#MyMarksFave The Hashtag You’ll See in Your M&S Store Pointing Out Celebs’, & Staff Members’ Favourite Christmas Treats - I Share Mine Too!

There is one thing we know to be true about braving the busy stores these last two weeks of Christmas shopping, M&S is going to be crazy, but if you want the best treats, you gotta withstand the heat!

M&S is home to the proper party food of Christmas. Please don’t be offended, other brands and supermarkets I blog with, but everyone knows, when it comes to your Boxing Day Buffet, your New Year’s Spread, Marks and Spencer party food is just like flying first class. Yes you could get a sausage roll elsewhere and it would make do, but why, when you could get a mini-kiev? Or Thai Fishcake? Or vegan burger even though you aren’t even vegan but want to be a bit fancy and try one?

That means M&S is busy - but you better believe your trip is worth it. 

Even better, right now M&S Party food is mix and match 4 items for the price of 3, which extends to desserts too, such as mini cupcakes. 

 While you’re browsing in store you may spot some little recommendation tags beside the price tags of some products, marked with “#MyMarksFave” These are dishes handpicked by a tester team of lucky celebs who got to try out the Christmas range and recommend their favourites from the selection.

I picked up the Truffle Mayonnaise, which is recommended by Amanda Holden, and it’s only £2.50 a jar (very top photo). The M&S Cranberry is only £1 this week, so if you love that with your turkey you could stock up now. There’s also Turkey Gravy, ready to serve. 

My local Bloomfields, Bangor Store also has Paddy McGuinness’s #MyMarksFave which is the Santa Hat Profiteroles. They are £5 for a sharing size dessert portion and are very cute.  

You’ll also see recommendations made by staff members from your own M&S store on what they love to eat at home. 

The Christmas desserts from Marks and Spencer are always wonderful, so #MyMarksFave is in fact their desserts to order.  There are only two days left to place a Christmas Food To Order order, however, I always find with the dessert I book yearly, when I do go to collect it on Christmas Eve, they are also selling them in store on the day too, on the shelves. So if you are reading this after the 15th of December and it’s too late to book a dessert in store, or online, don’t despair, you can try in M&S the few days before Christmas, they usually have the fresh desserts then to buy.

Every Christmas Day I don’t have to cook, we are guests, so I bring a cake, and this is the fourth year I think I’ve ordered a cake from M&S. This year I’ve opted for the Salted Caramel Chocolate Log, it looks like a rooftop with a little Santa’s sleigh on top. So that’s #MyMarksFave

Of course there are a wide range of other desserts to choose from to order (click any pic below to enlarge) as well as cheeses, and all the usual savoury Christmas food, and party food. Closing date is 15th Dec so be quick. 

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

There is a very good range of party food in store now if you want to buy all your Christmas goodies now and avoid those crowds of the last week and last few days leading up to the 25th December. 

The dates on the party food will be short dated to go ‘out of date’ before Christmas, however, most of the party food can be frozen on date of purchase. Even the smoked salmon blinis can be frozen and then thawed out for the big day, so technically you could go and buy all your Christmas party food now while the shops are quite so crazy, freeze it, and be all ready for Christmas when it comes. 

The party food range is as amazing as ever this year, with old favourites like the mini burgers, and additions like a vegan burger option. The Asian Chicken lollipop favourite is back, lots of kid friendly favourites like sausage rolls, pigs in blankets, and the mini pizza platter which my son will demolish I’m sure.

There are plenty of vegetarian options, but I also spotted Wheat-Free party food this year for the first time (I think) so M&S really is catering to everyone this year. My Mum is a big fan of the Indian snack party food, and I love how delicate the new wok-toasted sweetcorn cones look in the 12 piece oriental vegetable selection.

All the party food shown here is priced at either £5, or £7, and are all part of the 4 for 3 deal. The Santa plates are also available from M&S from the Food Hall and are only £2, I thought they were so cute! 

Finally, and forgive me if this is a total faux pas in a blog post about food, but after I was picking up the blog post items, I had to go buy two packs of M&S’s super adorable Christmas loo roll. It’s £2.50 for four, which is a great price, and it’s covered in little reindeers and Santas. I’m just a sucker for novelty and I couldn’t resist!

Sweet Christmas Treats & Desserts, Including a Game of Thrones ‘Inspired’ Box of Chocolates, at M&S

£6

We have just about a week left to go, and Marks & Spencer still have some fantastic deals on, as well as brand new Christmas products fresh on the shelves. 

Whether you are looking for a last minute gift, party food, or a dessert for Christmas day, everything is now in store to choose from. 

One of the offers this week is this jolly little wobbling Santa biscuit tin filled with chocolate shortbread, for just £6. 

If you have a Game of Thrones fan who is a sweet tooth, I imagine these ‘Fire & Ice’ Chest of Drawers of chocolates would make a great stocking filler.

There are lots of golden treasures to choose from amongst the chocolate gifts. 

I particularly love the golden cocktail shaker filled with mojito, Cosmopolitan & espresso martini sweets.

Thereis also a box of mini salted caramel pine cones, for £12.

It’s definitely time to allow yourself to eat party food for no other reason than the time of year, and along with the savoury & chilled selections, it’s also 4 for 3 on the desserts in the Party Food Deal.

There are the cute Red Velvet Santa Hat Cupcakes, which are a return from last year, but also mini Christmas Tree Chocolate Cupcakes too, which are equally adorable. There are tiny, gold star adorned Billionaire Shortbreads, and for your gluten free chums, Made Without Wheat chocolate Brownies. There are also mini mince pies.

If you are looking for some last minute stocking fillers, there are little crafty bakery sets, like the Decorate Your Own Santa biscuits, and a Colour In Santa Game Pack complete with chocolates.

There are also fun novelty sweet gifts for the grown ups, with games that could be fun for Christmas Day. There’s a Golf Game with Chocolate golf balls, a Hum That Tune game with a chocolate prize for the winner, plus chocolate football & skittle games. They are all mix and match 3 for 2.

I’ve already ordered my M&S Christmas cake for the big day, and there are lots of show stopping desserts to chose from. The Penguin surprise cake will always be a winner with the kids, and adults can choose from various puddings, classic cakes, ice cream cakes and mousses.

Lastly, a quick note on the gifts. I was in my local store today and a lot of the range is already 50% off, Including all M&S beauty gifts, and the glorious Zodiac themed presents of cushions, candles, paperweights and mugs. You might even want to treat yourself, with the cushions now reduced to £3.75 and mugs £4. Happy shopping! 

There’s a VEGAN Chocolate Liqueur at M&S and You Can Get TWO Bottles for £16 Right Now: Plus All The Other Special Tipples To Make Your Christmas-Tree-Decorating Weekend Merry & Bright

£12 or two for £16

Can you believe your eyes? Marks & Sparks have made an all vegan chocolate liqueur, so if the temptation of a Baileys on ice makes you go back to plain vegetarian at holiday time, now you can stick to your guns and sip their Coconut Chocolate Vegan liqueur of an evening (see below).

Lots of the speciality drinks are on offer right now, which I will share with you in this post,  but with the liqueurs especially you can buy two bottles for £16, or even buy a crate online at £8 each here.

In the deal you can mix and match flavours, so you can try the exotic Yule Log Flavour Liqueur, or Salted Caramel, Egg Nog Cream, or Chocolate Peanut.

£12 or two for £16

£2

There are also offers on their mulled wines, both red and rosé (see further below), and their traditional Non Alcoholic Mulled Punch is a reasonable £2 a bottle. 

Mulled Rosé seems super posh, doesn’t it? 

The wines & spirits aisle in Marks & Spencer is a veritable treasure trove right now, with a tonne of different delicious concoctions to serve at parties and gatherings to wow your friends and family. 

As I said many of the speciality drinks have the bonus of being on offer too, so it’s well worth having a nosy in store if you have a few more gifts to buy, as they are great value, look substantial and festive too.

There’s up to 30% off Christmas drinks here, and you can save £3 off bottles of spirits and cocktails from this selection.

Another mix and match offer in store that I love, are these boxes of hot toddies in several different flavours (below). You can get 3 for 2. There’s Gingerbread Brandy Hot Chocolates and Salted Caramel Rum Hot Chocolates, £6 for a box of two, and they include the glasses.

You Just whizz them in the microwave for 45 seconds. It’s pretty cool that the cream in the drinks comes from a Northern Irish farm, just outside Coleraine too. 

So there’s plenty of choice of tipples for the adults for this weekend and the holidays beyond, but for the teetotal amongst us, and under 18s, there are lots of tasty, seasonal drinks in M&S to try too. 

There’s the Non-Alcoholic Punch I mentioned before, as well as two different Mulled Juices in the fridges that can be enjoyed hot or cold.

My absolute favourite however is the Spanish Clementine Juice. I buy it throughout the year too, but I challenge you to try it and not get the massive wave of nostaligia I always get when I drink it. It doesn’t taste like ordinary, fresh orange juice, it tastes EXACTLY like the orange you got in your Santa Stocking every year. It’s so sweet and delicious. The usual two for £3 applies to the mix and match fresh juices.

In the lunch and snack fridge section you can try a mini Clementine drink (below), as they have that and an Orange, Pomegranate & Cranberry variety bottle. They are £1.50 each with a portion of sale going to Shelter, the homeless charity M&S heartily support every Christmas period.

So make sure you check out all the fab offers in store this weekend, and the drinks gifts online . It’s a great weekend to pop into your local Marks & Spencer’s though, as they have the £10 Dine In Offer on all weekend.

Also I noticed all their beauty gifts are 50% off, which is huge, so if you still have some gifts to buy, M&S is your place. 

Feed Your Paddington Mania in M&S Food Hall #LoveTheBear

I think it’s fair to say that Marks & Spencer are the runaway winner of Best Christmas ad of 2017.  ‘Paddington & The Christmas Visitor’ has been viewed over 5.5 MILLION times, and it’s only mid-November.

M&S have been clever and have brought in lots of Paddington themed Food Hall items, so you can relive the magic at home.

Smix has loved Paddington since our first visit to London in 2016, so he’s delighted with all the Paddington goodies on offer. You can stuff Christmas stockings with a pair of chocolate Paddington Boots (£2), or have his own special thick cut marmalade (£1.50)  on toast on Christmas morning.

There are paw print biscuits (£1.50) and a whole selection of mini treats like the Paddington Chocolate Lolly (£1.50) and tiny tin (£1). 

There are even Paddington Marmalade Muffins, which would go down a treat with a cuppa while you read the book based on the Christmas ad. It’s available in stores priced £3, with £2 of every sale going to NSPCC Childline. We actually bought our copy last week, and they are waiting for more to come in stock at our local M&S. So if you can get your hands on a copy I would advise buying it ASAP!

As well as the Food Hall delights, there is a whole range of Paddington themed cosies in the kids’ clothing department.  

Smix desperately wants the gorgeous onesie, but unfortunately it doesn’t go up to age ten. He insists he can squeeze himself into the age 6-7, but I think maybe the Paddington slippers might work out better for him! 

Lastly, if you haven’t seen the advert and don’t know what the fuss is about, here it is. Joint the other 5.5m views and fall in love with a childhood classic all over again.

M&S Christmas 2017- Takeaway Lunch Sandwiches, Rolls & the 1st Ever Vegan Xmas Wrap- With Proceeds To UK Charity Shelter

This time next month the Marks & Spencer Christmas takeaway food will be in store, and I got a chance to see what’s coming when I visited the Xmas launch party last month in London. 

Once again M&S are teaming up with the homeless charity Shelter,  giving them a percentage of sales of takeaway food and drinks.

There is one very colourful, exciting addition this year- their first ever fully vegan Christmas wrap. It looks so cool that everyone I’ll wll want to try it, roast chestnut with grape & cranberry chutney.

With offerings of Lobster & Prawn Thermidor, and Mustard Crusted Beef, I’m really looking forward to these ranges arriving in store.

I’ve noticed a few Christmas items sneaking into the Bloomfields Bangor store already, so you can see what’s on the way in my video tour of the food launch last month, below. 

M&S Launch THREE New Hot Cross Bun Flavours for 2017- Which Will Be Your New Favourite?

It's Marks and Spencer Hot Cross Bun season! The 2 for £2.50 deal is back, and very hard to resist.

The retailer sells 42 million hot cross buns every year and for 2017 is selling an exciting range of hot cross buns with nine different varieties for customers to enjoy. All of the M&S hot cross buns are made by Gunstones in Sheffield. To meet demand for the buns in the run up to Easter, the factory produces 24 hours per day.

The first new flavour to introduce you to is the ‘Savoury Cheese Bun’ is made with a blend of two cheeses, juicy Turkish sultanas, onion, chives and of course the traditional hot cross bun spice mix. It is said to be the perfect pairing of fruit and cheese and delicious stuffed with bacon for a gourmet bacon butty. It's the first savoury Hot Cross Bun, and it's well worth picking up to try.

M&S has also launched the first carrot cake/hot cross fusion – the Carrot Cross. A delicious bun made using carrot slithers, citrus and spice flavours and of course stuffed with a moreish cream cheese frosting. As this is a stuffed bun, you get two per pack, but they are handy on the run as you don't need to find butter or a knife to fill them yourself.

Cream cheese filled carrot cake Hot Cross Bun  

M&S Hot Cross Bun Product Developer, Sadia Usman, commented, “We wanted to have some fun with our hot cross bun and create a range of new flavours for our customers to enjoy. Our savoury bun is amazing served as a bacon butty, whilst the Carrot Cross is perfect for afternoon tea.”

My favourite new addition however, is the Chocolate Orange flavour buns. I've already gone through two packs. I'm not a huge sultana fan, so I always loved the toffee and fudge variety, but this new delight is even better. There's just a slight hint of spice to it. 

Chocolate orange and toffee & fudge varieties  

Of course there are all the traditional favourite flavours too, luxury Hot Cross buns in both mini and regular size.

Cranberry & orange flavour and Kentish Brambley Apple, plus Clementine Orange varieties too. 

Stay tuned for a look at the Easter treats and eggs in store for 2017 later this week. 

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!