The Big Day The Hairy Bikers Home for Christmas

-Christmas. We love this time of year.

-Yeah, wrapping presents,

decorating the tree, and generally making merry.

And nothing beats a bit of Christmas home cooking

shared with family and friends.

Delicious festive food for all occasions,

packed with flavour and full of love.

Ding dong merrily on high!

And we'll be joined by some familiar faces

to get us all into the festive spirit.

-Oh, my goodness!

-That is preposterously wonderful.

-Merry Christmas.

-Merry Christmas.

We'll also find out how to make someone's day

with delicious home-made foodie gifts.

So hang up your stockings, tweak your tinsel...

Turn on your fairy lights, and relax.

BOTH: We're home for Christmas!

It's Christmas Day.

The presents are wrapped, the house is decorated, and the tree is lit.

Now, for a cook, it's the perfect time to show off.

Everybody's looking forward to your Christmas dinner, so what do you do?

Pull out all the stops!

Christmas makes memories, and with our suggestions for a spectacular

lunch, the family will be talking about it for generations.

We're making delicious stuffed turkey legs and breast.

And a spectacular Christmas croque-en-bouche.

We're joined by Reverend Kate Bottley,

television's favourite vicar.

I only went for a snog and I ended up with a dog collar!

But first a dish that looks great and tastes even better.

Yeah, we're going be cooking a cherry and bourbon glazed gammon ham

with a lovely winter butternut squash salad.

Now, like most things at Christmas,

we always say it's good to get ahead,

and we have got ahead with this.

The first thing you must do is get rid of the salt.

So you put that into a pot, bring it to the boil,

and then chuck the water away

and then put that back into the pot again,

filled with water, and this is what you boil it in.

So these are your aromatics.

Some celery, carrot, onion,

cloves, pepper, allspice.

Not forgetting the bay leaves and some thyme.

Now we simmer that gammon away for two to two-and-ahalf hours

in its aromatics. I'm going to make the cherry and bourbon glaze.

It just lifts that gammon up to new heights.

Now, you see there is a layer of skin here.

Well, what we're going to do is we're going to just take that off

nice and gently. And sometimes it'll just pull off

and sometimes you might need to give it a little bit of

a helping hand with a knife,

because we don't want that, we just want the fat layer underneath.

Now, to start the glaze, we start with some cherry conserve.

Basically cherry jam.

Black cherry jam or regular cherry jam will do fine.

Put it in a bowl, then we add some brown sugar...

..some cinnamon...

..some bourbon.

And I think bourbon really does work with this.

You could use Scotch whisky, but I think it might be a bit peaty.

Yeah, bourbon has that sweetness to it, doesn't it?

Now I've got like a thumb end of ginger.

I'm going to peel this and I'm going to chop it

very, very finely and put it into my mixture.

Now, while Dave's doing his ginger, I'm going to start

to put the little cross hatches that make it so lovely.

Now I take this ginger,

put it into the bowl with my bourbon, my cinnamon,

my sugar and my cherry jam.

And I'll give that a good mix. Then I put it into a saucepan...

..and I'm going to boil it till it is a jammy glaze.

Lovely. Cor, that smells boozy!

-Do you know, Simon, a Christmas fact?

-Oh? Go on.

In Britain over the Christmas period we drink enough beer

to fill 57 swimming pools!

-That's a fact!

-Do we?

-We do.

-Flipping heck!

Phwoar!

Here, you nearly lost your tache there, dude!

-I know!

-Hold on, the left bit's gone a bit limp!

Watch this. Aladdin!

Woof, there's the genie.

Let's put the fire out.

And we don't do anything daft like put water in it.

It's good, isn't it?

-Without oxygen, fire can't function.

-No.

There we go. Look at that.

I'm going to start to stud with cloves, Dave.

I always think that a gammon like this looks like a hobnail boot.

-It's lovely.

-Oh, it is lovely.

Look at that, Si.

We've burned the alcohol off and it's just gone

that wonderful, rich...

..glaze.

-Oh, you know it's Christmas when you're doing this.

-Yeah.

It's like a pork quilt, isn't it?

Yes!

-Right then.

-Right, let's get the painters in!

Now, that's starting to look like a gammon.

Oh, aye.

-There you go, mate.

-Thank you.

So that goes into a preheated oven at 200 degrees C

for 20 to 25 minutes.

If you fancy putting another glaze on, halfway through, please do.

Now, what we're going to do is strip the outside

of that butternut squash off, cut it and dice it.

Do you want me to chop the garlic for you, mate?

Yeah, that would be great, thanks.

Kingy, when you were little, around Christmas dinner,

what was your childhood treat?

Oh, it was first thing in the morning,

dipping bread into the turkey juices.

It was brilliant. Used to lift the foil up,

make sure me mum wasn't about,

and she'd always have hot bread,

so I always used to nick a bit and then just lift the turkey foil,

open the oven...

Hot... Oh, it was so lovely.

-Hot turkey fat!

-Hot turkey fat and all the cooking juices

soaked into mam's home-made bread. Little bit of salt on, it was epic.

-And what do you call that?

-Turkey dippers! Turkey dippers!

By gosh!

What about you, Dave? What was yours?

I seem to remember on Christmas Eve

it was always the time for making the stock and the giblet gravy.

And my dad would always make some soup with kind of pulses and barley.

And funny enough it was all my dad that had a leading hand

-in Christmas dinner, not my mum.

-Right.

And it was the Christmas Eve turkey soup,

because the bird was such a big event, a big expense.

-Yes.

-And I can remember that soup, eating late at night as well,

that was always so exciting.

We always had a proper roaring fire on,

-and the anticipation was ridiculous.

-I know, that's it, isn't it?

You know, for what's going to happen the next day.

Now I'm going to sprinkle the chopped garlic over the squash.

Right, that's us.

I'll get some oil, spread it out.

Give each bit of squash its share of the garlic world.

A little bit of oil

and some thyme.

Now this is dried thyme, it's not fresh.

Yeah. One of the rules with cooking,

you cook dried herbs and spices into a dish from the beginning,

and you finish off with fresh.

Now, if you could pass a little bit of salt, a little bit of pepper,

I'll stick that on and get it in the oven.

While I make a dressing for this wonderful salad.

-Can I have your olive oil?

-You certainly can.

Like most dressings, this one starts with olive oil.

Some lovely, sharp red wine vinegar.

I've got some Dijon mustard, wholegrain mustard.

You know, the lumpy one.

Now lastly, some honey.

So it's really sweet and savoury, and it's lovely with a squash.

200 degrees, 25 minutes.

Which, ironically, is about the same time as your gammon!

-There we go.

-Beautiful.

Oh!

They've gone really kind of sticky and roasted and lovely.

-Haven't they just?

-Oh!

Oh, yes.

Look at this boy.

-Oh!

-Oh, that is fantastic.

That is beautiful, isn't it?

I've got it.

Now, look at that.

I don't think a Christmas Day main event

could look much better than that.

-It's beautiful.

-It is.

Now just make a bed of spinach leaves for the salad.

I think spinach is great for winter salads.

-Look at the colours, man.

-Yeah.

-It's great.

Just drizzle some of that honey and mustard dressing.

Oh, lovely.

And now just scatter some of the lovely toasted pumpkin seeds.

And now...

for our beautiful, beautiful gammon.

That is...

-..perfect.

-Yes.

Absolutely perfect.

Oh, that bourbon glaze is superb.

Oh!

That is superb.

Ding dong merrily on high!

That is absolutely belting.

This cherry and bourbon glazed gammon with winter squash

and crunchy seed salad will be a magnificent centrepiece

for any Christmas table.

Now it's easy to get carried away at Christmas with buying

loads of pressies, but there's nothing puts a smile more

on somebody's face than if you've made it yourself.

And Jo Ingleby has the perfect home-made pressie.

So today I'm going to make a beetroot chutney,

which is just a perfect present for Christmas.

It's bright, it's colourful, and it's full of flavour.

It's got lots of spice,

lots of lovely seasonal produce as well in there.

Beetroot's quite a strong flavour. It's not everybody's

favourite thing, but this chutney can be a converter.

So you could taste it and think, "I love that.

"Oh, it's got beetroot in it!"

To me part of it is actually the time that you spent preparing food,

and especially if you're giving it as a gift,

it's putting a little bit more effort into what you're doing.

Of course you could put all this in a food processor, but actually

putting the love and the effort into chopping

is a really, really good thing to do.

Absolutely essential for chutneys, I think,

is a bit of sweet and savoury, so you're using sugar to make this,

you're also using vinegar and you might want to add your own flavours.

You might want to add some salt or some chilli or, you know,

anything you fancy. A bit of lemon juice is nice as well.

So I'm going to run that through on the hob now for, you know,

an hour or so just to soften all the vegetables.

And the smell's going to start going through the house as well,

which is a good start to Christmas.

This is a really lovely edible gift to make.

You can get any number of different size and shape jars and package your

own chutney and give it to friends, give it to family, as a gift.

And it looks like a gift that you've spent a lot of money

in a lovely deli for!

If you can resist eating your chutney for a few weeks,

then it's going to taste better.

What I usually do for Christmas is either make it in advance

or I make it and pop a little label on saying "best eaten after" a date.

And, you know, if people can hold off, then it's going to taste better,

but to be honest, it still tastes good if you eat it the next day!

So just to finish this off and make it really Christmassy,

you can buy these decorative ribbons in most craft shops.

They're really cheap

and you'd be able to do probably ten jars with this.

It just livens the whole jar up and actually the colour of the star

goes really, really well with the beetroot.

Well, it is the big day and for me there is nothing better than turkey,

and I don't think there's anybody better to share that turkey with us

than the Reverend Kate Bottley!

-Wahey!

-Wahey!

-Welcome to our little world of Christmas joy!

It's so festive and gorgeous!

-It's like you! Look at you!

-Well, I did like to make an effort.

I tell you what, Reverend, you look fantastic.

-Thank you very much.

-And it's great for the big day that we all

haven't got to forget actually what it's about.

-It's a Christian festival.

-It is a Christian festival.

I think the thing is about Christmas Day, it's about family,

it's about friends, and it's about food, isn't it?

You know, and it's about getting together and everyone just seems

a little bit nicer to each other on Christmas Day.

Well, until about four o'clock in the afternoon when they all

-fall out over Monopoly!

-Do you actually get Christmas Day off?

Well, I work Christmas Day morning, of course,

and Christmas Eve's really busy.

And do you take mass on Christmas Day morning?

Yes, Christmas morning. We have champagne, though,

-in the cup on Christmas Day Mass!

-You rebel!

-I know, right?

And I always wear my 'jamas under my robes so that at the end

of the service I can whip my robes off and get straight home,

get on the cooking and get on a nice glass of something as well.

Well, it is the big day and for me there is nothing better than turkey.

We're making delicious stuffed turkey legs and breast.

It's a way of doing the turkey a bit on the posh,

but it's worth giving this a go.

-What's not to love?

-First, the stuffing.

-Yes!

-Some say, including me, it's the best bit!

-I love the stuffing.

-Right, I'm going to crumble chestnuts.

We've sauteed some onions in some butter.

And they're cooled, ready to go into the stuffing as well.

So I'm going to put those in now.

Right, I'm going to peel a pear.

You know your parishioners, you know since you're now quite famous...

In fact, you're not quite famous, you are famous!

And you know, what do your parishioners think?

I love my local church. I work at a place called St Saviour's

and they're a beautiful bunch of people.

But I'll give you an example of what they think now.

We got a new kitchen at church recently and they wanted

a celebrity to open it. They didn't have to ask out, did they?

-They just got me to do it!

-Oh, wow!

-Oh, that is...

-So there's a plaque on the church kitchen that says,

"Opened by the Reverend Kate Bottley"!

Ee, look at that! You've done that before, haven't you?

A couple of times!

Were you always religious?

Did the Church always have a place in your heart?

No. Do you know, it's a terrible story, really.

I wasn't brought up going to church.

-I mean, I was christened as a baby like lots of people are...

-Yes.

..but we never went. And then I saw a boy at school

-that I quite liked the look of!

-Yes!

And he happened to be the vicar's son!

So I started going to church.

I only went for a snog and I ended up with a dog collar!

THEY CACKLE

Completely true. I married him. Obviously, I married him.

-Ah!

-But, yeah, our eyes met across a crowded communion rail!

I tell you what, that's good.

Right, I'm going to add this lovely chopped Conference pear.

So in the bowl we've got some sausage meat,

we've got some crumbled chestnuts,

we've got a beautiful chopped Conference pear,

we've got some thyme, and we've got some onions sauteed in butter.

And now you've got a couple of dried apricots.

To this,

some allspice.

Whenever you waft that over, it's Christmas.

Oh, I feel so festive!

-It's great.

-We just need It's A Wonderful Life on the telly now,

-and we're all set!

-Oh! My favourite!

-Oh, don't!

-Yeah.

-And the zest of a lemon.

I've got some nutmeg here, just freshly grated.

Right, well, it's now get your hands in it and mix it up.

Some salt.

And some pepper. And give it its final little stir.

And now is the time that we need to get stuffed!

I mean, Kate, people first got to know you on Gogglebox.

-How did it come about?

-It was an amazing thing.

I did... I do lots of weddings, I love doing weddings.

It's one of the great joys of my job.

And I had a lovely couple called Gary and Tracey who came to see me,

who wanted something just a little bit different,

so I suggested that we did a flash mob, a dance.

So I pronounced them husband and wife, and then the music starts,

and I start dancing, they start dancing,

and they put that on YouTube, so that their friends who weren't

at the wedding could see it, and that got 10 million hits.

Wow!

-Wow!

-Oh, it was so awkward.

I had to make... I remember when it went viral and I had to phone

the Bishop and say, I'm really sorry, but I've done something.

He went, "Oh, what is it now?" sort of thing. But it was brilliant.

And from that Gogglebox saw that and then decided to ask us to be on it.

I've got to say, Dave and I are massive fans and you do a great job.

-Thank you, that's incredibly kind.

-No, absolutely.

-More tea, vicar?

-I knew you were going to say that!

I'm sorry! I'm sorry!

But tea is another one of your passions, isn't it, Kate?

I love a good brew. And that's just about the right colour, that.

-See? See?

-Like ink.

It'd take paint off, that!

Right, mate. Right.

So this is the leg which has been boned and flattened.

So put our stuffing in.

-How's that, mate? Happy?

-I think that looks fabulous.

And now what you do is you take that side and roll it over.

Take that side and roll it over.

Use the skin like that. Now slip it underneath.

I'll keep my hand there. Hope for the best.

It's like a turkey TARDIS,

-there's more on the inside than there is on outside!

-Turkey TARDIS!

Little mini joint number one!

-Lovely.

-Now onto the breasts.

This one's a bit of a sandwich.

Much easier. Let's have lots of stuffing.

Absolutely.

-Bit more stuffing?

-Oh, yes.

-Lovely.

-In like Flynn.

-Right.

-Look at that.

What's the worst Christmas present you've ever had?

Oh, that's a good question!

The worst Christmas present I ever got I think was, um...

..some wet wipes.

To be fair, it was from a parishioner,

and I don't think she really knew what they were.

But the best thing I ever saw on a Christmas stall...

Well, the worst but also the best thing, was

we had kind of a Christmas bring and buy sale at church.

And one of the older ladies bought what she thought was a purse,

a Rudolph purse, she thought it was.

-With a little red nose on it.

-Yes.

It was a posing pouch...

-Oh, no!

-..that she picked up from somewhere.

And she brought that, and it went on the Christmas bring and buy stall!

-Oh, no!

-No!

And we decided not to explain to her

-that it wasn't what she thought it was.

-Oh, no!

In fact the parish that... The last parish I was in

was a country parish, and the first day that I was in the parish

there was a knock on the door and it was one of the local farmers.

And he went, "New vicar?"

I said, "Yeah." And he handed me this carrier bag.

And I opened the carrier bag and in the carrier bag was a rabbit

with its skin on. And he sort of looked at me

to see if I'd flinch and I went,

"Oh, thanks ever so much. When I've done it,

"do you want me to bring you some stew or something?"

And he went, "Aye," like that.

And apparently he went straight into the pub in the village

and went, "She'll be all right, her!"

Ah, brilliant!

It was like a test!

Being a rural... My last parishes that were rural, you know,

you'd open the front door and there'd be a brace of pheasants

-or big bag of potatoes.

-How lush.

Those were your Christmas gifts, you know.

-Well, that's nice. How lovely.

-Shall we make some stuffing balls?

Yes, let's. It's very nice having two people cooking for me.

It's usually me that does this.

-Well, you deserve it cos you're great.

-Ah! Thanks!

I'm just trying to get brownie points from God!

-I need all the help I can get!

-I'll try and put a word in.

-Would you mind?

-Yeah, of course.

You know, it must be really busy for you on Christmas Day, is it?

To be honest with you, on Christmas Day we sort of like

to get the service done as quickly as we possibly can!

So it's Communion, carols, bit of a sermon, let's get out of there!

Cos everybody wants to get home,

everybody wants to get back to their dinner,

so we have a couple of carols, the kids bring their toys to show.

You know, we have communion together and it's lovely,

but it is under an hour!

Well, this way of cooking turkey could be the one for you!

Well, I think that because, you know, I normally have to get up

really early on Christmas Day to make sure that my Christmas

is ready, so that I can get to church and stuff.

But I don't think this takes very long.

Well, you can prep this on Christmas Eve because

that will need to go in the oven now for about 45 to 50 minutes.

And then it's done.

And it's guaranteed super-juicy.

-I'll just put...

-Oh, you naughty man!

..on the breast just to keep that as moist as we can possibly make it.

Christmas Day is that day when you can be a little bit naughty

-with what you eat though, can't you?

-Oh, yes. Definitely.

For perfect roast potatoes, peel the potatoes,

bring to the boil and simmer for just a few minutes.

Drain and shake in the pan or colander to roughen the edges.

Sprinkle with polenta, salt and pepper.

Carefully pour the potatoes into a roasting tin with sizzling fat

and roast until golden.

The turkey's roasted and it's been resting for about 20 minutes,

so I think we can make the gravy.

Oh, yes!

First, strain the juices.

The fat and that really rich stock, there,

I'm going to use to make my roux.

So I've got the flour, I put it in there.

So I want to cook the flouriness out of it.

Now some of the turkey stock that we have here

I'm just going to put on the bottom of this tin,

and we want all of that into our gravy.

Pour all of that in.

Beautiful. I want to work this roux into the gravy

and start adding the stock.

Right. Bread sauce is on.

I want to reheat the sprouts and pancetta.

-Beautiful.

-So on Christmas Day do you allow the others

to come in the kitchen and help?

-I do, but they have to do as they're told!

-Perfect.

And it's the only time of year when the hostess trolley gets used,

-of course.

-The hostess trolley!

Is it still alive in Yorkshire?

Just about! The hostess trolley!

I love a hostess trolley!

Do you have any kind of unique Christmas traditions at your house, Kate?

Well, we don't open the presents until after dinner.

You have to wait. But you are allowed to open one present

-when you get in from church on Christmas Eve.

-Wow.

So you're allowed to open one present and you can take

that present to church with you in the morning to show everybody.

Which is fine, if you're getting something that you can show.

But you know, I got underwear last year and that didn't work at all!

No, it wouldn't! THEY LAUGH

The other tradition we have is,

you know when you have your nativity scene with your little statues in,

you can't put the baby Jesus in his manger until Christmas Day.

-Oh, no.

-So he has to hide in the fruit bowl until Christmas Day.

-And some salt.

-And every year I make all my own Christmas cards,

I make about 250 Christmas cards.

-Do you?

-Really?

-Send those out. Yeah.

And once you've started that tradition of making your own

Christmas cards, you can't stop, because people say to you

all through the year, "We're looking forward to your card!"

So you've sort of made a rod for your own back there, really.

You definitely have.

You don't make life easy for yourself, do you?

So is Christmas your favourite time of the year?

-Do you prefer it to Easter?

-Yeah, I love it.

No, I can't say I prefer it to Easter.

Easter's an amazing time as well.

But I do love, especially after Christmas Day, so that sort of

you know, when you've done the church and you've done the dinner

and that sitting down. There's that moment, isn't there,

-on Christmas Day afternoon where you go, "Aaah!"

-Yes.

-Like that.

-Yes.

-I love that.

In fact I can already feel it.

I can already feel that that moment's coming.

And it's that moment when you just go, "That's it,

"we can all settle down now in front of the fire."

You know, we've eaten, we've had something to drink,

we've done church, there's a little bit of time off.

The only time that doesn't work is if Boxing Day's a Sunday.

Cos then you have to go back out on the Sunday morning to church!

Oh, of course.

Well, I think your Christmas dinner is about to come a little bit early this year. Right.

Roasties.

Best bit.

Beautiful, Mr Myers.

And the beauty of this is you can have some of the breast meat

and some of the leg meat.

No bones, no sinew, nothing nasty.

What would you like? A little bit of both?

I'll have a bit of both, please, yeah.

I knew you were going to say that.

There we go.

Let me do one more. How're we doing so far, Kate?

That's great, that's a good Yorkshire portion of meat there.

You see, well, that's why I wasn't going anywhere near

any southern portions, you know! Oh, no!

This is such a treat, having someone else cooking Christmas dinner for me.

Now, as is Christmas tradition in the King and Myers household,

you put the gravy on yourself.

And then can I keep the rest to dip my bread in later?

Yeah!

-Shall we say grace?

-Oh, I'd love to.

-Go on, then.

-For friends, family and food, we are thankful and grateful.

God bless us, each and every one, and a merry Christmas, all.

-Merry Christmas.

-Merry Christmas, and cheers.

Now if I bless the whole thing, we have to drink it all,

because once it's consecrated, you have to finish it.

Crack on, Kate.

THEY ALL LAUGH

-Right, please dig in, Kate.

-Are you sure?

-Yeah, of course.

-We want to know what you think about the turkey.

-I'm so... Right, OK.

The gravy's not bad either, is it?

It's really good. Are you going to have some?

-Oh, come on.

-Right, let's have a go.

Come on, dig in. I'll fight you for it,

I'll fight you for that dark meat.

-I'm kidding!

-I'll cut that, Kate, then you have a go.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

-Happy?

-It's a meal fit for Jesus himself, I would say.

Stuffed rolled turkey breast and legs.

A spectacular way to celebrate Christmas.

Christmas is for giving.

Alyssa Cadd has a gift that's both edible and decorative.

It's perfect for the big day.

Stained-glass window biscuits are just a brilliant decoration

that you can hang on the Christmas tree.

Really fun to make with the children.

I love to make these with my boys.

The reason these are super simple is because you can just throw

all the dry ingredients into the blender and just pulse it

until you've got kind of like that breadcrumbs kind of texture.

And then you add in your milk.

I like to add in a bit of orange extract as well,

along with the ginger,

which makes it kind of real nice Christmassy flavours.

I started making these with the boys a few years ago.

They're something that I came across and I thought they're a real

fun thing to do, but also have a practical nature as well.

You know, you can use them as a decoration at Christmas.

This is the fun bit. I just like to cut circles and then put

Christmassy shapes in the middle, so I like to use stars or holly.

You could use little Christmas tree shapes,

so that you've got a circle of dough with a hole cut out in the middle.

It's really important to remember if you're going to be putting them

on the Christmas tree to just make a little hole on the top

with a cocktail stick, just so you've got room to thread through

a little bit of ribbon so that you've got a little space to tie.

This is a really fun part of the job.

You just want to break down all the sweets until they're all

into like a real kind of fine rubble, I suppose,

is the best way to describe it.

The temptation is to really fill it with lots of the boiled sweets,

but you kind of want to keep it level

with the height of the biscuit,

and make sure you fill it out to the edges as well,

so when you put them in the oven, the boiled sweets will melt

and they'll give a real nice stained-glass window effect

in the middle.

And once they're totally cold, and the middle bit is set,

then you can start poking the ribbon through the little hole.

And you probably then need about, I don't know, 10cm.

Just poke it through the hole and tie a little knot.

I'm really pleased with them.

I think they've turned out really nice.

These are going to make a beautiful gift for anybody.

Just in a little box, or you can just hang them on your tree,

or give them to someone to hang on their Christmas tree,

it's going to be great. You know, there's a lot of margin for error.

They don't have to be perfect,

but they look really beautiful on the tree.

Or you can just eat them - they taste good too.

You cannot have Christmas without a bit of bubbly.

There we go.

Wonderful. Thank you. Your health.

-And yours.

-Cheers.

Right. We do need a bit of divine inspiration on this one.

-I'll say my prayers.

-Because the big day requires a big dessert.

We're going to make the biggest dessert we have ever made

in our television cooking career.

-Yeah.

-We're going to make...

-A croque-en-bouche.

-Just for you.

Wow, I am...I'm almost speechless, which never happens.

But not, like, that big.

-No, no...

-This one will require 100 choux buns,

-with a cardamom cream filling in each one.

-Ooh.

But first, the choux pastry.

So we put the butter...

..the milk...

..the caster sugar...

..and 130ml of water.

And a nice pinch of salt.

Stir until all of the butter is melted.

275g of plain flour.

And you mix that until it forms a ball of dough

that comes away from the side of the pan.

And then beat for about another minute or so.

Remove from the heat.

It needs to stand and cool for five minutes,

and then you can add the eggs.

And pipe into 3cm rounds.

Now, you need to bake these in a preheated oven

at 200 degrees Celsius for ten minutes.

After that, turn it down to about 175, 180 degrees Celsius,

for a further 20 to 25 minutes, until they're cooked through.

Now, Kate, seeing as you're here, we always ask all of our guests,

what was it like at Christmas when you were a child?

It was amazing and magical and fantastic,

and all those words and more.

You know, there's nothing quite like the Christmases of your childhood,

is there? And I remember, I used to go to bed on Christmas Eve,

and we used to have a pillow case at the end of the bed for the presents

to go in, and I remember, in the early hours of the morning,

just nudging my foot at the end of the bed and feeling

that the presents were in the pillowcase!

Oh, there's nothing like it, is there?

And lying there, and thinking, "I'm not allowed up yet,

"I'm not allowed up yet," and just waiting until that clock

reached seven o'clock, knowing that's when I was allowed

to get out of bed. And then we dragged the pillowcase

-into mum and dad's room.

-Yeah.

And it always seemed like we dragged it, I'm sure it wasn't,

but it felt like just the biggest pillowcase stuffed with presents.

Drag it into mum and dad's room, climb into mum and dad's bed,

and open all the presents then.

A sort of mountain of wrapping paper.

When I got married to my lovely Graham, I remember saying,

"But we have pillowcases at the end of the bed."

And he went, "No, we don't, we have stockings under the tree."

And I was like, "How are we going to do this, then?"

On the big day, when you were a kid,

did you used to have any special treats for breakfast?

We used to have, when I was a kid, as a treat on Christmas Day,

cornflakes with double cream on them.

Oh!

That's really naughty, isn't it?

And you could always have a little extra sugar on there as well.

-That's what we used to have as kids.

-Perfect. It is, isn't it?

Yeah, Christmas is an amazing time, and, you know,

I think as your kids get older, you sort of,

you sort of get a bit nostalgic for when they were really tiny.

-Yes.

-And it was really magical.

In fact, I think it's more exciting for the grown-ups

-than it is for the kids!

-I know. It's lovely.

It's the best, but we've got a little present for you, yes, we have.

-How lovely!

-Yes, well, you know, it's Christmas!

Now, you need to open it this...

Keep it this way up when you open it.

-OK, am I allowed to open it now?

-Oh, yes.

-Or do I need to save it?

-Definitely, yes.

-No, no, absolutely.

What's this?

Oh!

It's a Sindy hostess trolley!

-Yay!

-This is the best present ever!

Oh, this is amazing!

Oh, look! And it's even got little food inside!

Oh, this is so great!

I am SO pleased with this.

So... Oh, look at this... I remember these!

So the story with this is,

my best Christmas present I ever had was a Sindy doll's house.

And my poor dad had been out on Christmas Eve and had to stay up

and build the doll's house,

because Father Christmas had brought it unbuilt,

and he was up until three, four in the morning,

building this doll's house,

after having a really good evening out with my uncle David.

So I remember coming down on Christmas Day morning,

my dad was still asleep on the sofa,

and the doll's house was there, sort of half contracted.

But the hostess trolley is absolutely perfect.

Has it got plates in it as well?

Oh, look!

This is so great! You do what you need to do,

I'm just going to play for a little while!

-This is brilliant!

-It's great!

Honestly, you don't know how happy I am.

Look at the carrots. This is so great.

Right, that's the choux buns all baked.

Now, what we need to do is to make a spiced cream,

and pipe it into each one of those 100 choux buns.

Make a little hole in preparation for the cream just here.

Now, the spiced cream consists of double cream,

which I'm going to whip up, icing sugar, cardamom and coffee essence.

-Go on, dude, go on.

-Just keep adding the icing sugar.

Now just whip it.

I'm very happy with this.

Very, very happy with this.

Kate, are you more a sweet or savoury person?

-I'm just a food person.

-Yeah, you just love it.

Yeah, just lots of it, plenty of it, you know,

-especially at Christmas.

-That's such a Yorkshire thing as well,

that, isn't it? Like, everybody in Yorkshire likes pretty big portions,

-don't they?

-We like us dinners.

-Generous.

-Generous portions, lovely.

We like us dinners.

I think this should be a challenge to your parishioners.

I think you need to make her,

our good Reverend,

a croque-en-bouche, and surprise her.

-Yep.

-After midnight Mass.

-You know, it's my favourite service of the year, midnight Mass.

-Love it.

Because, what I do is I make sure that I get out of the church first,

and go into the empty churchyard, all on my own,

look up at the stars,

and just have that lovely moment of peace and quiet,

knowing that you've made it, it's Christmas Day.

And then I shout at the top of my voice, Merry Christmas!

So that anyone who hasn't been to church is awake,

and knows that we've been on their behalf.

And in my last parish, there was a farmer who, when I used to

do that, he used to come and stand beside me, and he'd just go,

"Merry Christmas, Vicar," and I'd go, "Merry Christmas," and then we'd

have a little tipple out of his hip flask, and go on us way.

It's just lovely, just lovely.

And it is little moments like that that are so special.

It's about those lovely little traditions

at a time of peace and harmony, it's lovely.

Everybody knows that, you know,

I think when we talk about people forgetting the true meaning

of Christmas, I genuinely don't think that's the case.

No, I don't, either.

We all get lost in it, course we do, presents are brilliant,

but actually we all know what it's really about.

-It is, of course we do.

-We all know what it's really about.

Et voila.

And repeat another 99 times. Shall I crack on with the caramel?

-Yeah, man, I'll just crack on with this.

-Right.

You just need ordinary caster sugar.

Now, when this reaches 154 degrees Celsius,

it will be caramel and not sugar.

At this time, it is extremely hot. Please be careful.

We put it in a pan...

..and we kind of let it melt. Don't stir it.

And once it starts, you just roll it around the pan,

but let the weight of the sugar take itself.

Oh, look, look, look.

See how the caramel is starting?

I'm just swishing that around the pan a little bit, like that.

98!

I'm nearly finished.

99.

100!

-I've done it.

-Yay!

-That's it.

Well, that indeed is what I would term as caramel coloured.

-Beautiful caramel.

-So, the first ring, he can be there,

that fellow on his own.

We dip the side in there, like so...

..and stick him to his mate.

And so on and so forth.

It's like, it's like a culinary Airfix.

It is. And has anyone ever made you a croque-en-bouche before?

Nobody's ever made me a croque-en-bouche before.

There's a reason for that, cos no-one is flipping daft enough, that's why!

I love this.

I'm very good with repetitive tasks.

You could put some carols on the radio, couldn't you?

-You could.

-Or put a little Christmas movie on.

-Yeah.

Pass afternoon on lovely, this.

Right. What's your favourite carol?

I love Joy To The World, but because I'm a vicar,

we sing carols often, so you might only go to one carol service,

we've been to ten. Do you know what I'm saying?

-I know what you're saying.

-So the ones that are really popular

are the ones that we've sung over and over,

so I really like In The Bleak Midwinter.

-Oh, I like that.

-Yes.

Because it's one that we don't often sing,

so it's not a Silent Night, it's not an Away In A Manger,

it's one that's a little bit left field and that's not as popular

as all the others and I really like that.

But you can't beat on Christmas Day O Come All Ye Faithful because you

finally get to sing the last verse of O Come All Ye Faithful, which is,

-"Yea, Lord, we greet thee, born this happy morning."

-Yes!

And you're not allowed to sing that until the big day itself.

Do you get louder and louder as it goes on?

Yeah, usually. Especially at Christmas Eve,

especially at midnight Mass when the pubs chuck out and the churches

open their doors and everyone has a right good old singsong.

-Yeah.

-This is all going mightily well.

-It is.

-I'm very impressed.

Look at this, it's more like a scone, this one.

-What have you done here?

-I haven't done anything.

It's as big as an elf's head, that one.

You know what they say, as long as you've got your 'elf!

-That's true.

-If you're poorly, you can always go to the National Elf Service.

Oh, stop, you two, for goodness' sake!

So, how do you get that bit out?

Because this is so squidgy,

it should, theoretically, just pull out.

I love a good theory.

Don't collapse, don't collapse.

You beauty, Kingy!

That'll do, won't it? Does that look all right?

-Lovely.

-That's holding it nicely.

-I'm there.

-There?

-Get off!

-Sorry, I just can't help it.

-I'm so worried.

-Yeah.

Oh, that's it.

Right... Well, that's not bad, actually.

I'd say it's flipping good, Dave.

-Very good.

-This is the most fun I've had

-with my dog collar on in a long time.

-Is it?

-Yes.

-You've got to get out more.

-I know, right?

-Kate?

-Yes, lovely.

-Do you have any idea on how we're going to decorate this?

Surely you've got some sparkle to throw at it.

-A bit of bling. Yep.

-A bit of bling.

Yeah, yeah. We need like a motif for decoration.

Could you make us anything?

Just something to stand up...

You know, you're arty, you.

You make your own Christmas cards.

I do. Have you got some tinfoil?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Pass me some tinfoil.

-Yep, there you go.

Right, I am going to...

I'm going to amaze you and show you why I should have a Blue Peter girl.

-What's going on here?

-You'd be amazed at the things that I can do.

I can juggle, I can eat fire and I can make these.

I went on a course at vicar school.

-Did you?

-Yeah.

-It's brilliant, vicar school, I might go.

-Can you tell what is yet?

-It's got four legs.

I've got all the home-made Christmas decorations that my kids made

-when they were little.

-So have I!

-I've still got all those.

-I put them on the tree every year.

-Yeah, me too.

Every year there's a little bit more fallen off them

and they're a little bit more dog-eared.

-This is good, this.

-I know what it is.

-What is it?

-I just need to find his little red nose.

-Oh, Rudolph!

It is Rudolph. But he's not got his red nose yet

so I'm just going to pinch a bit of this.

Just get one of those on it.

Let's put him his red nose on.

-That's genius.

-Look at that, eh?

-Brilliant, isn't it?

-There we go.

-ALL:

-Yay!

-Oh, that's brilliant.

-It is good.

I want to take that home, stick it on my tree.

Do you want to do a bit of spun sugar?

-Yeah, let's give it a go.

-Let's try.

-I'm going to lean back.

I would.

Well, there you go, Kingy.

-Oh, yes.

-There you go.

-It looks beautiful.

-It'll look even more beautiful in a minute.

See what this does.

I've got some gold.

It's Christmas.

It's so festive.

Oh, please, please, please.

-Yeah, go on.

-Can I? Thanks.

Oh, look at that!

That's for us. Now, I've got these.

These are special indoor light-up-your-cake sparklers.

And we'll have one there, yeah?

It looks amazing.

That...is our croque-en-bouche.

It is so Christmassy.

Right...

Come on, let's taste this little one.

Oh, I love it. Oh, this looks amazing.

I'm trying to take a delicate, ladylike size portion but...

-No.

-Do you know what...?

-Oh, man, that's great.

-It's gorgeous.

You're welcome.

Christmas croque-en-bouche.

They'll be talking about it for years.

Oh, Kate, merry Christmas.

-It's been lovely to meet you.

-Merry Christmas.

-Merry Christmas to you.

-And to your families and to those you love.

-Thank you.

-And you.

-Merry Christmas.

-And Merry Christmas to you, too.

-Merry Christmas, gang.