It’s the most wonderful time of the year, as the song goes: where there’ll be much mistletoeing… not to mention a shedload of snacking.
Christmastime is the season of perennial nibbling, from the first chocolate coin of the morning through to an afternoon of absent-minded picking at treats ahead of a full spread of turkey and trimmings.
No viewing of a classic Christmas special or Boxing Day movie was ever complete without a glut of treats spread out in front of the TV, on the one day of the year our bellies seem content to take it all in without complaint.
Many of these will taste not just sweet, or savoury, but nostalgic too: associated with a childhood memory of watching something close to our hearts in the days of five or four TV channels (or, dare we suggest, even three).
Over the years, festive favourite snacks have come and gone while others have stood the test of time.
One thing is for certain: we all have a favourite we each return to year after year (a personal tub of Twiglets for yours truly, thanks for asking). That is, as long as they’re still around.
Take a look at our round-up of some of the best nostalgic festive nibbles below.
Has yours made our nice list?
Milk Tray
A classic box of Milk Tray from 1997. The logo, and box style, has only undergone minor changes over the years
Is it truly Christmas until you’ve had a visit from the Milk Tray man?
First introduced more than 100 years ago, Milk Tray is one of the most iconic chocolate boxes in the world and still features favourites including the Caramel Softy and the Hazelnut Swirl alongside truffles and pralines.
For decades, the classic gift box was advertised with the James Bond-esque Milk Tray Man, a black polo neck-wearing hero who would undertake daring feats to deliver chocolates to the woman of his affections.
The ads were always signed off with the famous line: ‘And all because the lady loves Milk Tray.’
The role was revived in 2016 with Liverpool firefighter Patrick McBride, who won a public contest to become the new face of Milk Tray.
Party Rings
Party Rings have been made by Fox’s Biscuits since they were launched in 1983 and remain a family favourite
There are few celebratory occasions – birthday parties, Christmas, retirement dos – that aren’t improved with a plate of Party Rings.
No Christmas Day repeat of Wallace and Gromit is complete without wearing a pair of these over your eyes and blinking through the crumbs.
Made by Fox’s Biscuits of Yorkshire since 1983, these crunchy iced ring biscuits add a sprinkle of colour to any plethora of picky bits, and these days come in mini varieties too.
Matchmakers
A classic advert for Matchmakers chocolate sticks. These days, the treat comes in brighter packaging under the Quality Street brand
Classically available in both orange and mint, these brittle chocolate sticks were introduced in the 1960s by Rowntree’s and now live on under Nestle’s Quality Street brand.
They were first named Matchmakers because they were the size of a match, before growing to the larger size they are famed for today.
Several flavours have come and gone over the years including Salted Caramel, Gingerbread and Honeycomb – but the mighty orange and mint varieties continue to reign supreme.
However, even stick-thin chocolate isn’t immune to shrinkflation. A report by Which? in 2014 found Matchmakers had shrunk in size by 14%.
Payne’s Just Brazils
Payne’s Just Brazils have been a Christmas favourite for years – but these days are much harder to find
First launched a century ago, George Payne & Co’s chocolate-coated Brazil nuts have become inextricably linked with festive snacking.
Available in both milk and dark chocolate varieties, they’re a little hard to find these days, making them a rewarding treat should you come across them.
Some are convinced that, since changing to new owners, the quality has gone down – but you’ll need to grab a box yourself to decide.
Terry’s Chocolate Orange
Terry’s Chocolate Orange is still inescapably associated with the classic adverts featuring Dawn French warning: ‘It’s not Terry’s, it’s mine’
What is the true sound of Christmas? Is it carols, sleigh bells, the laughter of children – or the solid dunt of someone trying to crack open a Chocolate Orange on the edge of a table?
Invented in 1932 by Terry’s – formerly Terry’s of York, which we’ll come to – the Chocolate Orange is one of the most unique pieces of confectionery in the world.
It outsold its stablemate, the Chocolate Apple, which came in similar wedges, and the later Chocolate Lemon – leaving it the undisputed champion of fruity cocoa treats.
Even now, almost 20 years after they last aired, people still associate it with comedian Dawn French, who would brag in adverts: ‘It’s not Terry’s – it’s mine!’
These days, Chocolate Oranges are a little less ripe, shrinking from the original 174g to 145g, while Terry’s of York is now just plain Terry’s: it is based in London, while the chocolate itself is made in France after production moved there from Poland in 2018.
Twiglets
Twiglets have been sold in Britain for decades – but their Marmite-esque flavour still divides the nation
Moving into savoury territory, the arrival of red-topped tubs of Twiglets on supermarket shelves heralds the start of the Christmas shopping season (alongside its other Jacob’s stablemates, Treeselets and Mini Cheddars).
These knobbly wheaty bits are flavoured with yeast extract, giving them a flavour similar to Marmite, and have been sold in cylindrical containers for decades.
Curiously, they were once marketed as a classy cocktail snack, with a 1935 advertisement carrying the strapline: ‘Will you Twiglet, pretty maiden?’
And their status as a festive treat was enshrined in Do-It-Yourself Mr Bean in a scene where Rowan Atkinson’s stubborn man-child cuts up a tree branch and dips it in Marmite after running out of the snacks at his New Year’s party.
Selection boxes
A series of selection boxes for sale in a catalogue from 1989 – when they would come in boxes and netted stocking varieties
Whether Santa left you a box under the tree, or a netted bag in the shape of a stocking, the selection box is the ultimate in chocolatey Christmas gluttony.
There was always a raging debate over whose selection boxes were best: Nestle’s, with its Rolos, Smarties, Yorkhies, Lion bars and Kit Kats; or was it Cadbury’s, with the Freddo, Fudge, Wispa and, if you were lucky, a huge bar of Daily Milk all to yourself?
As with many goodies over the years, the Selection Box has shrunk, with products both decreasing in size and disappearing altogether.
One of Cadbury’s smallest selection boxes now features just a Freddo and fun-size Chomp, Curly-Wurly, Fudge and Buttons bars and bags.
A Nestle selection box containing full-size Kit Kat, Kit Kat Chunky, Yorkie, Aero and Aero Mint bars, alongside a packet of Fruit Pastilles, sells for an eye-boggling £12 RRP.
Zimtsterne
Zimtsterne (literally, ‘cinnamon stars’) have been a German festive cookbook favourite for centuries
You might call them cinnamon stars, but zimtsterne (which literally translates to their English name) originate in Swabia, West Germany.
The dough of these festive treats is made from a combination of foamy egg whites, sugar, almonds and cinnamon, topped with a meringue glaze, and have been around for at least 500 years.
History records zimtsterne first being served to German Emperor Charles V by a cardinal named Lorenzo Campeggio in 1536, when cinnamon was an expensive and highly prized spice.
The legend goes that the star is modelled after the Star of Bethlehem that led the Three Wise Men to the birthplace of Jesus – but its true origin has been lost to the annals of time. Nevertheless, they’re a moreish Christmas treat to this day.
Cheese Footballs
Like Twiglets, the arrival of the red-topped tub of Cheese Footballs heralds the beginning of the Christmas food season in supermarkets
Like Twiglets, the arrival of a tub of Cheese Footballs on the shelves marks the arrival of Christmas food in the shops.
And if you’re old enough, you’ll remember these not as Cheese Footballs, but as Huntley & Palmers Football Wafers, produced in Reading by the world-famous biscuit firm, renowned for its innovation before it formed part of Associated Biscuits
So huge was the influence of Huntley & Palmers – which is also credited with the invention of the biscuit tin – that Reading FC is still known as the Biscuit Men to this day.
There’s no mistaking the innovation that is the Cheese Football: these wafer biscuits, containing a cheese-flavoured filling, are a festive favourite. These days, they’re sold under the KP Snacks brand.
Crawford’s Cheese Savouries
A bag of Crawford’s Cheese Savouries – though they’ve since been renamed to something altogether less palatable
Crawford’s Cheese Savouries – bite sized cheesy biscuits – have been an essential part of any selection of nibbles for years.
The company itself was founded in Scotland in the early 1800s and has been a top name in British biscuits ever since.
These days, you can still find them for sale – though under the rather disconcerting name of ‘Crawford’s Cheese Flavour Savoury Nibbles’.
Good luck trying to get anyone to call them that.
Vol-au-vent
‘Vol-au-vent’ literally translates as ‘windblown’ – an appropriate name for these little whips of pastry
Vol-au-vent can be served year round – but pastry nibbles at Christmas are always extra special.
Translating as ‘windblown’, these little whips of dough can be filled with all manner of festive treats, from creamy mushroom and rhyme to salmon and creme fraiche.
You can even prepare vol-au-vent as bite-sized desserts, filled with whipped cream, poached pears, berries or chocolate.
Or the full fusion food experience, why not turn them into mini mince pies with a mincemeat filling?
Brandy snaps
A photograph of brandy snaps being freshly piped in 1948. Despite the name, classic brandy snaps don’t contain any alcohol
And now to more homemade treats: brandy snaps are a classic British treat of rolled up biscuit filled with cream.
Despite the name, classic brandy snaps don’t contain any alcohol: it’s derived from the biscuits being ‘branded’, or burnt.
These days, however, it’s not uncommon to add a little brandy to the whipped cream filling through the middle. It is Christmas, after all.
Fondant fancies
It’s hard to resist a fondant fancy when they’re dished up Christmas time – or two, or perhaps even three
Fondant fancies, petit fours, French fancies – whatever you call them, they’re a timeless Christmas delicacy (of which one is arguably never enough).
Genoese sponge, jam, buttercream, marzipan, a generous layer of fondant icing and a delicate piping of chocolate swirled on top: there’s no mistaking it.
These days, brands go all out to delivery special festive editions of fondant fancies.
Mr Kipling, which concocted the ‘French fancy’ name with its marzipan-free version, has sold Irish Creme and ‘Frosty Fancy’ versions over the years.
Yorkshire bakery Bettys, which has made fancies for decades, decorates its version with gift bows and boughs of holly (fa la la la la, la la la la).
Mixed nuts in shells
The annual trip to buy a bag of mixed nuts you can crack at home yourself remains a highlight of supermarkets
There’s a reason you still keep your nutcracker in the attic.
This is the one time of year when the supermarkets are guaranteed to sell you a bag of assorted nuts – normally a mixture of almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts and Brazil nuts – still in their shells that aren’t pistachios.
Aside from the sound of someone throwing a Chocolate Orange at the nearest wall, does anything sound more Christmassy than the whip-crack of a friendly German toy soldier shattering a shell with his teeth?
After Eight
After Eight chocolates have been advertised as the perfect after-dinner treat for decades
No Christmas dinner dessert is complete without a box of After Eight – delicate, wafer-thin chocolates with a minty filling – being presented to the table.
Another creation of the Yorkshire confectionary powerhouse that is Rowntree’s, After Eight mints were launched in three variations in 1962 before the fondant mint version won out.
Its production process was highly advanced for the time, with the block of fondant given a softening enzyme that allows it to take its gooey form as it is enrobed in chocolate.
They’ve been marketed as the perfect after dinner mint for illustrious company, including in an advert that saw Stephen Fry and Naomi Campbell dine with revived icons including David Niven, Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe and James Dean.
PS: Convinced they’re called After Eights, with an ‘s’ on the end? Look again.
Angel Delight
Angel Delight has been a British dessert icon for decades – marketed for its taste and the speed with which it could be prepared
Launched to much fanfare in 1967, Bird’s Angel Delight was an undisputed icon of Christmas from the 70s onwards.
Its first flavour, strawberries and cream, was marketed as ‘the next best thing’ to a dish of the Wimbledon favourite – and prepared in seconds, best served in a fancy sundae glass.
‘You just whisk it with milk – and there you have it – cloud-soft and air-light. Angel Delight isn’t strawberries and cream, but tastes just like it,’ read the ad. It was later promoted as so easy to make, even children could do so.
Little has changed about it since: it’s still sold in Strawberry, Butterscotch and Chocolate flavours, with sugar-free varieties available. It still ranks as one of Britain’s favourite nostalgic foods – and remains a perennial festive treat.
