Sticky Toffee Pudding - The Perfect Christmas Dessert

With less than two weeks to go until Christmas, now is the time to start finalising your menu for the big day. So the latest recipe from our resident chef Hannah; Sticky Toffee Christmas Pudding, has come at the perfect time!

Although there are plenty of good shop-bought Christmas puddings to choose from, there really is nothing better than a proper home cooked dessert. Not only does it create a heavenly Christmas aroma throughout the house, but it also gives you the opportunity to tweak a recipe to suit you and your family's tastes.

If you're not a huge fan of the traditional Christmas pudding then you're sure to love this adapted version, as it combines two of the most popular British desserts; Sticky Toffee Pudding and Christmas pudding.

Combining these two desserts allows for a much lighter sponge, and will therefore make a more appealing dessert for children and those of us who find the traditional Christmas pudding a little too heavy.

Hannah has also detailed how to make a deliciously sweet toffee sauce and homemade Irish cream to go with it.

We now have 3 festive recipes on the website, all of which will help you on your way to creating an array of home cooked Christmas treats; so take a look at our recipe page for all the details.


Happy baking!

Stock Up On Your Favourite Tea For 2013

There are many things about Britian that I love; such as country pubs, Sunday newspapers and proper bacon, but one of my personal favourite things about Britian is our nationwide love of tea.

There really is nothing like a steaming cup of PG Tips to kick start my day, nor is there a more perfect beverage to enjoy while having a chat with a good friend. 

At British Corner Shop we know and understand this love of tea, and from personal experience have discovered that it really doesn't taste the same anywhere else in the world.

This is why we've made sure our tea collection is as substantial as possible, to ensure all our customers are able to have access to the tea that gets them through their day.

We currently have 14 different tea categories;

Typhoo
Tetley
Pukka
Twinings Green Tea
Twinings Infusions
Twinings Tea
New English Tea
Bewleys
Clipper
Yorkshire/Taylors
PG Tips
In Nature Tea
Darvilles of Windsor
Other

So, if you're a British expat don't feel you have to go without your morning mug of tea. You can order your favourite in individual boxes, or if you prefer you can use our bulk buy option and get your annual supply in one go!

If there is a particular tea that you want but can't see on our list, just let us know and we'll do our best to source it for you.

A Great Christmas Day Starter

As we approach the end of November Christmas preparations (for most of us) are in full swing, and as the majority of our preperation involves food, we thought we would share another great recipe from our resident chef Hannah.

If you were a fan of Hannah's mincemeat and mulled wine then you're sure to love her Easy Christmas Chutney and Hot Breaded Goat's Cheese!

The chutney is appropriately named as it really couldn't be easier to make. All you need to do is place all the ingredients into a heavy based saucepan, simmer gently for 1 hour and pack into a decoartive jar.You could then serve it alongside a cheese board of all your favourite local cheeses, or give it to friends and family as a gift.

This combined with with the mincemeat and mulled wine will help you on your way to creating a whole hamper of homemade goodies!

If you fancy making a completely homemade starter for your Christmas dinner, then why not use your chutney as an accompaniment to Hannah's Hot Breaded Goat's Cheese. It's sure to impress your friends yet leave you plenty of time to concentrate on the main course.

You could then of course let yourself off an buy in a pre made Christmas pudding!

The majority of ingredients you need for this recipe; such as Whitworths Sultanas and Warburtons White Bread are available on the British Corner Shop website, although some things may need to be sourced locally.

Top 10 Most Popular Breakfast Foods

It's a well known saying that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and according to our 'most popular products' group on our website, breakfast foods are certainly some of the most missed products among expats.

So we've decide to write up the top 10 most missed British breakfast foods.

Number one on this list is Warburtons Crumpets, and I've got to say I completely agree with this being at the top. There really is nothing like a warm crumpet smothered in proper English butter, especially if it's accompanied by a large mug of PG Tips, which is in fact second on our list.

These two taking the number 1 and 2 slots doesn't do much to dispel the generalisation that we Brits like our tea and crumpets, but who cares when they taste as good as they do! Tetley and Yorkshire Tea also make an appearance at numbers 8 and 10.

The number 4 and 5 slots go to Warburtons Premium Brown Bread and Blue Pig Company Dry Cured Back Bacon. This will come as no surprise to those of you who live abroad or travel outside of the UK for your holidays, as it's a well known fact that bacon from outside the UK just doesn't taste the same, and it is probably one of the most missed British products.

Bread can also vary a lot depending on the country you're in. France for example; do great baguettes and rolls but can't quite seem to master the simplicity of a loaf of sliced brown bread. So, perhaps we just have to face the fact that you can't make a proper bacon butty without proper English bread and bacon!

If there is a favourite breakfast product of yours that you think should be in the top ten, why not leave a comment and let us know!

 Top Ten Breakfast Foods

1. Warburtons Crumpets

2. PG Tips

3. Marmite

4. Warburtons Premium Brown Bread

5. Blue Pig Company Dry Cured Back Bacon

6. Heniz Beanz

7. Nestle Shreddies

8. Yorkshire Tea

9. Shredded Wheat

10. Tetley Tea

Homemade Mincemeat and Mulled Syrup Recipe

It's now less than 6 weeks until Christmas and (according to the local news) this is the time when the majority of us kick start our planning for the big day.

I think we'd all agree that the two major tasks we all have to undertake in the lead up to Christmas are; preparing the food and doing our gift shopping. So this is why I think you'll find this new recipe by our resident chef Hannah, extremely useful.

Hannah has provided us with two recipes this week, the first being homemade pear and chocolate mincemeat and the other mulled syrup.

Both of these recipes are quick and simple and can be used to help you make your mince pies and mulled wine for Christmas day. Alternatively you could simply pour the contents into two decorative jars, add a rustic tag and you've got a perfect Christmas gift!

You do of course have the option of making some for yourself and some as a gift, this way you've tackled a small part of both major Christmas tasks in one go!

If you'd like more Christmas food inspiration in the run up to Christmas, be sure to check out the recipes section of our website regularly, as Hannah will be adding more recipes over the coming weeks.

Love it or Hate it, Christmas is on its Way!

So fireworks night is over, de-icing the car is a regular morning task, and it’s now dark by 5pm; this can only mean one thing….Christmas is coming!

Love it or hate it Christmas is fast approaching, and one of the best ways you can avoid a stressful festive season this year, is to utilise the fact that some foods can be bought and prepared way in advance of the big day itself.

One task that’s great to tick off the list in November is the making of the Christmas cake. Of course making a cake this early does have its downfalls, as the chances of it surviving until Christmas day without a few slices taken out of it are quite small (well in my house anyway)!

However; if you can manage to restrain yourself and you do decide to give the home made variety a go, then take a look at our home baking category. It’s full of useful products such as; flour, treacle and dried fried, that will help you on your way to making a cracking Christmas cake.

If you’d rather someone else did the hard work for you we also have a wide range of pre-made cakes in our Christmas Collection, such as Walkers Luxury Christmas Cake with Brandy; delicious and at your doorstep in the click of a button!

If you like all your Christmas treats to be home made, then be sure to keep an eye on the website over the next few weeks, as our resident chef Hannah will be providing us with some simple and quick festive food ideas!

Summer Sale and 10% off Shipping for August!

With the weather in the UK being unpredictable at best this summer, we thought we’d help brighten up your August with not only a sale on hundreds of British Corner Shop products, but also 10% off shipping for the middle two weeks of the month.

We constantly get great feedback from our customers, both on our social media pages and via email, and so we have taken this feedback into account when creating these offers.

 When we asked our fans on Facebook what products they missed the most now they live abroad, store cupboard essentials such as Bisto Gravy Granules, Oxo Cubes and sauces were top of the list, so we have responded to this by adding many of these items to the sale.

For those of you with a sweet tooth I’m sure you’d be interested to know that we also decided to discount some all time favourite British treats such as; Jaffa Cakes, Cadbury Dairy Milk and Toberlone, as well as some of our best sellers such as Fray Bentos pies, Heniz Beanz and PG Tips. To see if your favourite product has been added, check out the website for the full list.

Both of these offers are limited to this month so make sure you take advantage while you can.

Start your British food shopping now!