Festive baking

It’s been a while! I’m been trying to finish off my christmas knitting and it’s finally done so I have been able to relax a bit as I’ve only got projects for me left :) For obvious reasons I can’t post them here until after christmas!

The last week or so has been pretty busy on the cooking and food prep front but nothing to post up till now. I’ve made some homemade lemongrass and ginger cordial which turned out amazing! It’s nice to have lots of options for drinks over the Christmas period, and I like to think it’s a good one for warding off colds. I also made some apricot jam this week with fruit from the market that was rather past it’s best. Still fine for jam though :)

Yesterday and today though I got down to some baking mince pies, some shortbread mincemeat slices and lemon, cranberry and walnut browned butter oat cookies, which taste amazing!

For the last few years I’ve made my own mincemeat adapted from a Delia Smith recipe. I first discovered it when I was in Germany and found mincemeat wasn’t something you can just buy in a supermarket. I’m glad I did though as it’s much tastier and better value than the little jars you buy. I love it with lots of almonds and the fresh flavour and plump soaked fruits makes it really worthwhile. The photo below shows what was left after I made 4 dozen mince pies and the mincemeat slices so there is rather more juice compared to fruit than there is usually. I’ve found that you don’t want to put too much of the syrupy liquid into mince pies as it just bubbles out and makes a mess of your oven so try to drain the liquid a bit before filling them! 

I make the pastry for the mince pies from scratch too. I find shop bought shortcrust too crumbly and I love the flaky butteriness of homemade

We had 3 lemons worth of zest in the fridge needing to be used up so I decided to try a lemony shortbread, the mincemeat was added in an attempt to use up a little more of the vast vat I made! These biscuits turned out really buttery and crisp with a hint of citrus from the lemon zest and a bit of a crunch from the semolina in the dough.

The cookies were devised to use up some of the cranberries I got from the market this week, we can’t possibly need them all for sauce! I used the remainder of the lemon zest, added some oats and walnuts for texture and browned the butter just because. Mmmmm.

So, recipes follow:

 

Home made mincemeat 

(makes a massive bowlful! Probably enough for about 8-10 dozen mince pies. Halve for a more reasonable amount)

• Juice and zest of 2 oranges
• Juice and zest of 2 lemons
• 3 small bramleys (or other cooking apple) cored and chopped, no need to peel
• 12 oz raisins
• 8 oz sultanas
• 8 oz currants
• 8 oz mixed peel
• 12 oz dark brown soft sugar
• 4 oz whole almonds, coarsely chopped
• 4 tsp mixed spice
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl or container, if it has a lid, that’s ideal. Leave the container in a cool place overnight. Next day, give it a stir. The fruit at the bottom will have got a bit plumper and the chopped apple will have shrunk a bit. Soak and stir for a few more days before using. It keeps pretty well for a couple of weeks in a cool place of fridge.

Mince pies 

(makes 2 dozen)

• 8 oz plain flour
• 2 oz butter
• 2 oz lard
• large pinch of sea salt
• cold water
• mincemeat
• beaten egg to glaze
• granulated sugar for sprinkling

I always make the pastry the night before I want to make mince pies and rest it in the fridge overnight. It lets the moisture in the dough even up throughout the mix before you roll it out.

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and add the cold lard and butter. Use a knife to cut the fat into the flour until there are lots of tiny chunks evenly dispersed. It doesn’t matter if there are some larger chunks as long as they’re smaller than pea sized! Add a bit of cold water and incorporate into the flour mixture with the knife. Add water as need until the dough starts coming together in one ball. Use your hands to gather in the last bits and form into a ball. wrap the ball in cling film and rest in the fridge overnight.

To make the mince pies, divide the dough into two and roll out one half until about 3 mm thick. Cut out discs for the bottom of the pies with a 3″ cutter and discs for the lids with a 2 1/2″ cutter. Roll out the second half and repeat, gathering up the trimmings and re-rolling until you have 24 bases and lids.

Line two cupcake pans with the bases and fill each with  the mincemeat mixture, taking care not to overfill or add too much liquid. Top each pie with a lid and use a knife to make a hole in the top of each one. Finish by brushing with egg and sprinkling with sugar then bake at 200ºC until they are golden.

Shortbread mincemeat slices

(makes one 6″ x 9″ tin, 15 slices)

• 6 oz softened butter
• 3 oz caster sugar
• 6 oz plain flour
• 3 oz semolina
• zest of 1 lemon
• about 5 tbsp mincemeat
• beaten egg
• granulated sugar to sprinkle

Beat the butter with a wooden spoon till soft then add the sugar. Once the sugar is mixed in add the flour, semolina and lemon zest and mix together, using the spoon to work the mixture against the sides of the bowl. At the end, use your hands to bring the mixture together. Divide the mixture into two and spread half the mixture in the bottom of the tin and press down evenly. Spread the mincemeat mixture over the top and roll out the other half of the dough into a rectangle roughly the same size of the tin and lay over the top of the mincemeat and press down. Prick with a fork and glaze with beaten egg then sprinkle with sugar and bake at 150ºC for about 1hr or until golden.

Cranberry cookies

(makes about 2 dozen)

• 125 g butter, browned
• 100 g caster sugar
• 75 g light brown soft sugar
• 1 medium egg
• 150 g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3 pinches flaky sea salt
• 50 g rolled oats
• zest of 1 lemon
• 50 g chopped walnuts
• 150 g chopped cranberries

Beat browned butter with sugars and beat in egg. Sift in flour, salt, baking powder and add oats and lemon zest. Mix together well and when combined add walnuts and cranberries. Scoop dessert-spoons of the mixture onto baking sheets and bake at 190ºC until golden.