Coronation Street Blog Advent Calendar 2015 - Day 18

Today we open door 18 on the Coronation Street Blog advent calendar.  Because a fight in the Rovers at Christmas is always fun to watch. 

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Coronation Street Blog Advent Calendar 2015 - Day 17

Today we open door 17 on the Coronation Street Blog advent calendar. Christmas 1994 and it's Curly and Raquel and the star he's named after her as Mrs Raquel Watts.

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Video: It's a Corrie Christmas!

Soaps Queen Sharon Marshall from ITV's This Morning reported from the set of Coronation Street this week.  The brief video report shows the Street being set up for Christmas, it's a nice little thing to watch.

Sharon visited the set of Corrie to see it transformed in the snow and uncovered some secrets to be revealed over Christmas. 

You can check out our Coronation Street Christmas spoilers here and the TV Christmas schedule here.

You can watch the video here.


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Coronation Street Blog Advent Calendar 2015 - Day 16

Today we open door 16 on the Coronation Street Blog advent calendar.  It's Katy’s nativity birth from 2011.

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Coronation Street Blog Advent Calendar 2015 - Day 15

Today we open door 15 on the Coronation Street Blog advent calendar.  Here's David, Kylie and Lily in happier, pre manhole, times from 2013.

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Coronation Street Blog Advent Calendar 2015 - Day 14

Today we open door 14 on the Coronation Street Blog advent calendar.  Here's the Rovers decorated in 1982.

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Christmas present ideas for Coronation Street fans

Name a star for your loved one this Christmas!

It's that time of year when our thoughts turn to Christmas. I don't know about you, but I've got the sprouts on already.  If you're looking for Christmas gifts and presents for the Corrie fan in your life, here are some suggestions below.

OFFICIAL RANGE OF MERCHANDISE

Check out the full range of official Coronation Street merchandise. Details here.

TICKETS TO EVENTS

Tickets to the Coronation Street set tour which closes on December 31st  Details here.

Some Corrie cast members are taking time off in early 2016 to star on stage in theatre plays.  Follow this link to find out who's taking a break and you could book tickets to see...
David Neilson and Chris Gascoyne (Roy Cropper and Peter Barlow) star in a Beckett play in Glasgow or Manchester.
Les Dennis (Michael Rodwell) perform in an Alan Bleasdale play in Liverpoool.
Brooke Vincent (Sophie Webster) perform in a stage play at the Lowry, Manchester.

Corrie official (older) merchandise at ShopTVUK. Details here.

Official Coronation 2016 Square Wall Calendar

Coronation Street Trivia Board Game

Coronation Street Double Acts Jigsaw Puzzle (1000-Piece)

Coronation Street 2015 tribute book to a soap legend - Deirdre, A Life on Coronation Street

Coronation Street masks


UNOFFICIAL, FAN ITEMS - if you can add to this fan list, please let us know.

There are unofficial Corrie gift items at Zazzle  Details here.
Hand-made and unusual Corrie items at Etsy. Details here.
Coronation Street book - A Perfect Duet, the diary of Roy and Hayley Cropper 
More gift suggestions here at the Corrie.net shop

The Helen Worth chocolate advent calendar!

Life-size cardboard models of Kate Ford and Jane Danson.

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Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street - official ITV tribute to a soap icon. Available here.

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Coronation Street Blog Advent Calendar 2015 - Day 13

Today we open door 13 on the Coronation Street Blog advent calendar.  One to warm the cockle of our hearts from 2013.

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Coronation Street Blog Advent Calendar 2015 - Day 12

Today we open door 12 on the Coronation Street Blog advent calendar.  Can you remember which house on the Street had this Santa's nookie nest sign in their window?

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Coronation Street Blog Advent Calendar 2015 - Day 11

Today we open door 11 on the Coronation Street Blog advent calendar.  It's the Coronation Street pantomime!

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Coronation Street Blog Advent Calendar 2015 - Day 10

Today we open door 10 on the Coronation Street Blog advent calendar.   Oh my eyes!  It's Christmas 2001 and Dev and Deirdre get a surprise present.

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Coronation Street Blog Advent Calendar 2015 - Day 9

Today we open door 9 on the Coronation Street Blog advent calendar.  Here's a drunk Jack Duckworth and Curly Watts. It's 1989 and Jack's convinced he's just seen Santa Claus.

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Emily leaves - and more Corrie Christmas bombshells!

Joy to the world and all that! Well, not in Weatherfield, obviously. In this week's double issue of Inside Soap magazine there are storylines for Coronation Street over Christmas and into the New Year. There are some excellent interviews too.

Here's the best of the Corrie storylines for Christmas and into the New Year, in a nutshell.

Tyrone's plan to bring Lapland to Weatherfield goes without a hitch, but he ends up skint.  Alan Halsall, who plays Tyrone, tells this week's TV Times that the Corrie version of Lapland has 24 trees, Victorian lamp posts and a sleigh with some very special deer.  Jennie McAlpine, who plays Fiz, says there'll be elves and a carousel too.  Tyrone proposes to Fiz, who doesn't know how deep in debt he's got the family.

Also popping the question will be Robert when he gets down on one knee and asks Tracy to marry him (again). However, Tracy tells Rob Donovan in prison that she'll wait for him to be released and she plans to get back together with him.  Then, Rob sends Robert a visiting order and plans to tell him all about Tracy's scheme.  So, when Robert does stand up in the Rovers with a ring, ready to propose to Tracy, his speech just might contain a few surprises for everyone.  Ooh, I like the sound of this one.

David and Kylie's problems grow when David bumps into Callum's mum Marion while out Chrimbo shopping.

New Year's Eve: Anna and Kev snog under the kissletoe, sorry, mistletoe.

New Year's Day: Roy sorts out some mail at Cathy's house and stumbles across a letter he wishes he hadn't seen. It's a letter from Cathy's late husband, Alan. But what does it say and will Roy tell Cathy he's read it?

New Year's Day: Emily leaves for a new adventure in Peru where she visits her nephew Spider.  Actress Eileen Derbyshire is taking a break from the show and I truly hope she will return.

New Year's Day: Carla sleeps with Robert.  Reeling from the news that Jonny is her dad, Carla hits the booze and the casino, only to bump into Robert. They drink, they flirt and end up in bed together.

And as for New Year 2016 - Sally goes into politics!  Sally Dynevor, who plays Sally Metcalfe says that Sally's ambition shows no sign of waning, she's going to be taking on local politics in 2016. She says: "It's going to be a great storyline, we've already started filming it and it has been really fun. Sally has Ken, Norris and Mary all on board with her, so I reckon she's going to do quite well."  Joe Duttine, who plays Tim says: "Tim's not interested in any of that at all, of course, although Sally wouldl quite like him to be her Denis Thatcher..."

We have more Corrie Christmas spoilers right here!
TV Schedule for Corrie episodes over Christmas and into New Year


Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street - official ITV tribute to a soap icon. Available here.

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Coronation Street Blog Advent Calendar 2015 - Day 8

Today we open door 8 on the Coronation Street Blog advent calendar.  Can you guess who the Santa Claus is?

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Coronation Street Blog Advent Calendar 2015 - Day 7

Today we open door 7 on the Coronation Street Blog advent calendar.  It's one my personal favourite Corrie Christmas photos, from 1967.

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Recipe time! Bake your own Christmas Corrie cookies

With thanks to Laura Brodie, who is on twitter @lulubake5000 and facebook at facebook.com/lulubakescookies  for this great guest blog post.  

Laura's created some Coronation Street cookies and here's her recipe if you'd like to do the same! And now, over to Laura...

"My name is Laura Baker from Trowbridge. I’ve been a Corrie fan since 2002 and I have watched every episode since then!  I’m also a passionate baker (as a hobby and for profit occasionally). Recently while I was planning my usual Christmas cookie ideas I came across a brick texture mat at the local gift shop.  It makes a brick impression on fondant to use on cakes, cookies etc.  Immediately I thought of a Coronation Street cookie with the iconic logo of the street name over the brick wall!

Here are the steps to making your own Corrie cookies!

Using a vanilla sugar cookie recipe I rolled, cut and baked round shapes. 

After the cookies were cooled I rolled out my red fondant into a thin sheet (about 1/8’ thick). 

 

After lightly dusting the mat with some icing sugar using a small paintbrush, I pressed the texture mat down onto the fondant using my rolling pin then carefully peeled it off.  I used the same cookie cutter as I used to cut the cookies to make a circle.  

With a paintbrush I spread a thin layer of golden syrup on the top of my cookie then gently pressed the fondant on the top, making sure it was smooth.  

 

To make the bricks look aged I used dark brown food colouring first and painted it in-between the bricks with a tiny brush.   

Then I used a mixture of dark red and again some brown and painted that over all the bricks.  With a paper towel I gently brushed the colour until I got the look I wanted.  Here you can experiment with brown, red and even a bit of black.  Then I finished it off with small lines of white food coloring on the top of the bricks.  This can be quite tedious work and it does require patience!  But it’s all worth it in the end!

Now you must make the sign!  With some white royal icing I piped out signs on parchment paper.  I had traced them out on the reverse side of the paper beforehand with a ruler.  You must wait till they are completely dry before writing the street name on them.  I use a small fan to hasten this process.

 

Once they were dry I drew the sign name with a border using an edible black marker.

Then I carefully peeled the sign off the paper and brushed some syrup on the back and stuck it onto the middle of the cookie.  I then decided to make it more festive by piping some green holly leaves!  I added some red “berries” using some decorative sugar balls.  There you have it! 
 

I love being creative and for me this was such fun!  I’ve included the cookie recipe and hopefully some of you will get baking this holiday season!  Merry Christmas!!

Laura Baker
Twitter @lulubake5000

Vanilla Sugar Cookies

3 cups plain flour (450 grams)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
226 grams softened unsalted butter
200 grams granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla flavouring (or almond if preferred)

Stir together the first three ingredients. 
Cream the butter and sugar with a mixer for about 5 minutes till light and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla and beat till mixed in.  Gradually add in the flour mixture with the mixer on low, stopping to scrape the bowl as you go.  Mix till just combined and the dough comes together.  Divide the dough in half and wrap each in a flat disk in cling wrap to refrigerate for a few hours. 

Roll out dough about 1/4” thick and cut shapes with a cookie cutter.  I usually place the shapes on a baking sheet and place them in the freezer for about 10 minutes before baking to prevent excess spreading.  Bake in a 190 deg. oven for about 9-10 min, checking often to make sure they don’t brown.  Let cook on a cooling rack fully before decorating.  Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks or freeze between parchment papering a container for up to 3 months. 

Laura Baker, Twitter and Facebook

Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street - official ITV tribute to a soap icon. Available here.

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