Star-Topped Mince Pies

You can't beat home-made mince pies, especially mince pies made with your own home-made mincemeat! I tend to shy away from pastry but this recipe is seriously easy and I make these year after year. I made these gorgeous mince pies especially for Sunday when we had family and friends over to celebrate the festive season. As always they went down a treat and everyone loved them. This is definitely another recipe that will feature again in my house this month.


Star-Topped Mince Pies

Ingredients

240g/8oz plain flour

60g/2oz vegetable shortening

60g/2oz cold butter, cut into small cubes

1 orange, juice only

pinch salt

350g/12oz mincemeat

icing sugar, for dusting

You will need a miniature tart tray, each indent 4.5cm/1¾in diameter, a 5.5cm/2¼in round fluted biscuit cutter and a 4cm/1½in star-shaped pastry cutter.

Sift the flour into a shallow freezer-proof bowl, then add small mounds of vegetable shortening. Add the butter, shake to cover it, then place into the freezer to chill for 20 minutes. (This will make the pastry tender and flaky.)

Mix the orange juice and salt in a separate bowl. Cover and leave in the fridge to chill.

After the 20 minutes, empty the chilled flour and shortening mixture into the bowl of a food processor and pulse to make porridge-like crumbs. Gradually add the chilled salted orange juice, pulsing until the mixture is just coming together as a dough. Stop just before it comes together (even if some orange juice is left). If all the juice is used up before the dough has begun to come together, add some iced water.

Turn the mixture out onto a clean, floured work surface and, using your hands, knead the mixture to form a dough. Divide and shape into three equal-sized discs (you’ll need to make the mince pies in three separate batches of 12, unless you’ve got enough tart tins to make all 36 pies at once).Wrap each disc in cling film and place into the fridge to rest for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.

Remove a pastry disc from the fridge and roll out on a floured work surface thinly, but so that it will be sturdy enough to support the dense mincemeat filling. Using a fluted pastry cutter, cut out 12 circles a little wider than the moulds in the tart tins. Press the circles gently into the moulds. Place a teaspoon of mincemeat into each pastry case. Reroll any remaining dough to a similar thickness, then using a star-shaped cutter, cut out 12 stars and place each lightly onto the mincemeat filling.

Transfer to the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the pastry is golden-brown. Keep an eye on them as they don’t take very long to cook.

Remove from the oven, prising out the little pies straight away and placing onto a wire rack to cool. Allow the empty tray to cool down before repeating the steps. Repeat until you have made 36 mince pies.

Dust the mince pies with icing sugar and serve.

Gold-Dust Star Cookies

Who doesn't love a bit of glitter and sparkle at Christmas? It would not be Christmas in my home without it and you can never have enough glitter! I bake these cookies every Christmas and they never fail to impress with family, friends and work colleagues alike. Apart from them being seriously yummy and moreish, they leave a lasting impression....you will find evidence in glitter form over the faces of those who have indulged, hahaha. These cookies never last long and will feature a few times over the festive season.


Gold-Dust Star Cookies

Ingredients
90g soft butter
100g caster sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon ground ginger (or vanilla extract)
200g plain flour, plus more for sprinkling
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon fine salt
Edible gold dust or glitter flakes

Preheat the oven to 180oC/gas mark 4 and line a baking sheet or two with baking parchment or Bake-O-Glide.

Cream the butter and sugar together until whipped soft and pale, then beat in the egg, followed by the ginger (or vanilla), flour, baking powder and salt and continue mixing until it all comes together to make a soft dough.

Form into 2 discs, wrap each one in clingfilm and let it rest in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.

Sprinkle a suitable surface with flour, place a disc of dough on it and sprinkle a little more flour on top. Then roll out to a thickness of about 5mm.

Cut into shapes, dipping the cutter into flour as you go, and place the biscuits a little apart on the lined baking sheet/s. Keep the scraps of the first disc, to mix with the scraps of the second and roll and cut, re-roll and cut, until you’ve used up the mixture. This is wonderfully pliable dough, which makes it an unstressful joy to work with.

Bake in the oven for 18-12 minutes: this depends on their shape, how many sheets are in the oven at the same time, and whether on the upper or lower shelf, though you can swap them around after 5 minutes. When they’re ready, expect them to be tinged a pronounced pale gold around the edges; they’ll be softish still in the middle, but will harden on cooling.

Take the sheets out of the oven, remove the cookies, with a flat, preferably flexible, spatula to a wire rack and leave to cool.

Using a small (unused) paintbrush or eyeshadow brush, dip in the edible gold dust or glitter flakes, and give each cookies its gilded coating.

Glitter Heart Cookies

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Valentines Day is a time for romance and love with chocolates and sweet treats normally at the centre of things but nothing can beat the love, passion and enjoyment that go into baking your own treats! My boys love cookies and what could be better than baking them a batch of these Glitter Heart Cookies to show them how much I love them! The original recipe for these cookies is the Gold Dust Cookies I made over Christmas, courtesy of Nigella Christmas. I loved the idea of using the recipe and turning them into Valentine themed cookies with heart shaped cookie cutters and pink glitter. If you’re looking for a simple but fun cookie recipe, try these delicious lovable cookies!
Glitter Heart Cookies

Makes about 30, depending on size

Ingredients
90g soft butter
100g caster sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon ground ginger (or vanilla extract)
200g plain flour, plus more for sprinkling
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon fine salt
Edible pink dust or glitter flakes

Preheat the oven to 180oC/gas mark 4 and line a baking sheet or two with baking parchment or Bake-O-Glide.

Cream the butter and sugar together until whipped soft and pale, then beat in the egg, followed by the ginger (or vanilla), flour, baking powder and salt and continue mixing until it all comes together to make a soft dough.

Form into 2 discs, wrap each one in clingfilm and let it rest in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.

Sprinkle a suitable surface with flour, place a disc of dough on it and sprinkle a little more flour on top. Then roll out to a thickness of about 5mm.

Cut into shapes, dipping the cutter into flour as you go, and place the biscuits a little apart on the lined baking sheet/s. Keep the scraps of the first disc, to mix with the scraps of the second and roll and cut, re-roll and cut, until you’ve used up the mixture. This is wonderfully pliable dough, which makes it an unstressful joy to work with.

Bake in the oven for 18-12 minutes: this depends on their shape, how many sheets are in the oven at the same time, and whether on the upper or lower shelf, though you can swap them around after 5 minutes. When they’re ready, expect them to be tinged a pronounced pale gold around the edges; they’ll be softish still in the middle, but will harden on cooling.

Take the sheets out of the oven, remove the cookies, with a flat, preferably flexible, spatula to a wire rack and leave to cool.

Using a small (unused) paintbrush or eyeshadow brush, dip in the edible pink dust or glitter flakes, and give each cookies its gilded coating.

Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookies

Do your loved ones have a favourite that you bake? I’ve often asked this same question to both my hubby and son and they always give me the same answer. My son’s favourite is a Chocolate Orange Cake, which tastes just like a Terry’s Chocolate Orange and one I have baked many times. As for my hubby, his choice is Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookies, he just adores them! I’ve baked different varieties of this combo but this cookie recipe wins hands down. I first made these cookies at Christmas to take over to my sister’s house and needless to say everyone simply loved them and I received many compliments, which is always something rewarding for a baker. These soft but chewy cookies are a gorgeous combination of smooth white chocolate, blended wonderfully with the cranberries, the rolled oats and crunchy pecans. The recipe comes courtesy of Nigella’s Christmas cookbook; a definite must have in your book collection.

Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookies

Makes 30

Ingredients
150g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
75g rolled oats (not instant)
125g soft butter
75g dark brown sugar
100g caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
75g dried cranberries
50g pecans, roughly chopped
150g white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180oC/ 350°F/gas mark 4.

Measure out the flour, baking powder, salt and rolled oats into a bowl.
Put the butter and sugars into another bowl and beat together until creamy — this is obviously easier with an electric mixer of some kind, but you just need to put some muscle into otherwise — then beat in the egg and vanilla.
Beat in the flour, baking powder, salt and oat mixture and then fold in the cranberries, chopped pecans and chocolate chips.
Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into a ball with your hands, and then place them on a lined or greased baking sheet and squish the dough balls down with a fork. You may need two baking sheets or be prepared to make these in two batches.
Cook for 15 minutes; when ready, the cookies will be tinged a pale gold, but be too soft to lift immediately off the tray, so leave the tray on a cool surface and let them harden for about 5 minutes. Remove with a spatula to cool fully on a wire rack.

Christmas Morning Muffins ~ Sweet and Simple Bake!

I'm late in posting my entry for Decembers bake over at Sweet and Simple Bakes as I am currently suffering with flu, so I am keeping this post short. I want to thank Rosie for choosing these muffins, they were the perfect start to our Christmas Day. I made these delicious Christmas Morning muffins on Christmas Eve and we enjoyed them with a nice cup of hot tea while opening our Christmas presents in the morning.

You can find the recipe here.

Chocolate Puddini Bonbons

This is yet another successful Nigella recipe from her Christmas book. I made these Chocolate Puddini Bonbons to serve alongside my Star-Topped Mince Pies with coffee on Sunday, when I had my in-laws over for the day. They may look like baby Christmas puddings but these babies taste like meltingly rich, spiced chocolate truffles! Everyone loved them and my mother in law was pleased to see I had added a box of them in their Christmas Hamper.

Chocolate Puddini Bonbons

Ingredients
125g best-quality dark chocolate, finely chopped
350g leftover, or freshly cooked and cooled, Christmas pudding
60ml sherry
2 x 15ml tablespoons golden syrup

For the decorations:
100g white chocolate, finely chopped
6 red glacé cherries
6 green glacé cherries or 6 short lengths angelica

Line a baking sheet (that will fit in the fridge) with clingfilm, baking parchment, foil or Bake-O-Glide, and set it to one side while you make the bonbons.

Melt the dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl suspended above a pan of simmering water, or in the microwave according to the manufacturer's guidelines. Crumble the cold Christmas pudding into a bowl, add the sherry and golden syrup and stir briskly till all is incorporated.

Pour in the melted dark chocolate and stir again: this will make the mixture much more cohesive.

To make this step easier, put on a pair of those disposable vinyl gloves sold in hardware stores and supermarkets, pinch out small lumps of mixture and roll so that you have little rounds about the size of a chocolate truffle. You should get about 30 out of this mixture; fight the impatient urge to make these balls larger as you go.

Cover with clingfilm and slot into the fridge to firm up.

To decorate, melt the white chocolate either in a heatproof bowl suspended over a pan of simmering water, or in the microwave according to the manufacturer's guidelines, then let it cool for about 5 minutes, to make it easier to work with, while you chop the red cherries into small pieces (to evoke berries), and snip the green cherries (or angelica) into miniature lengths, to represent leaves.

Using a teaspoon, drip a little of the melted but slightly cooled white chocolate on each bonbon, then arrange the infuriatingly sticky pieces of cherry on top.

Place in boxes to give away -- if you use small boxes that will fit 6 bonbons each, you will get 5 adorable presents out of this -- or on a plate to hand round with coffee, instead of dessert, after a post-Christmas dinner.

Makes about 30

Make ahead tip:

Make the bonbons up to 2 weeks before eating or giving. Pack in boxes and store in a very cool place. If made 2 weeks ahead, add a label to say "keep cool and eat within 1 or 2 days".

Star-Topped Mince Pies

I’ve been glued to the TV every evening this week watching Nigella Lawson’s 5-part Christmas Show. The show has been really Christmassy and inspiring and I couldn’t wait to get in my kitchen and bake up these gorgeous Star-Topped Mince Pies! I used my Cranberry-Studded Mincemeat, that I made a few weeks back (a recipe from Nigella’s Christmas book), in half the batch and I used my Traditional Mincemeat, which I make every year by Delia Smith, in the other half. You either love mince pies or hate them, in our home we LOVE them and Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without them! I will be serving my Star-Topped Mince Pies with coffee after dinner on Sunday when my in laws are coming over for the day.

Star-Topped Mince Pies

Ingredients

240g/8oz plain flour

60g/2oz vegetable shortening

60g/2oz cold butter, cut into small cubes

1 orange, juice only

pinch salt

350g/12oz mincemeat

icing sugar, for dusting

You will need a miniature tart tray, each indent 4.5cm/1¾in diameter, a 5.5cm/2¼in round fluted biscuit cutter and a 4cm/1½in star-shaped pastry cutter.

Sift the flour into a shallow freezer-proof bowl, then add small mounds of vegetable shortening. Add the butter, shake to cover it, then place into the freezer to chill for 20 minutes. (This will make the pastry tender and flaky.)

Mix the orange juice and salt in a separate bowl. Cover and leave in the fridge to chill.

After the 20 minutes, empty the chilled flour and shortening mixture into the bowl of a food processor and pulse to make porridge-like crumbs. Gradually add the chilled salted orange juice, pulsing until the mixture is just coming together as a dough. Stop just before it comes together (even if some orange juice is left). If all the juice is used up before the dough has begun to come together, add some iced water.

Turn the mixture out onto a clean, floured work surface and, using your hands, knead the mixture to form a dough. Divide and shape into three equal-sized discs (you’ll need to make the mince pies in three separate batches of 12, unless you’ve got enough tart tins to make all 36 pies at once).Wrap each disc in cling film and place into the fridge to rest for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.

Remove a pastry disc from the fridge and roll out on a floured work surface thinly, but so that it will be sturdy enough to support the dense mincemeat filling. Using a fluted pastry cutter, cut out 12 circles a little wider than the moulds in the tart tins. Press the circles gently into the moulds. Place a teaspoon of mincemeat into each pastry case. Reroll any remaining dough to a similar thickness, then using a star-shaped cutter, cut out 12 stars and place each lightly onto the mincemeat filling.

Transfer to the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the pastry is golden-brown. Keep an eye on them as they don’t take very long to cook.

Remove from the oven, prising out the little pies straight away and placing onto a wire rack to cool. Allow the empty tray to cool down before repeating the steps. Repeat until you have made 36 mince pies.

Dust the mince pies with icing sugar and serve.

Cranberry, Almond and Honey Granola ~ Edible Gifts Part 3

Cranberry, Almond and Honey Granola is my 3rd instalment of Christmas Edible Gifts and also comes courtesy of Nigella Lawson’s Christmas Cookbook (I love this book). This seasonal granola cereal is a combination of big crunchy clusters of toasted oats and almonds, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds, touched with cinnamon and honey and then tossed with plump dried cranberries! It would make a luscious breakfast on Christmas Day, served with a dollop of yogurt or milk!

Cranberry, Almond and Honey Granola

Makes enough to fill a 1.2 litre tin or jar

Ingredients
225g rolled oats (not instant)
60g sunflower seeds
60g white sesame seeds
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
150g (125ml) runny honey
50g soft light brown sugar
60g whole natural almonds
60g blanched almonds
½ teaspoon Maldon salt or pinch of table salt
1 tablespoon rapeseed or sunflower oil
150g dried cranberries

Put everything except the dried cranberries into a large mixing bowl and mix well. Two spatulas are probably the best tools for the job here – or use your own two hands, wearing CSI (vinyl disposable) gloves.

Spread this mixture on a lined baking sheet and bake in a 170oC/gas mark 3 oven, turning over the mixture with a spatula about halfway through baking and redistributing the granola evenly during the baking process. The object is to get the granola evenly golden without toasting too much in any one place. If you have a convection or fan oven, you may need to turn it to a lower heat as well as keeping a sharp eye on it.

This should be ready – golden enough and dried out like a crunchy breakfast cereal rather than the sticky mess that went into the oven – in anything from 40-50 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool, taking it off the hot baking sheet, before mixing with the dried cranberries. Store in an airtight container.

Gold-Dust Cookies

These gold-dust cookies come courtesy of Nigella Lawson's Christmas Cookbook . I made them over the weekend to take down to my sister’s house and they went down a treat. I used vanilla extract instead of ginger, only because it is a more suited flavour for kids and one I also prefer. I am a sucker for glitter and stars and when I came across this recipe in the book I was sold. These would be beautiful as a gift or offered up after dinner with coffee. I’m definitely going to be making them again over this festive season and any excuse to use my edible glitters is my idea of fun.

Gold-Dust Cookies

Makes about 30, depending on size

Ingredients
90g soft butter
100g caster sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon ground ginger (or vanilla extract)
200g plain flour, plus more for sprinkling
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon fine salt
Edible gold dust or glitter flakes

Preheat the oven to 180oC/gas mark 4 and line a baking sheet or two with baking parchment or Bake-O-Glide.

Cream the butter and sugar together until whipped soft and pale, then beat in the egg, followed by the ginger (or vanilla), flour, baking powder and salt and continue mixing until it all comes together to make a soft dough.

Form into 2 discs, wrap each one in clingfilm and let it rest in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.

Sprinkle a suitable surface with flour, place a disc of dough on it and sprinkle a little more flour on top. Then roll out to a thickness of about 5mm.

Cut into shapes, dipping the cutter into flour as you go, and place the biscuits a little apart on the lined baking sheet/s. Keep the scraps of the first disc, to mix with the scraps of the second and roll and cut, re-roll and cut, until you’ve used up the mixture. This is wonderfully pliable dough, which makes it an unstressful joy to work with.

Bake in the oven for 18-12 minutes: this depends on their shape, how many sheets are in the oven at the same time, and whether on the upper or lower shelf, though you can swap them around after 5 minutes. When they’re ready, expect them to be tinged a pronounced pale gold around the edges; they’ll be softish still in the middle, but will harden on cooling.

Take the sheets out of the oven, remove the cookies, with a flat, preferably flexible, spatula to a wire rack and leave to cool.

Using a small (unused) paintbrush or eyeshadow brush, dip in the edible gold dust or glitter flakes, and give each cookies its gilded coating.

Christmas Edible Gifts ~ Part 1

Anyone can buy a present from a shop, but if you want to go the extra mile, why not make something yourself? Homemade gifts make really thoughtful and often better value presents. So imagine my excitment when I received my copy of Nigella Christmas and came across the great section in the book with recipes and ideas for edible gifts. Since then I’ve been looking forward to making a start on the Christmas Hamper for my in laws and also our home. As of last week I made a start on my gifts. I started with the Christmas Spiced-Salt, which reminds me of holly berries in the snow. This salt is perfect sprinkled on steak or chicken to add some oomph! The delicious Cranberry and Apple Chutney is a perfect gift as chutneys mature with age. This chutney is wonderful with cheeses, pates and cold meats. I always make the traditional mincemeat every year but this truly delectable Cranberry-Studded Mincemeat really caught my eye and the recipe only makes 600ml, not a huge amount, so you won’t have jars left over after Christmas. This is part 1 of my edible gifts, so there is more to follow shortly!


Happy Cook at My Kitchen Treasures is hosting a great event of Home Made Christmas Gifts and she kindly invited me to join. If you are you interested in joining, the event is running until the 20th December. Please visit her blog for further details. My Kitchen Treasures

Cranberry-Studded Mincemeat

Makes approx. 600ml – enough for 50 mince pies

Ingredients
60ml ruby port
75g soft dark brown sugar
300g cranberries
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cloves
75g currants
75g raisins
30g dried cranberries
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 Clementine/Satsuma
25ml brandy
1/8 teaspoon or a few drops of almond extract
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 x 15ml tablespoons honey

In a large saucepan, dissolve the sugar in the ruby port over a gentle heat. Add the cranberries to the saucepan. Then add the cinnamon, ginger and cloves, with the currants, raisins and dried cranberries and the zest and juice of the clementines.

Simmer for 20 minutes or until everything looks pulpy and has absorbed most of the liquid in the pan. You many need to squish the cranberries a little with the back of a wooden spoon to incorporate them.

Take off the heat and, when it has cooled a little, stir in the brandy, almond and vanilla extracts and honey and beat once more, with your wooden spoon to encourage it to turn into a berry-beaded paste.

Spoon the mincemeat into sterilized jars.

Cranberry and Apple Chutney

Makes about 1 litre

Ingredients
750g cooking apples, peeled, quartered, cored and chopped small
250g dried cranberries
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
350ml cider vinegar
200g caster sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
2 teaspoon Maldon salt or 1 teaspoon table salt

Take a medium-sized (not too big) saucepan and chuck into it all the ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon and then put the pan on the heat.

Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat a little to let the pan cook, uncovered, on a fast simmer for about 45 minutes, or until the chutney has thickened slightly and the fruit is soft.

Spoon into your warm, prepared jars and seal them.



Christmas-Spiced Salt

Makes enough to fill 1 x 500ml jar

Ingredients
250g good-quality sea salt or Maldon salt
2 teaspoons red/pink peppercorns
2 teaspoons crushed dried red chillies
4 star anise

Sterilize your jar and leave to cool.

Put the salt into a bowl with the peppercorns, dried chillies and star anise.

Toss everything about, then carefully tip into your cooled, prepared jar and seal tightly.