On the 12 days of Christmas my true love sent to me....

A little Christmas brain exercise!

If you are wondering how the flavours link with the days (some are fairly obvious but others a little stretched!), we will be revealing this each day through the twelve days of Christmas

Mince pie

 Four Calling birds: It is considered good luck to eat a mince pie on each of the twelve days of Christmas and even more so if they are eaten as a guest in someone else's house. So, this is the season for calling on your friends and neighbours, and being offered mince pies!

Marzipan

Five gold rings: We explored all sorts of ring-linked possibilities for this, and then decided to focus on the 'gold'. One thing would be easy, we could put gold on the chocolate itself, but what to do for the filling? In the end we chose Marzipan - the real 'golden' Christmas food in this house.

Prune and brandy

Six geese a laying: According to various recipe books consulted, a classic stuffing for goose includes prunes and brandy. We were not sure how well this would work with chocolate - but were rather delighted with the results; hope you were as well.

Sea buckthorn

Seven swans a swimming: We had to take a different tack with this one from the sixth day goose as swans aren't really on the menu these days. I am always amazed to see swans swimming on the sea - it is one of its slightly incongruous sights and adds to the general mythology around swans - creatures that are able to cross 'worlds'. Sea buckthorn spans different environments in a similar way; I first came across the plant when working in Nepal where it grows in dry mountainous areas and is highly valued for its fruits and leaf fodder. I was then amazed to come across it growing proficiently by the sea in East Lothian! Two more different environments would be hard to find - but there, just like the swan, the sea buckthorn thrives.

Athol brose

Eight maids a milking: As this is 1st January, and this particular flavour is one of our New Year selection, this feels an apt choice for this day. Of course, one of its principle ingredients (along with honey, whisky and oatmeal of course) is cream and so doubly appropriate. There is also a a lovely story about the origins of Athol Brose, which makes no mention of milk maids but they would have been there somewhere I am sure.

Gin and tonic

Nine ladies dancing: Does this need any explanation? We have been making Juniper flavoured ganache for some time, and had wondered how to enhance the gin aspect of the flavour. The addition of lime and lemon zest and a small dash of Angustora bitters seems to make all the difference.

Ten lords a leaping: Given their infamous role in the development of gout, I am not sure whether port and stilton will get lords a leaping that much! However, it is one of those classic combinations that we all envisage lords enjoying at the end of an over indulgent meal!

Aberfeldy single malt

Eleven pipers piping: For some reason the natural choice of flavour for this seemed to be whisky! We chose Aberfeldy because it is local and delicious and also it is made by Dewars and their logo is a very jaunty looking piper

Star anise and ginger

Twelve drummers drumming: This one floored us for a long time and almost jeopardised the whole project. However in a flash of what felt like genius at the time, the names Ringo Starr and then Ginger Baker came into mind! We experimented with star anise and ginger in a ganache and it was absolutely delicious and very Christmassy. Should we have looked for a full dozen drummers? Looking down the list of other famous drummers on the site linked above there are few obvious additions - so we are happy to rest with two real drumming stars.