little bit floury. I used the quantities for 6 boxes to have enough gingerbread construction dough and we want to do it again this year, but I’d like to improve. I looked up the mass of 1.5 cups of honey last year (510g) but when looking it up again this year, I realised that every source I could find was using American cups and this could possible be why the gingerbread seemed a bit too floury. I see someone did ask 5 years ago for the metric conversion of the ingredients in the comments but no-one replied. Please let me know which cups you use – American or UK/Australian, and if you use the latter (which I’ve always assumed and why I like your recipes soooooo much because I live in South Africa) please let me know how many grams of honey is that? I can use cups to measure out when baking, but I would prefer to weigh but we experience frequent and unplanned water cuts that can last for days in our area so additional sticky dishes around such a cooking- and baking-intense time of year are a nightmare, plus knowing the actual weight I need ensures that I can buy enough ingredients.
Thank you in advance and wishing you the merriest of Christmases,
Tamlyn
Please Nagi and JB ,
Could you send me the recipe of Pavlova please ?
All the best .
Serge ( Frenchman living in Reunion island)
Doing the math, I’ve calculated that since 1 American cup (240ml) of honey weighs 340g on average, 1.5 UK/Australian cups (750ml) of honey should weigh 531.25g. I shall make it with 531g and report back 🙂
I love the Christmas hotline – what a great idea!
Here is my question: We Germans are big on fondue Chinoise for the holiday season. It is a very social meal and perfect to fill our long dark cold winter nights. However, we all know the dish by now, so I am wondering if you have one or two amazing secret dipping sauce recipes to glam up the tenderloin bites?
Help is very much wanted. :))) Thank you so much.
Can I cook a New York style cheesecake in a microwave?
My oven has given up and I can’t replace until new year 😫
I love your “Best Stuffing Ever”. This year I have guests who are on a low FODMAP diet so would like a substitute for the green apple and celery please. PS: I’ve just made the Cranberry Sauce and what a game changer. Love it!
Hi, I’m planning on making your Christmas Baked Salmon for guests for the holidays. Is there a non dairy substitute I can use for the lemon dill sauce instead of cream? Thanks and happy holidays!
Thanks for the helpful hotline! How far in advance can profitteroles be filled and have the choc sauce put on them?
As close as possible to serving time Kristy, to retain the crispy shell! They will actually be fine for many hours but the longer they sit filled, the softer the shell becomes. Personally though, I have never had complaints and you will catch me eating them the next day 🙂 – N x
Hi.
Just a quick question how long does it take for the egg whites to reach a soft peak for a pavlova.
They weren’t working for me tonight, after two tries I gave up.
I have made the glazed ham but the bottom of pan all burnt from glaze even though I had water in pan. How can I avoid this in future. I put the recommended amount of water and orange juice in pan
Hi guys, do you think I could make the poppyseed dressing for the strawberry avocado salad today? (for Christmas lunch)
What a lovely project folks, hope you aren’t swamped..
My mother once wrote to Beverly Sutherland Smith seeking advice on baking a large Snapper for Christmas and received a lovely letter in reply.
Trying to avoid Tasmanian salmon this year! Any advice on cooking/poaching rainbow trout? About 3 kg of fish all up.
And if we can’t get trout it’ll be barramundi.
I want to make your Thai chicken satay skewers with peanut sauce for a neighbourhood get together on 21/12 and again for family on Boxing Day. Can I make the chicken in bulk and freeze the uncooked skewers? I know I can freeze the sauce because your blog kindly tells me I can! Cheers.
Hi Lynelle yes you can freeze on the skewers I have done this before and it was a success.just remember to soak sticks in water for a while before threading so they don’t burn.
Thanks very much Rhonda. I’m going to do it! They’re so delicious.
I would like to make the slow roast lamb for Christmas and I’m living in a place where lamb is not super easy to come by.
I think I’ve found (online) a butcher selling bone in legs from Au. However they seem to be teeny tiny at 1kg.
I’m not sure if 1kg bone in legs of lamb exist. This may just be the price per kilo. I’ve messaged the butcher to clarify.
But assuming this is a 1kg roast, can I still use the slow roast recipe? What modifications?
If I wanted to the the 12 hour roasted lamb shoulder could I potentially use a huge cooking receptacle with a lid instead of the baking paper and foil? Like even a Le creuset pot if it fit in it? I doubt my own skills at putting on the paper and the foil – and I have burned myself doing it before
My family love dessert, so I think I’ll need to make two of your pavlovas. I won’t be arriving for Christmas until Christmas Eve.
Can I cook two pavlovas at once? Do I 1.5 x or 2x the mixture and make it into two Pavs? Would I need to adjust the cooking time?
Will be using a fan forced oven, oven is small, so would need to put one on top shelf and one on lower shelf…
What do you suggest?
Hi Nagi
Can I use frozen puff pastry if it’s (way) over its use by date ?
Thanks
Hi Nagi!
I have made your maple glazed ham a few times, I love the glaze and the technique but am always confused about how looking to cook it for. Other recipes tell me a pre smoked ham needs to reach about 140F internal temperature, which takes much longer than the two hours recommended in your recipe, possibly double. Can I ignore the thermometer and just cook it for your recommended length?