A few weeks before the holiday: preparing a New Year's cake
First of all, let's solve the main headacheany housewife - let's prepare a dessert. Yes, yes, it is possible! Of course, if you are planning to put a Napoleon or Prague cake on the table, you will have to prepare it the day before the holiday (or, more likely, buy a ready-made one, painfully standing in pre-New Year's queues at the supermarket). Our version is an English Christmas Toddy cake made from dried fruits, soaked in hot punch. It can be prepared even a month before the celebration! Then you just need to put the cake in the refrigerator and soak it with a new portion of punch from time to time.
The most popular holiday dishesPhoto: Getty Recipe: Hard brewed black tea - 200 ml Whiskey - 3 tablespoons. Citrus jam - 3 tablespoons. Dried cherries - 100 g Tzukaty (any suitable) - 100 g Dried fruits (any, to taste) - 600 g Butter - 200 g Small cane sugar - 180 g Meat - 225 g of Egg - 4 pcs. Peel of 1 lemon Mace nut, ginger, cinnamon, vanilla sugar, ground cloves - ½ tsp. each spice1. Dried fruits, candied fruits and cherries cut into small pieces, put in a deep bowl, pour the prepared hot tea, add the whiskey and jam. Stir well and leave at room temperature for a couple of hours, stirring the mixture periodically. Spread the baking dish well oiled and sprinkle with flour, shaking off the excess. Butter cut into cubes and put in a bowl. Add the sugar and beat the mixture with a mixer until a light lush mass. Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl and gradually add to the oil mixture, without interrupting the beating. Then also gradually add flour, spices and zest. Knead the dough with a wooden spoon. Drain the fruits in a colander, let stand for 5 minutes, so that the glass has excess liquid - you need to keep it. Preheat oven to 120 degrees. In small portions put the fruit in the dough, stirring it after each time, so that the fruits are distributed evenly. Put the prepared mixture in a form moistened in warm water with a spoon, level the surface, and put in the oven for 1 hour. After this time, increase the temperature of the oven to 160 degrees. To bring the cupcake to the ready - the surface should darken, and the dough - dry. It takes about 15 minutes more. Remove the cake from the oven and cool a little in the form, then gently turn it over in a dish. Cool finally and soak in liquid from dried fruits. On the day of the holiday, prepare the same punch as the one in which the fruit was soaked and soak the cake in it. You can decorate "Toddy" with melted chocolate icing.
One week before the holiday: cook a strong broth
Another important matter that can be resolvedin advance, is a preparation of strong meat and vegetable broth: it will come in handy for roasting poultry and for side dishes. And in general, having a supply of broth is always very useful. It is enough to simply cook a large pot of broth in advance, strain it and freeze it in portions in plastic containers or ice packs.
Meat broth is useful for roasting poultryPhoto: Getty
One week before the holiday: choose drinks
With what exactly you will drink on the holiday,It is best to decide right now: firstly, to do the shopping in advance or give the guests recommendations on what they should bring with them. Secondly, as a rule, if we are talking about a theme party, it requires certain drinks. Well, and thirdly, two weeks before the holiday, the queues in the stores will not yet reach their peak, so you will still have a chance to buy everything you need and not spend the whole day on it. By the way, this advice applies not only to strong drinks. Buy in advance all the products that do not spoil: olives and peas in cans, ingredients for dressings, spices, etc. This will significantly help to avoid unnecessary stress about the New Year's menu in the pre-holiday days.
One week before the holiday: bake ginger cookies
Gingerbread cookies are a great addition togifts that you make to your guestsPhoto: Getty Let's start baking ginger cookies, it can be stored for up to two weeks packed in thick paper bags or boxes. You can bake cookies in accordance with the theme of the upcoming party or cut out the figurines-symbols of the coming year; you will get a great addition to the gifts you will make to your guests.
3-4 days before the holiday: we buy poultry and vegetables
You can stuff a turkey or a duck in two daysbefore the holiday, then on December 31 it will only need to be bakedPhoto: GettyIf you are going to cook a New Year's turkey or duck, purchase it at least 3 days before the holiday. In this case, you can safely take even a frozen bird: in taste, it is no worse than chilled, it just takes more time. A turkey weighing 5-6 kg needs at least a day to be defrosted. You can stuff a turkey two days before the holiday, then on December 31 you only need to bake it. At about the same time, you can buy fresh vegetables that will be used for salads and side dishes. On the last day before the holiday we will buy only fresh greens and bread.
Finish line: December 30 and 31, action plan
Thanks to a month-long preparation, 31December, you can relaxPhoto: GettyDecember 30:1. Cook the vegetables for the salads: potatoes, carrots, beets. To simplify the process, you can peel and dice them in advance.2. Greens and vegetables that do not require heat treatment, as well as fruits, just need to be washed in advance.3. On the same day, you can prepare all the dressings and sauces, pour them into plastic containers, cover with cling film and put them in the refrigerator.December 31:You may be surprised, but thanks to the preparation that stretched out over a month, you have practically nothing left to do today. Rather, pleasant final touches.1. To make it in time for the chimes, you need to bake the turkey or duck a few hours before the holiday (the exact time depends on the weight of the bird).2. An hour and a half before dinner, prepare and put the potato gratin in the oven - this will be our main side dish for the bird.3. Just before dinner, combine the salad ingredients prepared the day before and pour the dressing over them.
