December is here and Christmas is coming! That means dusting off the decorations, blasting out Michael Buble’s Christmas album and, of course, cooking up some tasty grub with festive flair.

We love Christmassy food, and for us the silly season is all about harnessing warming flavours like cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Ginger in particular is a favourite of ours as it marries so well with Chinese food.

We use loads of fresh root ginger in our cooking because it imparts a beautiful delicate flavour. But sometimes we want to achieve a supercharged ginger aroma – and that’s when we reach for ground spices.

Today’s gingery recipe is inspired by Chinese ‘lion’s head’ meatballs, a popular choice for celebratory meals in China and named as such because they resemble lions’ heads when they’re surrounded by shredded cabbage. They’re typically big and hearty things, but for Christmas we wanted to make a smaller meatball that could accompany the main event or even be served as a cute ‘pop-the-whole-thing-in-your-mouth’ canape.

Our festive meatballs get two doses of ginger – first in the mixture and then in a sticky syrupy honey glaze. We used Schwartz’s ground ginger, which packs a seriously big hit of gingery goodness. Schwartz spices are top notch because they carefully select the best places to grow them, and their farmers know how to harvest so that the best flavour, colour and aroma is captured. You really do get a sense of this when you open up the jar – the aroma comes right out and grabs your nostrils!

That aroma translates well to a beautiful flavour, too. Our little meatballs feel like a treat. If you love pigs-in-blankets you’ll adore these too. They’re comforting and cosy, which is just what you want at Christmastime! Do give them a go and let us know what you think.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

This recipe is kindly sponsored by Schwartz.