Marks & Spencer Sweet Sweet Christmas Party Food 2016

Fruit cups £6 : Santa hats £4

Two weeks ago I showed you what Marksie's had instore for savoury party food this Christmas 2016. Flown in by Mrs Claus in her helicopter no doubt.

This time around I'm sharing the M&S Christmas party food sweet selection. Party food is on 4 for 3 this week, so again it's worth taking advantage of the offers as they will likely wind down closer to the big day.

Its worth noting you will find the party desserts in three different locations instore. So if you see a product in this blog you want to buy, but can't find it amongst the chilled fridge part desserts, try the frozen department and lastly the bakery section.

Pecan tarts £7 : Doughnuts £4 : fritters £4

A lot of the desserts have edible glitter on them, which I absolutely love. The pecan tarts have golden glitter, as do the chocolate orange brownie tarts. The brownie cubes have actual edible stars, while the Prosecco charms have a silvery sheen.

Brownie tarts £4 : Brownie star bites £4 : Viennese charms £4

This weekend there also is a Dine In £10 offer on. That's where you can get your hands on the glittery, chocolate mousse pine cones from the new M&S Christmas advert. 

Still shimmering are the lustred macaroons, which almost look too good to eat. 

Macaroons £7 : Pine cones in the £10 deal, or £4

Stollen £4

If you want some traditional Christmas tastes, there are of course mince pies, Christmas cake bites or slices, and Stollen.

After all the chocolate the passion fruit profiteroles taste fresh & sweet.  Finally we loved the mini red velvet cupcakes because they look like little Santa hats.

Cupcakes £4 : Profiteroles £6

What a lovely festive spread you can put on with M&S. Remember many of these desserts can be frozen so you can use them for New Year's if you wish.

Brownie stars

Red velvet cupcakes and Prosecco whirls

Passion fruit profiteroles  

Chocolate orange brownie tarts

Pecan tarts

M&S Christmas 2016 Party Food- 3 for 2 Savoury Goodies For a Tree Decorating Family Feast

It seems the older I get, the more it is that my favourite part of Christmas is the eating. Christmas dinner is one of my top three favourite meals ever, and the Boxing Day buffet is legendary in the Spence household.  

Another great part is the fancy party food that goes on sale in Marks & Spencer in mid-November. There are the yearly classics like smoked salmon bites and mozzarella cheese sticks, but there are always some new party food additions, so I chose a selection to try out before the season really kicks off.

For this post I stuck to the savoury selection, so watch for a sweet party food follow up in the next couple of weeks. 

First off, M&S have realised the great untapped market of BREAKFAST party food. Christmas Day breakfast is one portion of the day not set with tradition, apart from the universal fact that we all will have eaten chocolate pre-10am. Since I've had my own household, and even now when it's just myself & Smix, Christmas breakfast for us is a plate of thick American pancakes, bacon & maple syrup. Smix inevitably has to be told a thousand times to eat, as he's distracted by Santa's delights, so I'm thinking of changing things up a little this year and going with M&S's mini breakfast bacon cups. 

They come in their own tray to pop in the oven and when ready you have a bite size crispy bacon cup filled with scrambled egg, baby tomato & flecks of mushroom. They. Are. Amazing. I'm not even ashamed to say I ate the whole tray of them the morning I cooked them to test. They would be so much easier to get a kid to eat than sitting down with a knife and fork to eat pancakes and bacon. 

Also​ above are the new mushroom baubles. If you are cooking a whole fry, these would be a cool treat on the side.

The Brie and cranberry tartlets would also be good to be served any time of day. If you've never tried that combo, you don't know what you are missing. ​

All the savoury and sweet party food is 3 for 2 right now, and I'm thinking a little spread of goodies would be a nice tradition to kick off for tree decoration night. It's another one of those times the whole family gets together to decorate the tree and home, so why not mark the occasion with a little party too?

Some of the party food is more for an adult palate, but everyone will love the Christmas cracker shaped sausage rolls, and bacon & cheese rolls.  Cheese & bacon potato skins are another crowd pleaser, but my absolute favourite party food for the kids is the mini buckets of southern fried chicken pops with fries. There's also a fish and chips variety with the same novelty buckets. I love the buckets. I would buy these all year round, they are so cute. Mini posh dogs are another option for all ages to share.

Moving on to some of the more adult options there are lots of great Asian influenced foods. The sticky Asian chicken lollipops go really well with the oriental prawn selection. It's worth noting that all the party food oven cooks around 190-200, so I was able to cook everything together just by scheduling the times. 

New this year is the hog roast on mini crackling plates. These are really tasty & I've not seen anything like them anywhere else.

The mini scallops en croutes with champagne sauce are most definitely a more adult taste, and serving them in a shell is just plain fancy pants. They taste great too.

So that's the savoury party food we tried out, all 3 for 2 right now. I will feature the sweet selection soon, but in the meantime I want to share with you the  Christmas cake I ordered this week for Christmas Day. M&S actually sold this same cake last Christmas & I spotted it in store & decided to buy it closer to the day. Then my local store sold out of them! Luckily I phoned round nearby stores & managed to drive and buy one on Christmas Eve in east Belfast. So this year I've been smart and ordered and paid for it already, to pick up Christmas week at my local store. I can't wait!

Sneak a Little Slice of Christmas into Everyday. Xmas 2016 Launches at M&S.

31st October, Halloween, 1st November, its Christmas. The population always seems split this month. There are those who think it's far too soon to think about Christmas, then there is festive loving folks like myself who are ready to dive straight in to turkey and cranberry everything.

Marks & Spencer's food hall is starting to turn holly berry red, with their Christmas party food and festive flavours appearing in every department. So I visited the Sprucefiled store to choose from the little items you can start adding to your day now, without having a full on turkey dinner. There are dozens of products you can pick for lunch and dinner to get you in the Christmas mood. 

Pigs in Blankets £1.75 : Scotch Egg £2 : Mince pies £1.20 : Turkey wrap £3

Every year M&S bring out a Christmas lunch menu for their takeaway food. That includes sandwiches, salads, sausage rolls, wraps, juice and mini desserts for one. This is the 11th year that they have partnered with the charity Shelter, donating 5% of every sale to the homeless charity.

Soup £2.50 : Turkey feast sandwich £3.25 : Sausage roll £1.75

Club sandwich £4.50 : Juice £1.50 : Rolls £3.25

Profiteroles £2 : Cheesecake £2 : Macaroons £1.75

Moving on to the rest of the Food Hall, we see the traditional M&S crazy crisp varieties.  Prosecco or Bucks Fizz handcooked crisps are pretty unusual, as well as turkey & maple syrup, but the flavour I'm most excited about is Blackstick's Blue cheese. I already love the blue cheese itself, and the spreadable cheese you can get too, so these are right up my street.

Crisps all 2 for £3

Christmas flavours are also reaching the shelves of the confectionary and biscuit aisles. Even Percy has had a Christmas makeover. 

Jaffacakes £1 : Marzipan £1

One last deal I have to mention. It's just arrived in store & I anticipate it selling quickly, so if you think it's a suitable gift you should think about buying it while there is a good choice available. 

You get a lovely, thick felt stocking, which you can fill with three items of your choice for £10. There are sacks of minty sweets, chocolate skittle games, chocolate gingerbread men, snowball sweeties, winter caramels and various Christmas themed games. 

All 3 for £10 plus free stocking

I choose the decorate your own lolly kit, decorate your own biscuits, and the crazy chocolate cracker. For £10 you could divide the items as three separate presents, or use the stocking as a gift bag to give the selection of your choice to someone. Or, like me, you could pick them for yourself! 

What's your favourite M&S Christmas product?  Check out what else is in store on the M&S website.