Dreaming of a White Christmas... or at least Gingerbread Snowflakes & Eggnog

This week got off to a start with a particularly festive flavour due to a substantial snow fall in the English capital. I say "substantial" but having been born and raised in he east coast of Canada, most of my family and friends at home would laugh at such an exaggerated description of events. Still in a city like London, which is not accustomed to such weather, anything beyond a light dusting can bring everything to a standstill.

When the snow began to fall I was completing the last bit of shopping in Islington. At first it started as light rain but within a few minutes big fluffy flakes began to fall. In the years I have lived in London I have never seen such a beautiful scene as Upper Street in a blanket of snow. Distinctly Dickensian! How I regret being without a camera or without E. who rarely leaves the house without a camera.

The next morning our neighbourhood was still shrouded in snow. My task for the day was to decorate gingerbread cookies, both for eating and for decorating the tree. While my gingerbread snowflakes are not as beautiful as those that fell from the skies of London, I am still pretty pleased with how they turned out.

Of course gingerbread cookies can be enjoyed with a cup of tea or a simple glass of milk, but in keeping with my frenzy for all things home-made I decided I would make some eggnog. While eggnog is a bit too sweet for my tastes, E. loves it; reminding him of the year he spent in Minnesota when he was a kid. As you can imagine, that experience left E. with a sound understanding of substantial snow fall.

So whether you need a break from shovelling yourself out from your own substantial snowfall or just fancy something sweet, these gingerbread snowflakes & eggnog will warm you from the inside out.

Photos of of our back garden and Alexandra Park by E.

Gingerbread Snowflakes
Adapted from Joyofbaking.com
400 grams plain flour
1/4 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoonbaking soda
2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
120 g unsalted butter
100 g caster sugar
1 large egg
160 ml treacle or molasses

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and spices.

In a separate bowl cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and molasses and beat until smooth. Gradually add the flour mixture beating until incorporated.

Divide the dough in half, and wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and place rack in center of oven. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside while you roll out the dough.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Cut out the cookies with a utter of your choice. With a spatula lift the cut out cookies onto the baking sheet, placing the cookies about 2.5 cm apart.

Bake for about 8 - 12 minutes depending on the size of the cookies and your preference of crispiness. Decorate with royal icing once completely cool.


Eggnog
adapted from Allrecipes.com
475 ml milk
3 whole cloves
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
6 egg yolks
150 g sugar
475 ml light cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg

Combine milk, cloves, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and cinnamon in a saucepan, and heat over low setting for about 5 minutes. Slowly bring milk mixture to a boil.

In large bowl, combine egg yolks and sugar beating together until fluffy. Slowly add hot milk mixture to egg yolk/sugar mixture one cup at a time beating with an electric mixer at a low speed after each cup.

Once fully incorporated return to the saucepan and cook over medium/low heat, stirring constantly for 3 minutes, or until thick. Do not allow mixture to boil. Strain to remove cloves, and let cool for about an hour.

Stir in cream, vanilla and grated nutmeg.

While you can add your preferred spirit directly to the eggnog I prefer to add it to the mug just before pouring the eggnog. Top with a bit of grated nutmeg.

Mince Pies

Mince pies are one of those foods that for ages I thought I didn't like. I vaguely remember my mother making mincemeat when I was young but I can't actually remember ever eating it. When I first came to England I found myself constantly refusing mince pies, I imagined them to be heavy and cloying -and admittedly they often are. Eventually, in an effort not to offend someone offering home-made mince pies I tried one and surprisingly found it quite nice. Over the years I have even come to like some of the store bought pies but nothing comes close to home-made.

I suppose I am also a bit of a mince pie traditionalist as I only like them made with shortcrust pastry. Puff pastry or crumble topping somehow seems wrong to me but you can use them if that's your preference -no judgement... I promise.

In previous years, believing that making mincemeat was complicated or a little too labour intensive, I would make my own shortcrust and buy the mincemeat filling. It is actually a good cheat; if you add some citrus zest and a little grated nutmeg you could probably fool most people- as long as the pastry is from scratch. I am one of those people that never buys shortcrust- I know that people are sometimes intimidated by making pastry but it really does take less than 10 minutes (plus extra for chilling) to make. The key is just to keep everything as cold as possible and try to handle the dough as little as possible.

So this year I decided to make my mincemeat from scratch. I searched through so many recipes and eventually came up with my own based on the dozen or so that I looked at. It really is as simple as throwing everything in a pot and cooking until everything is plump and soft. Like Christmas Pudding you can adjust the spices and alcohol to suit your tastes. Mincemeat can be made up to six months in advance so you can make it whenever you have a bit of time. The additional benefit to making mincemeat is that it makes the house smell lovely and festive.

I won't bore you with the detailed history of mince pies except to mention that mince pies have not actually contained meat since the 19th century and most are made with vegetable suet so are vegetarian friendly. You can have them with brandy cream or as they are.

Mincemeat
1 large Bramley apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
400 g mixed dried fruit
100 g dried cranberries
125 g mixed chopped peel
50g pecans, toasted and finely chopped
125 ml brandy
zest of 1 orange, plus the juice of 2
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp orange blossom water
2 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
175 g muscovado sugar
100 g shredded vegetable suet

Combine all the ingredients except the muscovado sugar and suet in a large saucepan. Simmer over a low heat for 30 minutes or until the fruit has plumped up and most of the liquid has evaporated but not dry. Remove from heat, once cooled stir in the muscovado sugar and suet.

This recipe makes about twice as much as you need for the pastry but you can store it in steralised jars in a cool place for up to 6 months or give the rest away as gifts.


Shortcrust Pastry
300 g of plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
90 g of cold unsalted butter (cut into small pieces)
60 g of vegetable shortening (I use Trex but Crisco is fine)
3 or 4 tsp ice water

In a food processor blend the flour and with the butter and shortening until its combined to a sandy crumbly texture with no large pieces of butter. Add water one spoon at a time until it is just starting to come together. Place mixture in a bowl and form into a flattened ball, divide in two wrap it in pastry and put in the fridge to rest for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Once the dough has rested, transfer to a floured work surface and roll out until about 1/8 of and inch thick. I have recently discovered that if you place a sheet of clingfilm over the dough as you roll it it resists breakage and sticking. Cut out with round pastry cutters (enough for top and bottom) and place in bun tins, spoon the prepared mincemeat into the individual pies and and then top with pastry cut outs.I used these cute little snowflake to top my pies but stars or plain rounds are good too. Just be careful not to overfill or they will stick and make removing the pies difficult. Bake at 200°C for about 20 minutes or until slightly golden.

***

Santa Claus apparently has a weakness for mince pies, so if you have any left...

Pistachio & Cranberry Biscotti... and a declaration of love

A few weeks ago, having some well deserved time off, E. and I decided that we would finally go to Ottolenghi for lunch. It is something we had been saying we should do for ages and either due to being busy or more accurately lazy we had just not got round to it.

You see, I love Yotam Ottolenghi! I have been a fan for quite some time, regularly following his column The New Vegetarian in The Guardian, drooling over the wonderful recipes both sweet and savoury on an almost weekly basis. So last year for my birthday E. got me the Ottolenghi cookbook -and I didn't even have to drop any hints. The recipes are beautiful and I have to say that the hazelnut cupcakes have made me very popular at work and of course with E.

I have often passed by the Ottolenghi café in Islington, barely able to resist pressing my face against the windows. Cakes and meringues piled high take centre stage against the minimalist backdrop of the white walls and blackboard menus.

I don't know how it had taken us so long to visit but it was certainly worth the wait. The lunch menu, mainly a selection of interesting salads with a choice of main dishes, was fantastic. E. had seared beef with a broccoli & chilli salad. I stuck with the selection of salads and although I loved the roast beetroot with quince, my favourite was the wild rice with pistachio and cranberries. We both felt so fulfilled with our lunches that we decided to give the desserts a miss -we'll save them for another trip.

Eager to try the wild rice, pistachio & cranberry salad at home I started searching the Ottolenghi cookbook to see if the recipe had been included. Sadly it was not but I did come across a recipe for Pistachio & Ginger Biscotti, which I thought could easily be adjusted to include cranberries. 


This recipe is quite different from most biscotti recipes that I have tried in that the dough is quite soft and you need to scoop in onto the baking sheet.  A bit more difficult to work with but absolutely delicious. These are perfect for dipping in coffee -or tea in the case of E. He finished off the entire batch in record time.

Pistachio & Cranberry Biscotti
adapted from Ottolenghi 
80 g unsalted butter
110 g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp brandy
grated zest of 2 oranges
200 g plain flour
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
80 g pistachio nuts, shelled
70 g dried cranberries

In a bowl cream butter and sugar together until fluffy and pale. Add eggs one by one and then add brandy and orange zest.

Sift flour, ginger and salt in to the butter/egg mixture and mix until fully incorporated. Add pistachios and cranberries and knead into the dough. The dough will be a bit stickier than most biscotti recipes but this is because they are slightly softer than most. If you want a firmer dough add more flour bit by bit .

Scoop the dough onto a parchment lined baking tray forming a log shape, sprinkling extra flour if the dough is too sticky to work with. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Now bake in a preheated oven at 170 °C for 20 minutes and then remove from oven to cool. Increase your oven temperature to 130°C. One cool slice slice the log across into 1 cm slices with a serrated knife. Lay the slices on their side and return to the oven and bake for another 40 minutes. They should be golden in colour.

***

I am pleased to report that this story has a double happy ending because not only did I find a delicious recipe to kick off the Christmas baking season, but also I tracked down my wild rice salad with pistachio recipe (just replace dried apricots for dried cranberries).

Overnight Waffles with Caramelised Cinnamon Apples

This seemed like the perfect weekend for waffles, rainy & grey. There is something very comforting about having warm delicious food when the weather is foul. Now usually I opt for healthy breakfasts, most days its porridge with either banana & maple syrup or a bit of chopped apple & cinnamon, and always a sprinkling of flax seed. Sometimes for a change at weekends E. and I will have egg & soldiers. I am amused how E. so enthusiastically dips his toast soldiers into the yolks.

But for ages I felt like something was missing from our breakfast routine; admittedly we do occasionally have pancakes but what I really wanted was waffles. Although pancakes were popular in my family growing up we never had a waffle iron. Occasionally my mom would buy some frozen waffles but those were just not he same. E. was opposed to having another kitchen appliance, despite my advertising campaigns asserting that our quality of life would improve if we only had golden crispy-on-the-outside-fluffy-on-the-inside waffles on a Sunday morning. Then, just as I thought all was lost my girls came through; Roz somehow convinced E. that a waffle iron would make the perfect gift for my birthday.

So these rainy Sunday morning waffles are dedicated to Eimear, Sue, Anna & Rozzy, who presented me with my very own waffle iron for my birthday last year.

These yeast waffles appealed to my senses as I like the softness I imagined they would bring. I do like traditional crispy waffles but I especially love the texture of Belgian waffles and these seemed to be a close match. As for the apple topping, what can I say..., apples are in season and so yummy right now. Sprinkled with cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg an everyday staple like apples become almost ambrosial.

Overnight Yeast Waffles
Adapted from Cookography
440 g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp yeast (active dry or instant)
Pinch of nutmeg
400 ml milk
60 ml water
3 eggs
55 g butter, melted and cooled

Combine flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl, mix to combine.

In a separate bowl, beat eggs and then stir in the milk, water and butter.
Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
Cover and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning take the batter out of the fridge and let the batter warm to room temperature if possible. Pour the batter onto pre-heated waffle iron.

These only took a couple of minutes to cook, once the waffle iron stops steaming they are done. This recipe made 12 waffles so I froze half.


Caramelised Apples
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
5 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1/3 cup sugar (depending on how sweet the apples are to start)
1 tsp cornflour (dissolved in 3 tbsp of warm water)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Put apples in a sauce pan over medium-high heat with 1 tbsp of water. Once a bit softened add the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and corn starch mixture. When the apples are nearly cooked add butter and cook for another few minutes. The apples should be golden and syrupy. Add to waffles.

Somewhat miraculously the rain ceased and we soon saw one of the sunniest days we have had in ages. So while the rain was useful to set the scene for the waffle experience I must say I was thrilled to get some sunshine- a rare treat for London in December.

Christmas Pudding: Part 1

A couple of weeks ago while I was strolling around a market in a lovely little town in Gran Canaria I came across several stalls selling linens. More specifically they were selling Christmas themed linens; tablecloths, tea towels and aprons, all decorated with Santas, pointsettias, angels, etc... It reminded me of when I was a child when the Sears Christmas Catalogue would arrive and I would spend ages looking through the pages of Christmassy homewares. I could not understand why my mom did not have reindeer patterned plates, it seemed like an important element missing from our lives. I decided that when I grew up I would have my very own set of Christmas themed table settings. Looking at them now I could only laugh as they seemed especially absurd given the 28 °C temperature and blazing sunshine. It reminded me that before i left for my relaxing holiday in the sun I had mixed my Christmas puddings and would need to steam them upon my return.


I love making Christmas puddings, it is such a long process involving several steps but I love each one. I love shopping for the ingredients and liberally pouring in the brandy. I love the stirring up and calling E. into the kitchen to have a few stirs, I love tying up   the puddings and I love the six hours of steaming each pudding (or slightly less as I made some smaller puds this year). I love giving home-made pudding to people as gifts as they are always so excited. I love saturating it with warmed brandy and then setting it alight.


The wonderful thing about Christmas puddings is that you can change the ingredients to suit your own tastes. Don't like almonds, that's okay use pecans or hazelnuts. Not a fan of brandy, use rum. Big nutmeg fan, add more!

Christmas Pudding
Adapted from Gary Rhodes 
225 g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
225 g white breadcrumbs
250 g shredded suet
100 g ground almonds (I also added a handful of whole almonds)
500 g soft dark brown sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp grated nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
3-4 peeled carrots, grated
175 g stoned prunes, finely chopped
600 g mixed currants, sultanas & raisins (I used luxury mixed fruit)
100 g chopped mixed peel
50 g candied ginger, chopped
100 g glace cherries
2 apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
Juice & grated zest of 1 orange & 1 lemon
5 eggs
125 ml brandy (or liquor of your choice)
4 tbsp black treacle
4 tbsp golden syrup
300 ml Guinness


In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and spices. Add the breadcrumbs, suet, ground almonds and brown sugar Add the chopped prunes, grated carrots, dried fruit, mixed peel, apples and lemon & orange zest. Beat the eggs together and stir into the dry ingredients along with the lemon & orange juices, rum, treacle, golden syrup and Guinness.

Mix the ingredients are well incorporated and fairly gloopy, now call anyone in the house to help stir- clockwise for good luck. Don't forget to make a wish!

Cover the bowl with cling wrap and refrigerate for up to one week to allow the mix to mature.

Pour into greased and floured pudding bowls, tie and steam steam steam  ! I used 2x 1litre bowls and 2x 500ml bowls. I steamed the larger puds for six hours and the smaller puds for 4 hours. Make sure that the water comes up about halfway up the side of the pudding in either a steamer basket or use an upturned saucer. Steam longer if you want a deeper colour for your pudding. If you wish to add the traditional 50 pence peace remember to clean well by soaking in vinegar or soda water.

Once cool, re-tie the pudding using clean foil and parchment and store until the big day.

On Christmas day steam for another hour and half to two hours and serve with brandy butter or cream.

In Part 2 I will tell you about the time I stole (I mean liberated) a piece of holly from a Madrid Hotel to top my pudding.

Stay Tuned

My First Ever Macarons!

After what seems like an eternity of oohing and ahhing over so many beautiful macaron related blog posts, I finally decided to be brave and make my own. I have never had the pleasure of tasting the french Ladurée or Pierre Hermé versions, only some from Paul and Maison Blanc so I am not an expert of what constitutes the perfect macaron. While some prefer their macarons with just enough filling to hold them together, I prefer a generous dollop of buttercream or ganache. My favourite flavour is pistachio but I decided my first batch should be simple so I went with plain almond.

 I had actually considered taking a class to learn the basics but having bookmarked so many recipes and how-to pages this year, I thought I should at least be able to make a fair attempt on my own. I honestly thought I would be posting about my first failed undertaking of macarons, with the knowledge that it would be a useful exercise- I could at least learn from my mistakes and improve my technique. However I am as shocked and amazed as anyone that they have turned out as well as they have, not perfect and here is a few reasons why:

• they are a bit too big so next time I will need to use a smaller pastry tip.
  
• the first tray browned a little too quickly so I ended up under-baking them; I put the second tray lower down in the oven and that helped a lot. Next time I will also rotate the pan for more even baking.
• they could have a slightly better dome so I will need to pay attention to the consistency and maybe use older egg whites.
  

 I have to say that when I saw them raising to a slight dome I was quite excited but when I also noticed they had developed little feet I could barely contain myself. It is possible that I may have actually jumped up and down and there may have also been a macarons induced screech.

Basic Almond Macarons
adapted from Serious Eats
225 grams icing sugar (sifted)
125 grams almonds
110 grams egg whites (some suggest 24-48 hours old egg whites but I didn’t bother)
30 grams caster sugar
Pinch of salt

Blitz almonds in a food processor until finely textured and then sift. Mix the almonds and icing sugar in a bowl and set aside.In a large clean, dry bowl whisk the egg whites and salt on medium speed until foamy. Increase the speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar. Whisk until they form stiff peaks. Gradually fold in icing sugar/ almond mixture into egg whites until completely incorporated. The mixture should be shiny and 'flow like magma.' When small peaks dissolve to a flat surface, stop mixing.

Fit a piping bag with a 1cm round tip (my tip was too big which resulted in larger than usual macarons). Pipe the batter onto parchment lined baking sheets and tap the underside of the baking sheet to remove air bubbles. Let the piped macarons dry at room temperature for about 15-30 minutes to allow skins to form.

Bake at 160°C oven for 10 to 11 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to keep the oven door slightly ajar, and rotate the baking sheet after 5 minutes for even baking. Once out of the oven poor a few drops of water under the the parchment- the steam will help release the macarons from the paper.

Vanilla Buttercream Filling
adapted from Kitchen Musings
3 egg yolks
115 grams plus 2 tbs sugar
225g butter, at room temperature
1tsp vanilla extract

In a clean glass or metal bowl, combine the yolks and 2 tablespoons of the sugar and whisk for 30 seconds. Simultaneously, in a small saucepan with the remaining ½ cup of sugar, and 3 tablespoons of water. Cook over high heat until the mixture reaches 120 °C. Stir vanilla extract into the boiling syrup. Drizzle the vanilla syrup down the side of the bowl into the egg yolks, whisking them briskly to blend. Continue whisking the egg yolk mixture until the yolks have tripled in volume and have cooled. Add the butter and whisk until the buttercream is fluffy and creamy with stiff, shiny, pointy peaks. Pipe one macaron with as much filling as you like and sandwich together.

While I realise that the overall success of my macarons is probably down to luck, I do feel quite proud of myself. I can't wait to make another batch... and neither can E.