Cooking at Christmas...

I have had problems with accessing this blog account so i missed all the great Christmas Cookery Posts i had planned. Aaah well, we are all too busy with our own Christmassy plans to have time for much pleasure reading? But i did want to share a few of the images i had stored...
Above - look at my gorgeous vintage Ceramic rolling pin *Christmas goodies bag from MrsB to me* (lucky lady that i am) i adore my rolling pin - and look closely, you'll see it has "Nutbrown" written on it, like it came from a little squirrel's kitchen!
And, next to that, a Tree Cookie Cutter with a cutout slice so the cookie sits tightly on the rim of One's tea cup.... precious!

I did use my rolling pin for various pastry dishes. Some invoving chocolate chunks, mmmm
and some involving Home-made fruity Mincemeat (i am salivating at the mere memory)

*MrsB - remind me to blog my fruit mincemeat recipe for next festive season?*

I hope you all enjoyed Christmas Cookery and didn't allow it to get too much of a chore?

I have taken my friends advice below: a fizzy mineral tab in a 3/4 pint of water - topped up to a full pint with SPATONE and orange juice.

I feel A L I V E ! zzzziinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggg !

We three cakes...

We three cakes from KirstyFish are...
I made the mistake of telling my Mother and my Nanna..."I've made the Christmas Cake"
So they both asked if they could have some. Of course, i am a generous lady and they can have some of the cake. But as i stood looking at the ROUND cake i had made i became a little dejected. My plans for a Merry Snow Scene decoration were not going to happen - the cake, becoming 'the cakeS' were going to leave little room for decorative play. Never mind. My cake decorating skills leave MASSES to be desired anyway. It isn't my forte. It isn't my 'area' of any skill or expertise. It was time...... to call in the professional>>>>> armed with a 'Charlie and Lola' apron and a whole lotta creative Diva, this 5 yr old's work was sterling.

To maintain the almond theme (Amaretto soaked cake) we started with white marzipan - only a thin layer. Thin wasn't a 'taste' choice - you must remember, i had bought the ingredients to ice just the ONE cake and 3 were taking up a little more ingredient than expected.

And the Ready-Roll icing was a similar story.

Please don't underestimate how long this simple process took me. Oh My Lord.

The able assistant lost patience after the icing sugar and rolling pin stage so i was (thankfully) on my own at this point.

Then i realised EACH cake needed a cake base / board.... and in a moment of sheer brilliance i managed to find 2 cardboard packages from that evenings dinner and cut them up into the right shapes for each cake. We had a ready made pizza base so that was perfect for the half moon shapes, once wrapped in foil.

The cakes sat in tins for days like this. I am no domestic goddess NOR am i at all into Cake Decorating... but they worked out something like this:

Wide tartan ribbon around the edge of all of them. Left over Jane Asher gold stars from a previous cheat cookery project....

All strategically placed for a minimal effect. And the last cake had some gummy heart sweets placed in one corner.

I am winning no prizes with these BUT i guarantee, the taste of these cakes will have the consumer totally forgetting the rather basic topping.

What's a girl to do? I went from having one big round cake, to 3 small odd shaped cakes.

It goes to show, you can have your cake and eat it too. Just don't think about how it 'looks' for too long.

And i leave you with this photo of Chef Extraordinaire.... because i have a sort of weird semi-smug Nigella look on me here - maybe it's that double chin????

Anyone for a few dieting posts come 2010?

x mmmm, cake!

I Want to Share....x

This is so simple and really I just made it because it looked lovely!But what a revelation!

It is just wonderful! I was truly won over when I ate one of these! The sweetness, the Christmassy spice, the enticing warmth of ginger and chilli! Perfect!

I can't wait to eat it with my Boxing Day ham! I can't wait to open a jar and sit it prettily in amongst my buffet! Please make it! It is ridiculously easy and once you have the ingredients you could make a few batches to give with a big cheery knowing smile!

INGREDIENTS 2 x 400g cans peach halves in syrup 1 x 15ml tablespoon of rice vinegar or white wine vinegar 2 short sticks cinnamon 1 x 4cm piece of ginger, peeled and sliced thinly into rounds 1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes 1/2 teaspoon Maldon salt or 1/4 teaspoon table salt 1/4 teaspoon whole black peppercorns 3 cloves Serving Size : Serves approx. 8 people Nigella Lawson Sling all the ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Allow to bubble for a couple of minutes, then turn off the heat. Serve with ham. Keep left overs in a jar in the fridge. I have put mine straight into jars, which I will keep in the fridge to serve cold with buffet on Boxing Day. x

Cinnamon, Cloves, Nutmeg, Golden Sugar.....and All Things Nice

Lets talk about, bake for, make for, wallow in, dress up in silly clothes for....

Christmas

(humor me, I can't help it)
SO this is what I have been making and freezing for pressies!
Christmas Fruity Biscotti

• 350g plain flour , plus extra for rolling
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• 250g golden caster sugar
• 3 eggs , beaten
• coarsely grated zest 1 orange
• 85g raisins
• 85g dried cherries
• 50g blanched almonds
• 50g shelled pistachio

*I used dried cranberries and raisins for my fruit and 100g of mixed nuts.*

Method
Preheat oven to 180C.
In your favourite Christmas mixing bowl, sling in the flour, caster sugar, baking powder and (with a gratuitous *sniff* and arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Christmas moment) the wonderful Mixed Spice, all the while humming Walking in a WinterWonderland.

Mixed in the eggs and when it starts to come together a bit, get your hands in (great for kids!) and mould into a ball. Trust that it will come together, even if looks dry, it gets quite sticky. (start singing Silver Bells, with gusto)

Throw in your lovely, colourful fruit and nuts and distribute evenly through dough.

Half the dough and half those again to give you four even balls of dough. Roll out into sausages of approx 30 cm long. Place two rolls perbaking tray. Cook in oven, till spread out and firm to the touch, but still pale.
Take out and cool on wire rack, just long enough to handle. Turn down oven to 140 C. Then slice diagonally, making little biscotti about 1cm wide. At this point you can place the slices in freezer bags and store in the freezer for up to two months and when needed carry out next step. Place side down on tray and place back in the now cooler oven for a further 10-15 minutes to dry out. (Biscotti means twice baked...it is what Italian Mamas and Nonnas did with their stale bread)
When cooled, plop your lovely little biscotti into gift boxes or in my case kilner jars and tie with a Christmassy ribbon and bells! They will keep for a month in an airtight container (in a house where there are no nibblers....big and small!!)

Be proud! So cute, so clever!
Gorgeous with your Christmas morning cup of coffee! x (and finish with your best rendition of Santa Baby!)

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/8022/fruity-christmas-biscotti

Your Mission....

should you choose to accept it....(Mr B laughed at me when I came down the stairs in this outfit, stating I looked like I was on "Special Ops"! Well I am....in the kitchen!)

Glut of plums, some 'looks challenged' bramleys (scrumped by your F-i-L!! Brilliant!) and icecream tubs full of gorgeous blackberries... (my current obsession....just beating the lemon curd obsession of last month!). Sound familiar?!

Well here are a few yummy links to inspire you...(Bramley and Blackberry Tray Bake)and tomorrow in the B household the Christmas Chutney cottage industry will whir into production!

Recipes

Blackberry Honey Creams
Bramley and Blackberry Tray Bake
Wonderfully Moist Plum Cake
Blackberry Galettes (gorgeous Nigella...this will be in my kitchen by the end of tomorrow!!)
Spicy Plum Chutney

x

Beetroot and Orange Preserve x

As in the previous post - it was the fat, muddy bulbs of Beetroot that inspired the making of this. I wanted to pickle them but i came across the recipe in Lakelands Book. I wasn't sure about the orange to begin with, but the recipe wanted 3 and i happend to have 3 oranges sat in my fruit bowl that needed to be used up.... thrifty cookery is the best x 300ml of Malt Vinegar
200g Granulated Sugar ..... heated gently in a large pickling pan.
I added a little less Malt Vinegar and substituted with some Raspberry Vinegar and White Wine Vinegar so i had 400ml i think, all in.


350g/ 3 Raw Beetroot (from the Veg Box)
350g/3 Cooking Apples (scrumped from a neighbour if possible)
225g/ 3 Red Onions (Man sent to the shops to fetch)
Chop them all as small or big as is your preference. I like mine as small as i can, 1cm cubed on average. Add them to the liquid in the pan.

3 oranges - the rind and juice of (i just re-read the recipe and it says only 2, oop, i added 3)
1 garlic clove crushed
1tsp ground Allspice
1tsp Salt
... i added to the mix also: 1tsp Mustard seeds / 1tsp Corriander seeds / Celery Salt / 1tsp GROUND Peppercrons. Add whatever you like... oh and some fresh tiny cut Rosemary! (love that stuff)


Bring it the boil - just - then put it on a low setting and simmer away for 40mins. I put a lid on mine but you don't need to....

Give yourself a pat on the back and feel rather pleased with yourself :)

After 40mins - whack i gave mine a good mulch with a big potato masher as i don't like anything too chunky. Then whack the heat right up again and boil away the last of any liquids you dont want. I kept a bit of liquid in mine.

Oh IF ONLY this screen was scratch and sniff! This kitchen smells amazing x i am in love with my own culinary genius... or i love chutney / presrves / pickles x

This ingredients list made 2 FULL 1/2Litre Kilner Jars - so you are looking at 4 standard jam jars? or even 5 if you want to give away / sell jars that aren't too big?

A glass of chilled white wine to celebrate the fact it was now 5pm on a Friday and i had survived another week as an amazing Mum! tee hee (i have to keep saying it as one day, i'll believe it)

Decorate the jar a bit, of course! And i always put the dates on each jar as i will never remember, come Nov / Dec when they were made or how long they will keep:

"Made in beg. August 2009 - use in Nov 2009 - once opened, keep refridgerated and use within one Month"

So there you have it - open it mid November and you'll have a sweet and spicy preserve to accompany meats and cheeses and it will take you right through Christmas festivities from Mid November into the New Year x

Do i sound like Nigella yet? I hope I am a little more real than that x