Getting Ready For The New Year: What Can Be Done In Advance

It's no secret that there is a lot of work before the New Year - to buy gifts, to prepare a house, to think over a table, and not to forget about yourself. How can you do it all?...

It's no secret that there is a lot of work before the New Year - to buy gifts, to prepare a house, to think over a table, and not to forget about yourself. How can you do it all?...

You can do some things from a huge list in advance without putting everything off until the last day of the year - this will save a lot of time. What can be done and how - read on.

1. Think over the menu

 

Menu - food is not the main thing for the holiday, but the New Year's table is a place of attraction for all guests and owners of the house. That is why the table must be perfect.

In order not to run around on December 31 thinking about what to cook, think over the entire table ahead of time. What do you serve hot? What garnish is suitable? What salads to cook? What snacks to put on the table? What to do for dessert? It is better to think about all this a couple of weeks before the New Year and make a list.

From here follows another fad - recipes. Recipes can be saved earlier so that you don’t find out during the cooking process that the recipe also needs a unicorn horn, which you don’t have. You can also buy products with a long shelf life in early December. Firstly, there are discounts at this time, and secondly, by the holiday, people will simply sweep food off the shelves and it can be literally impossible to find what you need. Therefore, canned food, freezing, drinks, such as juices and soda, can be bought in advance.

2. Cook goodies

On the New Year's table, you can serve sweets prepared in a month - there are those with a long shelf life that do not deteriorate. This will save time and energy before the holiday. Here are a couple of options for such sweets.

Gingerbread

 

It is difficult to find more New Year and Christmas cookies. Easy to cook, long shelf life.

Ingredients:

wheat flour - 500 g; butter -150 g; brown sugar - 150 g; honey - 3 tbsp. l.; chicken eggs - 2 pcs.; ground cinnamon, cloves and ginger - to taste; orange peel - 2 tbsp. l.

Cooking: Sift flour, add spices to it. Cut the butter into cubes, add the zest and grind with flour. Get a crumb. Beat sugar with eggs, add liquid honey. Add the mixture to the butter-flour crumbs and knead the dough with your hands. Wrap in cling film and put in the fridge for an hour. Roll out the resulting dough into a layer about 5 mm thick, cut out cookies with a cookie cutter and put in the oven for 15 minutes at 180 degrees. Ready! 

Dried fruit sweets

 

Ingredients:

dried apricots - 100 g; prunes - 100 g; raisins - 100 g; peanuts and lemon - to taste.

Wash the dried fruits, remove the bones, chop coarsely enough. Beat in a blender, but not finely - it is necessary that each ingredient is still defined and noticeable. Add some lemon zest and juice. Optionally, you can add a little honey or maple syrup. Mix everything. Pour peanut crumbs into a plate, make sweets from the mass, roll in crumbs (or in coconut flakes), put in the refrigerator overnight. Ready! 

3. Atmosphere

 

New Year without atmosphere is nothing. It is very important to take care of decor and entertainment for guests. The decor of the table is also important.

We have already discussed how best to decorate the table for 2019: check, yellow and brown shades, acorns, chestnuts, oak leaves and so on - everything that the Pig loves. Beautiful napkins, elegant dishes complement the holiday atmosphere. You can also decorate the whole apartment with garlands, tinsel, spruce and oak branches, cones, balls, rain.

Games and entertainment are equally important - it's boring to sit at the table all night and eat cooked sweets. Arranging karaoke, dancing, New Year's fortune-telling and round dances around the Christmas tree is unpretentious, but fun and cool unites all guests. Think and look for games for the company in advance.

4. Gifts

 

What is the New Year without gifts? Even better if they are handmade. Why not make fortune cookies for your guests? Here are a couple of recipes. 

fortune cookie

Ingredients (4-5 pieces):

chicken eggs - 1 pc.; butter - 30 g; sugar - 3 tbsp. l.; vanillin - 1 pinch; flour - 40 g; water - 1 tbsp. l.; salt - to taste.

First, beat the protein with sugar with a fork or whisk. Melt the butter, cool slightly and add to the egg. We will add all the other ingredients there. Stir with a mixer for 30 seconds. 

Let's start baking. We lay out a baking sheet with paper, spread the dough in the shape of a circle with a spoon as thinly as possible. 10 centimeters in diameter. Put in the oven at 170 degrees for 6 minutes. 

Now let's move quickly. We take out 1 cookie and immediately put a piece of paper with a prediction in the center - and instantly fold the cookie in half. It hardens very quickly, so try not to delay. We bend the cookies on the edge of the cup again and put them in some container so that the cookies cool down there and do not lose their shape. Ready! Delicious and original. 

Almonds in sugar

 

You can give guests beautiful New Year's boxes with almonds inside. This is a very tasty German Christmas treat. Ingredients:

almonds - 200 g; sugar - 125 g; vanilla sugar - 7 g; water - 70 ml; cinnamon - 1 tbsp. l.

For cooking, it is best to choose a steel or copper pan. You also need to prepare a tray or flat dish - so that the almonds cool down. Pour water into the pan, pour both types of sugar and, stirring, wait for the sugar to dissolve. It will then begin to thicken and caramelize. This is what we need. Once the sugar caramelizes, add the almonds and stir over a high heat. When the syrup has almost evaporated, becomes yellowish and starts to bubble, add cinnamon and mix. Then remove the nuts on a baking sheet and mix a little more straight on it. Ready! Bon appetit!