MINCEMEAT CHRISTMAS BUNS

These are very simple and can use any basic sponge recipe, with a lovely big dob of mincemeat in the middle, baked, then iced and decorated with a festive motif! They look stunning on a plate during the build up to Christmas. Just as easy as mince pies too.

I have been making them every few days as my husband loves them so much!

This is my last post until the first week of January. Too much baking, with visitors arriving as well. So, I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

Best wishes from Laurie, in Penryn, Cornwall.

You need a 12 hole muffin tin and some Christmasy muffin cases - I found some little holly cutters in Truro Pannier Market.

This uses an all in one method, so place in a bowl: How easy is that???

6 oz SR Flour

6 oz softened butter [definitely not marg]

4 oz any sugar - caster or soft light brown

1 teaspoon mixed spice - or any festive mix of your choice

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon milk

Green and red fondant icing

Icing sugar

Beat together until light and fluffy - you all know how! Spoon a large teaspoon of the mix into the bottom of the muffin cases, then a medium heaped teaspoon of mincemeat - I used Lidl’s Deluxe Rum and Raisin. Then place another teaspoon of mix over the mincemeat. I carefully try to cover the fruit as best I can, but no real need to be too fussy.

Bake in a pre heated fan oven 170 C for 20 mins. Cool, then when they are cold:

Mix a small amount of icing and put a blob on each bun. Roll out a small amount of green fondant icing and cut the holly leaves, place then on the icing. Then take tiny pieces of the red fondant and make berries.

How easy is that???

Seal your fondant blocks in any air tight container and they will keep fresh over the festive period, to use again and again.

Right - I am off to marzipan my Christmas Cake. See you in the New Year!! x

LEMON CURD CAKE

This is an old recipe, taken from the radio during the late 60s. It has a lovely refreshing taste, great texture too. I do sometimes add more decoration, especially if it is for a dessert, but it is just as good left plain, with a cup of tea!

grease and line the bottom of a 7” tin - loose bottom is easiest. Pre heat your fan oven to about 145C

6 oz room temperature butter

4 oz caster sugar

5 tablespoons lemon curd

3 large eggs

8 oz SR flour

Cream the fat and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the lemon curd. Mix well. Add the beaten eggs, one at a time along with some of the flour, finally add the remaining flour. Tip the mixture into your cake tin and bake for approx 1 hour 10 mins, but check after 1 hour.

Leave in the tin until half cool. I then cut it in half, to spread a thin layer of curd between the halves. Doing this while the cake is still just warm, the curd soaks in a little, making the cake lovely and moist. Cool completely. 

While that is happening make a lemon curd topping [optional].

3 oz soft butter

3 dessertspoons lemon curd

6 oz icing sugar

Beat the above together, then spread over the top of the cooled cake.

If you wish you can further drizzle over some softened lemon curd or grate over some lemon zest [or both], like I did.

If you complete all 3 stages of the cake/decoration you will use a whole jar of Lemon Curd - approx 400 gr

Just great with clotted cream!

Note: The old radio show was the Jimmy Young Show, when folk would call or write in with their recipes. If you remember these, then you are about the same age as me or older!!!

A PECULIAR CAKE

Indeed this cake is very strange, with the most peculiar mix of ingredients but somehow it just works! Chocolate, Coffee and Lemon fight with your tastebuds for recognition! I think chocolate just about wins but the coffee smell does dominate. In the build up to Christmas I have decorated it with some marzipan and icing, but that is optional, of course. It just adds to the strange mix - only more so!

Grease and line the bottom of a 6” spring form cake tin. Preheat your fan oven to about 165C

Cream together, until light and fluffy:

4oz softened butter

3 oz caster sugar

then add:

the zest of a lemon

4 oz finely chopped chocolate - I used 70% cocoa solids

a heaped dessertspoon of instant coffee, mixed with a teaspoon of boiling water

Whisk again, then add:

2 eggs [with a little of the flours]

Beat in:

2oz Plain Flour

2 oz Cornflour

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1 dessertspoon brandy or rum

Finally add:

2 oz chopped glace cherries

2 oz very very finely chopped mixed peel [M&S’s are brilliant]

Tip into your prepared tin and bake for about 50 - 55 mins. Cool in the tin for a few mins then cool on a rack. The smell is a heady mix of chocolate and coffee! When cold decorate. I flavoured this icing with lemon extract to continue the theme. Enjoy!

Parsley Stuffing

The best stuffing for your turkey and a very old traditional Cornish recipe. I have used this recipe forever and it has been on my Blog since I started! I make no apologies for repeating it this year, for all my new likers! Mine is already made and tucked away in my freezer, all ready to defrost on Xmas eve night….. then pop it into the turkey neck cavity before roasting. The photo is a mini chicken version!!

In our family we just call this Stuffing, or even "stuff", but I had to give it a proper name. I have no idea of the origins of this delicious dressing but my Mother served it for as long as I can remember and it was my belief that it was my grandmother's recipe - she was born in 1885! I have never cooked a roast chicken without this stuffed into its neck - definitely NOT his bum. It is just as scrumptious when cold, to serve with cold meats. It also freezes perfectly. I will give you the basic recipe, that will probably stuff 2 everyday chickens but for my Xmas Turkey I use at least double the amount. It depends on the size.

12 oz white breadcrumbs, from a few days old, uncut loaf - no crusts

6 oz suet - Atora, light is good [but a hundred years ago it would have been the real thing]

2 oz chopped FRESH Parsley - this is a lot! [use finer stalks too]

2 teaspoons of dried mixed herbs

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper - plenty of both!

4 eggs to bind

Cube the bread and blitz in a food processor or blender. Put in a bowl along with everything else. Beat the eggs and mix together. It's as easy as that. I batch make and freeze little packets for use and take out the night before and leave in the fridge. Pack tightly in the neck cavity and hold with cocktail sticks, or at Xmas I sew it in. Watch out for the cotton!!

Golden Orange Fruit Cake

This lovely cake is a good alternative to the traditional dark fruit cake for Christmas!  The fruit and orange combination is just delicious and It improves after a day or so, plus keeps for several days, as long as it is in an air tight container.  The orange juice and extract smell wonderful as you are mixing. You can purchase orange extract in any supermarket - I bought mine in Asda for just over a £1. It has an intense zesty flavour.

Start an hour or so, before you make the cake as you need to soak the fruit in some brandy. Or rum if you prefer.

Lightly oil and line a large loaf tin with strips of parchment for ease of lifting out. Preheat your fan oven to 150C.

In a medium bowl:

5 oz dried cranberries

3 oz chopped dried apricots

3 oz large yellow sultanas [I bought these in Grape Tree]

3 oz very finely chopped mixed peel [use M&S - they are the best and are cut into smaller bits]

2 fl oz brandy

Stir well, then leave until the brandy is all soaked up by the fruit. See photo on my Blog of the lovely golden colours and red.

Make the cake:

4 oz room temperature butter

5 oz caster sugar

2 large eggs

8 oz Self Raising Flour

½ teaspoon mixed spice [if you wish]

2 fl oz fresh orange juice [I squeezed 2 clementines]

½ teaspoon orange extract

Use the creaming method. Beat the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, then whisk in the eggs, then the flour, juice and extract. Stir in the fruit and mix well. Tip into your prepared tin.

Bake for approx 1¼ hours. But check after an hour and turn down for the last few mins. A great alternative for Christmas! You can ice the top if you wish, adding a couple of drops of orange extract to the icing sugar. I also grated some zest over for even more flavour. Don’t forget to leave it for a day or so before you try it.

Many folk do not like mixed peel!!!! I am Cornish and all our cakes use it, so I am hooked!Why not try this using extra apricots and sultanas?

Cranberry & Walnut Spiced Plait

I may have mentioned I love yeast cookery. This is very easy, and is a lovely tea time treat in the build up to Christmas.  It does take about 2 ½ hours to prepare, but most of that time you are waiting for it to rise.  Do the ironing, read a book!! I always use a timer to remind me to look at it after an hour! It’s a senior thing.

1 lb strong plain flour

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon mixed spice

1 level tablespoon [use a proper measure] dried fast action yeast

3 oz caster sugar

2 oz very soft butter

½ a large egg [the other half is for the glaze]

Place the above in a large bowl [or your mixer bowl, if you have a kneading option]

Mix well to combine the spices etc. Add scant ½ pint of warmed milk and water. Bring together with your hand then turn onto a floured surface to continue kneading. If, like me, you have a machine that does all the work, just turn it on and leave for 10 mins.

This loaf does need the full 10 minutes of hard kneading, until the dough is smooth and springs back when you poke it. 

Add your fruit. I used approx 4 oz dried cranberries, 2 or 3 oz sultanas and 2 oz chopped walnuts.  When your dough is kneaded, take it out of the mixer and roughly flatten it, on a floured surface, then cover with the fruit and nuts. Fold over, then knead gently to combine. Put back in the bowl and cover with cling film, to rise in a warm spot, until at least double in size.

Then back to the floured surface. Knock back the dough, then cut it into 3 equal pieces. Roll each ⅓rd into a longish sausage, about 15 inches, also making the middle slightly fatter than the ends. Repeat twice more. Make sure they are the same length.

Plait the rolls, making sure you pinch the ends together firmly. Place on a lightly oiled baking sheet, then loosely cover with cling film and put to rise for the second time. About 45 mins. Then back to the little jug with half an egg in it. Add a tablespoon of water and a dessertspoonful of icing sugar. Give that a little whisk. Chop a few more walnuts as well.

More pics on my Blog.

When the plait is ready for the oven, brush over half of the glaze and place in a pre heated fan oven 200 deg C for about 20 mins. Quickly take it out and do the glaze once more, this time adding a few more chopped walnuts. Back in the oven for another 15 - 20 mins. Delicious, warm with butter. But equally good cold.

Note: You can also make rolls with the mix. Just shape into approx 2½oz buns and set to rise, but reduce the baking time.

Sin free FRIES/CHIPS

If you like Sweet Potatoes, as I do, then you will love this idea. They are baked in the oven, with only a touch of olive oil [or Rape Seed]. So, low calorie and extremely good for you! The flavourings are endless, but here I have used the best flavour and combination!! Smoked Sweet Paprika.  I just love that. And the fries [not - but they look like it!] are so easy.

Line a baking sheet with some baking parchment. This is essential. Turn your fan oven to 210 deg C.

Choose nice even shaped sweet potatoes and peel them. I usually take any nobbly bits off to make the cutting easier. Slice the sweet potatoes in about ¼” slices longways. Then cut those slices in ¼” strips. Don’t be fussy about this! Or worry about being exact, they will look more interesting!

Place the strips in a large poly bag [see photo on my Blog] then add a shed load of freshly ground pepper and a small teaspoon of cornflour. [this is for 2 med/large veg]. Shake very hard to coat every piece well. Then choose your flavours. I mixed sea salt flakes with the smoked paprika. Pour that into the bag along with about a teaspoon of Oil. Shake again, then tip out onto your prepared baking sheet, making sure none of the fries are touching. See pic on my Blog. You cannot overload or they will not “fry”. After about 12 - 15 mins, take them out and turn each one. [Bit boring, but also necessary]. Put them back in the oven for another 12- 15 mins.

Turn off the oven and open the door to let them dry and cool a little.

Enjoy! They are just brilliant to serve with just about anything, or to snack on. For the bowl in my photo, I had 2 friends for lunch and we had egg and chips!! Sin free comfort food!!

Other flavourings - Chinese 5 spice is good, Thai 7 spice as well. Or Moroccan. You can, of course, just use plain salt. With a little nutmeg? Or use some chilli flakes or powder? As long as you stick to the basic rules, there are so many possibilities! If you want to make a large batch use separate baking trays.

Note: For the quantity in the picture shown I used 6 medium Sweet Potatoes and 2 baking sheets.