Christmas dessert hacks: entertaining, bring a plate or hostess gift!

A sponsored post for Woolworths

As you guys would know, when it comes to entertaining, bringing a plate or working out a hostess gift, I have got you SORTED. Over the years, I have always tried to bring you ideas on how to do things easily and fuss free so it gives you more time to do the things you want to be doing, rather than being stuck in the kitchen, slaving away while every other man and his dog has a lovely time at your soiree. So when it comes to Christmas, you KNOW I have got you sorted. When Woolworths asked me to put together a few ideas for Christmas using some of the fabulous desserts from their Gold & Christmas ranges, I was thrilled to have the chance to do just that: putting a homemade twist on some great store bought goods that are easy, fuss free and inexpensive. You will be proud to serve these desserts to guests, take as a bring a plate option or give to someone as a hostess gift when visiting over this busy festive season.

I’m sharing with you guys 4 different desserts that cover off entertaining in your own home, bringing a plate or gifting to friends all picked up from Woolworths in your weekly supermarket shop between now and the big day, or on the fly as you rush off to one of the events 20 minutes beforehand (this would most likely be me).

Entertaining at Home

While you will likely be focusing on lots of different areas of your Christmas lunch or dinner, a few shortcuts never hurt anyone and for me, it’s always with the desserts as it’s not really my forte. These two ideas take some great quality store bought goods, but give them a homemade twist.

First off the bat is one of the fabulous pre-made puddings from the Woolworths Gold Range. These are the highest standard and quality that Woolworths has to offer and you will not be disappointed with this pudd that I grabbed: Gold spiced Gingerbread pudding for $14.00. These can be either steamed or heated in the microwave, come with a delicious caramel sauce and the flavour was bang on: spicy and full of depth – a nice change for people that aren’t huge fans of the fruit pudd.

A quick heat of pudd and a salted butterscotch sauce (which is included!)…I reckon this looks good enough for the Christmas table!

It also comes with little gold stars decorations and I added a sprig of holly from the paddock across the road (maybe not at your place though!)

Secondly you can’t beat a brandy snap and these pre-made ones in a pack of 8 for just $5.00 do the trick.

I filled these with a quick mixture of mascarpone cheese, icing sugar and whipped thickened cream (fold into the cheese) which I then piped in, and again dusted with icing sugar. Stacked onto a board, they look fabulous! When all else fails my friends, dust in icing sugar and whack some of those copper lights around it!

Hostess Gift

Whether it’s a gift for friends or neighbours, or something to bring along to the Christmas cocktail party, a quick shortcut is essential for when you have run out of home made goods.

We are so lucky in our village to receive homemade goodies whether they are baked (Thanks for the shortbread, Sal) or home made Baileys (MANY thanks, Mrs O’Connor!).

For some, the homemade gene doesn’t come so easy. The Gold Fruit & Nut cake for $11 is JAM PACKED with delicious fruit, nuts and flavour. Just look at it….phwooooooaaaar.

I grabbed some retro glitter ribbon from the Christmas decorating aisle (just $3 for a 3 pack) and set to work with my own homemade touches!

Take a couple of strips and wrap it around the cake and serve as is…

Or for an extra touch, buy a simple white plate from the crockery aisle at Woolworths, place the cake on it and wrap in clear cellophane wrapper (I grabbed a roll from the newsagent) and tied with extra ribbon. How good does that look? I reckon pretty bloody good!

Bring a Plate

I found these fabulous Gingerbread Tree-Shaped Biscuits in our Woolworths bakery and I knew that they would pass as homemade.

Pinterest is a great source of inspiration for decorating and a quick look at Christmas led me to the sweet idea of using rosemary stalks (turned upside down) as little pine trees. While it’s summer here for Christmas, it’s nice to dream of a white Christmas isn’t it? I decided to grab these trees, do a fancy placement on a plate, sprinkle some icing sugar on top, add the little rosemary pine trees as well as some of these great copper lights for just $6 and voila! A Christmas winter wonderland. That’ll do pig.

There are SO many great ideas all over Woolworths at the moment if you have the time to look. Clever shortcuts, great decorations and ways to make Christmas a little easier. And who doesn’t want THAT this time of year?

Do you have any desert shortcuts you’d like to share with us?
Have you tried the Gold range of pudds before?

And if you found this post useful you might like to check out some of the others I have done for Woolworths at Christmas all the way back since 2012!

Christmas at Grandma’s: Entrée (2012)
Christmas at Grandma’s: Dessert (2012)
5 Christmas Day Lunch Shortcuts (2014)
5 Vegetarian Christmas Canapes (2015)
Flavours of Christmas with Created with Jamie (2015)
How to build the perfect festive platter (2017)