Cinnamon Snaps

This recipe is a little adaptation of the gingerbread recipe I used for my house for those who don't like ginger. This made enough dough to make 11 miniature houses as well as about two dozen little stars, so it makes a lot! If you want to make houses, follow the tips at the bottom of this recipe.

Ingredients:
250g unsalted butter
125g light brown muscovado sugar
75g soft brown sugar
4tbsp golden syrup
2tbsp treacle
600g plain flour
2tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp baking powder
Royal icing sugar

Preheat your oven to 180°C and line your baking trays with greaseproof paper.  

In a pan, melt the butter, sugar, golden syrup and treacle together, stirring until its smooth. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and cinnamon. Pour the melted butter to the flour mix and mix well, first with a spoon, then with your hands, until it forms a stiff dough. You can add a little more flour if it’s still sticky, or a little splash of milk if it’s too dry and crumbly. Knead for a couple of minutes until its smooth.  

Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, to the thickness of a £1 coin.
Use a cookie cutter to cut out your shapes, re-rolling any left-overs until it's all used up.
 

Space the biscuits out on your trays and bake in the middle of the oven for 10 minutes or until golden in colour. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a couple of minutes on the tray before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

 

Once cool, make up the icing as per the instructions on the packet, and ice your biscuits with any design you like. Leave to set overnight before eating.

Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark

Stuck for any last minute Christmas ideas? Why not make your own chocolate bark? It's so quick and easy, and makes a great homemade gift. This isn't really a recipe as such, just more of a 'How To' - this makes 3 side plate sized bars. And you can pretty much use anything you like in place of the pretzels and caramel; why not try fruit and nut, or pieces of meringue and dried strawberries?

Ingredients:
300g milk chocolate
300g dark chocolate
Salted pretzels
Soft caramels, chopped into small pieces
Coarse sea salt

Line three side plates with cling film and put to one side ready.

Break both the chocolates up into separate microwavable bowls, and melt in the microwave for 30 seconds, stir, then melt in further 15 second increments until it's smooth. Mine took about 1 minute 15 seconds for each bowl.

Once all your chocolate is melted, spoon the chocolate onto the lined plates, alternating between the milk and dark, drizzling it in spirals. Once all the chocolate is used up, tap the plates gently on the bottom to level the chocolate out and get rid of any air bubbles.

While it's still melted, gently press a handful of pretzels into the chocolate. Scatter over the chopped caramels and press lightly into the chocolate too, before sprinkling over a pinch of sea salt.

Leave to set in the fridge. Once firm, you can wrap them up whole as a bar, or break them into shards and put into little gift bags. 

Mini Turkey, Stuffing and Cranberry Pies

 

These are a great addition to any buffet spread, and are a brilliant way to use up any left overs from your Christmas dinner! They're best warm from the oven, but can be eaten cold too.

Ingredients:

2 batches of shortcrust pastry (makes 12 with a little left over pastry)

One packet of stuffing mix

One large turkey breast, cooked and shredded

One small jar of cranberry sauce

1 egg, beaten

Pre-heat your oven to 180c and get a muffin tin out ready.

Make up the stuffing according to the instructions on the packer, leaving out about 20% of the water.

Give it a good mix and leave to stand while you make the cases.

Roll the pastry out onto a lightly floured surface and use round cutters to cut out 12 cases, and 12 lids. You'll need a cutter that's larger in circumference than the holes in your muffin tin for the cases, and one the same size as the holes for your lids.

Line the muffin tin with the larger circles of pastry to make the cases, then you can assemble the pies.

Place a generous teaspoon of stuffing into each case, and press down with your fingers.

Fill up to about 3/4 full with the shredded turkey, then add a teaspoon of cranberry sauce on top.

Brush the edges of the cases with egg, and place a lid on top of each pie. Seal the edges by crimping or rolling them over, before brushing the top of each pie with more egg.

Poke a small hole in the centre of each pie before baking for 25 minutes, until golden and firm to the touch.

Spicy Sausage Rolls

Are you hosting a festive party this year? Sausage rolls are a must at any buffet table, and they're super easy to make! These are spiced up with fresh chilli, garlic, chilli powder and paprika for a bit of a kick! If you're not a fan of spicy food, then leave out the chilli and chilli powder- they're still just as good. Again, almost forgot to take a photo of them before it was too late!

Ingredients:
One batch of rough puff pastry
450g good quality sausage meat (or skinned sausages)
2 fresh chillies, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2tsp chilli powder
1tsp paprika
1 egg, beaten
Black pepper

Pre-heat your oven to 180c and line your baking tray(s) with greaseproof paper.

Tip the sausage meat into a mixing bowl, and add the chillies, garlic, chilli powder and paprika, along with 50ml of cold water. Use your hands to work the ingredients together until everything is well distributed and well combined.

Roll out the pastry to a long rectangle, about 4 inches wide, and shape the meat into a long sausage down the middle of the rectangle.
Brush the pastry down both sides of the sausage meat with egg and tightly roll the pastry around the meat, sealing the two egg-brushed edges together.
Use a fork to crimp the sealed edge, or roll the edge over itself, then cut the sausage roll into smaller ones, about 1-1.5 inches in width.

Space these out onto your baking trays, brush all over with egg, and sprinkle a little black pepper on top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the pastry is puffed and golden, and the meat is cooked through. Enjoy hot or cold.

Christmas Tarts

These are basically jam tarts but with a Christmas twist - spiced orange is a classic festive fragrance, and these are quick to make if you have unexpected visitors in the run up to Christmas Day. Maybe you could even leave a couple out for Santa... ;)

Ingredients:
One batch of sweet shortcrust pastry
12 tbsp orange marmalade
2 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp ginger
2 tbsp port
Nutmeg to dust

Pre-heat your oven to 180c.

Roll the pastry out to the thickness of a £1 coin, and use a round cookie cutter or the rim of a glass to cut our your cases. Use a cutter that's a little bigger than the circumference of the holes in your cupcake tray so they come up the sides. Re-roll any left over pastry until it's all used up.

Lightly dust a cupcake tray with flour and line the holes with your pastry cases.

In a mixing bowl, combine the marmalade, mixed spice, ginger and port and mix well. Place a spoonful of the mixture into the pastry cases - make sure you don't overfill them, you don't want hot marmalade oozing everywhere when you take them out of the oven!

Bake for 15 minutes until the marmalade is bubbling and the pastry is lightly browned.
Leave to cool in the tin slightly before removing and placing on a wire rack. Once cool, dust with a little nutmeg.

Boozy Mince Pies

These speak for themselves - the Christmas table would not be complete without mince pies, and the addition of whiskey to these makes them that extra special. Sorry I almost forgot to take a photo of these!

Ingredients:
One batch of sweet shortcrust pastry
1 jar of mincemeat
3 tbsp whiskey
1 egg, beaten
Demerara sugar to sprinkle

Pre-heat your oven to 180c and dust a muffin tray with a little flour.

In a mixing bowl, combine the mincemeat with the whiskey and mix well. Leave to rest while you make the cases.

Roll out your pastry onto a lightly floured surface. Use two round cookie cutters, one slightly larger in circumference than the holes in your muffin tray and one the same size as the holes, to cut out an equal number of cases and lids.

Line your muffin tray with the larger of the circles, so the pastry comes up the edges, and leave the smaller circles to one side for now.

Place a generous teaspoon of the boozy mincemeat in each case.

Brush the edges of the case with egg and place a lid on each pie, using a fork to crimp the edges together. 
Brush the lids with egg and sprinkling over a little demerara sugar before poking a small hole in the center of each lid.

Bake for 20 minutes, until golden and the filling is a little oozy.

Baby Guinness Cake

A regular haunt of ours during the summer weekends is Woolacombe; long weekends camping, with great company and plenty of booze. A staple shot during these weekends, is the Baby Guinness: layered Tia Maria and Baileys. It was mentioned earlier this year that I should make a cake version, so here it is. Will, this one is for you! 

Ingredients:
10oz unsalted butter
10oz caster sugar
4 eggs
Few drops vanilla essence
10oz self raising flour
1tsp baking powder
60ml Tia Maria
100g dark chocolate, melted

175g unsalted butter
400g icing sugar
50ml Baileys

150g dark chocolate, melted

Pre-heat your oven to 180c and grease/line 3 loose bottomed cake tins.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until it's light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla, followed by sifting in the flour and baking powder and folding the mixture together.
Lastly, stir in the Tia Maria and melted chocolate until everything in well combined.

Divide the mix between the three tins and spread to the edges. 
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until they are springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean.
Leave to cool on a wire rack while you make the buttercream.

In a bowl, combine the butter and icing sugar. You can place this in the microwave for a few seconds to soften the butter before creaming them together until light and fluffy. Stir in the Baileys until it's well combined. You can add a little more icing sugar if it's a bit sloppy.

Sandwich the three layers of cake together with the buttercream before coating the whole cake in it - over the top and around the sides. Use a pallet knife to smooth the edges as much as possible. 

Leave for about 10-15 minutes for the frosting to go a little firmer, then pour the melted chocolate over the top of the cake, gently spreading to the edges and around the sides, covering the whole cake. Wait for the chocolate to set before serving.

Christmas Gingerbread House

It’s only in the last few of years I’ve taken on building a gingerbread house from scratch, but now it’s something I look forward to making every Christmas. This recipe is slightly adapted from this Tesco one. The mixture needs to be a little dry, so when it cools after baking, it goes hard. If the gingerbread is too soft it won’t hold it’s weight when put together. I used the template from Tesco also, but feel free to make your own. Please note, this is a 2 or 3 day bake, and you will need a little patience when it comes to the assembly! There are also a few tips and tricks at the bottom of the recipes :)

Ingredients:

250g (8oz) unsalted butter

200g (7oz) light muscovado sugar

4 tbsp golden syrup

2 tbsp treacle

600g (1¼lb) plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

4 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp mixed spice

Clear, boiled sweets, for the windows

500g royal icing sugar

Chocolate buttons for the roof (optional)

Chocolate wafer tubes (optional)

Preheat your oven to 180°C and measure out a few sheets of baking paper ready to fit the trays and dust with a little flour (you’ll probably have to cook all the pieces in a couple of batches).

Cut out your template ready.

In a pan, melt the butter, sugar, golden syrup and treacle together, stirring until its smooth. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and mixed spice. Pour the melted butter to the flour mix and mix well, first with a spoon, then with your hands, until it forms a stiff dough. You can add a little more flour if it’s still sticky, or a little splash of milk if it’s too dry and crumbly. Knead for a couple of minutes until its smooth.

Remember, your gingerbread needs to be a little dry so it goes hard once cooled after baking. You’ll have to use your own judgement here, but this dough will make a little more than needed for the average house, so feel free to roll, cut and bake a small test piece and see. 

Once you’re happy with the consistency of the dough, break the dough into about 4 equal pieces.
Take the first piece and roll it out onto one of your sheets of dusted baking paper, to the thickness of a £1 coin. Use your template to cut out the first few pieces of the house and remove any excess dough from the baking paper.
Repeat this until you have all your pieces cut out on baking paper sheets.
Re-roll any left-overs and use it to cut out snowmen or trees to decorate the garden, or you could make a little chimney to go on top.

Place a boiled sweet or two in each of the windows – these will melt in the oven and fill the hole.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 10 minutes or until just turning golden and the sweets have melted. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a couple of minutes on the tray before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once it’s cooled completely, stack all the pieces in an airtight tin and leave over night to firm up.

The following day, you can decorate and assemble the pieces. Obviously, you have free reign over decorations, but here’s what I did…

Make up the royal icing according to the instructions on the packet.
Pipe frames around the windows and on the door piece. While that’s setting, spread the roof pieces with a thick layer of icing and cover them in chocolate buttons.

While the roof sets, you can assemble the walls. Stick the first wall onto your cake board with a little icing, using bowls/cups/tins to hold it upright. Stick the second wall to this and the board with more icing, again using what ever you can find to prop it up. Attach the two remaining walls in this way and leave to set for about 10-15 minutes.

Cut 4 wafer tubes to the height of the walls, and stick one on each corner join.

Once the walls are set, stick on the roof pieces, again using cups to hold them in place until the icing sets. Join the two roof pieces at the top with a thick line of icing, and more wafer tubes along the length.

Use any left over icing to decorate your snowmen/trees or cover the rest of the cake board with ‘snow’.
Leave everything overnight to set properly before eating/displaying.

We’ve eaten these houses up to two weeks after they’ve been baked, so they can be made well ahead.

Here are a few tips and tricks I’ve discovered over the last couple of years:

- As I’ve mentioned already, the dough needs to be firm and a little dry.

- Make sure you do leave the gingerbread over night before assembling – you don’t want a pile of crumbs!

- Make the roof slightly thinner than the walls – once it’s covered in a layer of icing and chocolate buttons, it can get quite weighty and will take longer to stick on to the walls.

- If you are having serious issues with getting your roof to stay on try this: ice a row of sweets, like dolly mixtures, onto the underside of the roof that can act as a buffer, holding the roof in place while the rest of the icing sets.

- Try different coloured boiled sweets in the windows. If you’re using a template that has big windows, try using a gradient from yellow, through orange to red – it looks brilliant with a little led light inside.

- Most importantly, be patient and be prepared. Get your template and baking paper ready before you start making the dough, and don’t go into it hoping to bosh it out in an afternoon – it takes time!