We love a good Scottish family trifle at Christmas time and I created this chocolate version using all the elements of a classic Scottish family trifle of the 80’s. This trifle is layered up with chocolate chip chunks, cherries, raspberry jelly, chocolate custard, whipped cream and Scottish shortbread stars and other chocolate toppings. It makes a delicious family treat after the big Christmas meal and can be quite light if you have a wee bit.
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Christmas Mincemeat Cake Bars
This lovely Christmas Mincemeat Cake Bar recipe is a warming festive treat for this time of year. It is made with mincemeat, Christmas spices and dried fruit and topped off with a light drizzle of icing, glace cherries and some Christmas sprinkles.
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Christmas Smoked Trout Tattie Scones
This delicious Scottish smoked trout and tattie scones recipe is absolutely perfect as a Christmas starter or on a sharing nibble plate but be warned they are so addictive and you may need to make more than you think!
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Scottish Christmas Cookbook – A Sneak Peek!
I just uploaded a wee sneak peek at my lovely Scottish Christmas cookbook to my Youtube Channel – The 12 Days of Christmas – A short collection of Scottish Inspired Christmas recipes! Start planning your Christmas cooking today with this collection of my favourite recipes.
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New Christmas Cookbook – 12 Days of Christmas
Hey everyone! I hope you are all starting to feel excited about the Christmas season. I’m really excited to let you know I just released my “12 days of Christmas cookbook” this week. It’s packed with lovely Scottish inspired Christmas recipes!
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Christmas Plum Pudding
This Christmas Plum Pudding is light in colour and texture compared to the heavier versions available and it works perfectly as a boozey pudding or as an adorable Christmas pudding with icing and holly.
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Scottish Christmas Trifle
We have always enjoyed Scotch broth, Christmas Turkey and all the trimmings for Christmas dinner and just when you thought it couldn’t get any better Granny pulls out her traditional Scottish trifle from the fridge! Delicious!
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Scottish Christmas Cake
We all squeeze in a slice of Christmas cake on Christmas day…well in all honestly its more like a cube of Christmas cake as there’s not much room for anything after a three course Christmas day dinner. This Christmas cake is full of my favourite Christmas spices and gives this cake such a delicious flavour.
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Clootie Dumpling
This clootie dumpling reminds me so much of my husband’s Granny Alice MIlne, she was a lovely lady and treated us to many a plate of Traditional Scottish Broth and a slice of her clootie dumpling over the years.. Everytime its simmering away I think of her and her delicious clootie dumpling that I had the pleasure of tasting a few times.
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Luxury Smoked Salmon Christmas Wreath
This delicious smoked salmon salad platter served with an onion cream cheese spread would make the perfect centerpiece of a nibble spread for guests, a delicious Christmas day starter or even a late Christmas Day brunch.

It looks very impressive on the table but it is soooo simple to make and very quick to put together. The combination of ingredients and flavours really work well together and are delicious served on slices of warm crusty bread.

I have used high quality thinly sliced Scottish (of course!) smoked salmon for this dish. The quality is important if you want the flavours just right.
Sprinkled throughout the wreath are bite sized chunks of crunchy cucumbers, ripe avocado chunks, chopped cherry tomatoes, red onion and garnished with spring onions and dill.
I served the wreath up with lemon slices for squeezing on the top and my creamy onion flavoured cream cheese spread. It is absolutely delicious eaten with crusty bread spread with the cream cheese and topped with pieces of salmon and salad.

The ingredient quantities are variable so I’ve based it on what I used to serve my family a small starter portion. So this would feed roughly 4-5 as a nibble or starter. Simply increase if you are serving more.
Ingredients
Salmon Wreath
Smoked salmon slices – about a 400g pack
Half cucumber – quartered length ways then sliced
Half an avocado – scooped whole, sliced then cut into similar sized pieces as the cucmber.
Half a red onion – sliced thinly, then cut into four again
Cherry tomatoes (about 200g) – quartered
2 Spring Onions – Slice thinly
2 tbsp of Dill – chop finely
2 lemons
Cream cheese
1 small tub of cream cheese
Half a red onion, grated or finely chopped
Dill
A squeeze of lemon
Salt and pepper
Crusty bread slices
Split the smoked salmon slices into smaller pieces and display around the plate in a circular fashion. Add the cucumber, avocado, red onion, and cherry tomatoes spread out around the wreath to create a good balance of colour. Sprinkle over the chopped dill and spring onion and season lightly with salt and pepper. Remember it will be quite salty already due to the smoked salmon. Quarter the lemons and display in the middle around the bowl of cream cheese (recipe below).
Empty the cream cheese into a large bowl and add in the grated onion, chopped dill, a squeeze of lemon and season with salt and pepper. Mix well and transfer to a small bowl. Position this bowl in the center of the wreath and arrange the lemon pieces around it.
We spread some slices of the crusty bread with the cream cheese and topped off with pieces from the wreath.
Enjoy!

