Christmas Snack Hacks

As you read this, I’m jingling bells and enjoying the run-up to Christmas and the family time we’ll share together (literally—I have some bells on my desk!). So I couldn’t wait to reveal to you a few Christmas snack hacks that I did this week to help provide some snacking inspiration for the whole festive season!

Christmas sandwiches

To make these bite-sized sandwiches, you need:

• White bread
• Primula cheese of choice (I used the Cheese with Chives and also the Original Cheese tubes)
• Chives – finely chopped
• Red chillies – finely chopped
• Cucumber – cut into ribbons
• Pomegranate seed (optional)
• One large and one small circle cutter or other Christmas shape. I used a tree for the open sandwich and a star for the small sandwich.

For each sandwich, lightly toast two slices of bread. Cut out one sandwich base with your largest cutter, then spread Primula cheese on the slice and sprinkle with your topping. With your second piece of bread, cut out the same large shape and then a smaller shape within it. Place the smaller shape over the larger shape to form the sandwich with a ‘cut out’ effect. For the open tree sandwich, I piped Primula Cheese with Chives straight from the tubs, in a zig-zag style from the bottom up, directly onto the tree shape. I topped this off with a pomegranate seed as the tree star!

Christmas trees

Christmas trees are easy and effective.

• 2 ripe avocado
• 2 dessertspoon lemon juice
• 70g (approx half a tube) of Primula Cheese with Prawns
• Pitta bread – toasted
• Twiglets
• One red chilli – finely chopped
• A few pomegranate seeds (optional)

Peel and chop the avocado and place in a mixing bowl with the lemon juice and Primula Cheese with Prawns. Use a fork to mash up the bowl contents, ensuring it is fully mixed and smooth. Then cut the toasted pitta into triangles. This is done by cutting in half then slicing from the bottom edge to the top centre at both sides to form a triangle. You will get two triangles out of each pitta bread. Then, spread the avocado mixture into each triangle, sprinkle with the chopped chilli, and place a Twiglet at the bottom to be the tree base and a pomegranate seed at the top!

Tomato pops

Everyone will love these easy finger foods and they are straightforward:

• Small Italian red ripe tomatoes
• Primula cheese of choice (I used Light Cheese to make this recipe slimming!)
• Chives – finely chopped
• Wooden skewers

With a sharp knife, cut a lid off the tomatoes – not the stalk end!! Then with a small sharp knife cut the core out of each tomato and scrape out the seeds. Drain upside down on kitchen roll. Then, insert a wooden skewer into the stalk end and place in a jar to hold. Pipe Primula cheese into each tomato then sprinkle with chopped chives. Easy!

Glamorous fig starter

This more ‘grown up’ Primula treat has some luxe ingredients. You’ll need:

• 4 ripe, fresh figs
• Primula cheese of choice (I used Primula Cheese with Ham)
• 4 slices of parma ham
• Pistachio nuts, finely chopped
• Runny honey

With a sharp knife, cut a cross into the top of each fig, cutting two-thirds of the way down and opening each fig up slightly. Pipe Primula cheese into the centre of each fig, place on the serving plate, and surround each base with parma ham. Sprinkle with the chopped nuts before drizzling with runny honey and serving!

Mac & Cheese!

After making all the Christmas snacks, I was hungry, so I whipped up a quick mac and cheese. I cooked my macaroni pasta according to the packet instructions, drained it, and placed it in a bowl. Then, I squirted on some Primula cheese straight from the tube! Mix it in with the pasta, and enjoy.