Christmas Swirls

Is it too early to mention the C word yet? No? Okay phew! Aveen - I know you have been waiting patiently for these!

This year I am trying to be organised and have already started squirrelling things away in the freezer for Christmas meals. As someone who does shift work, and will be working throughout the festive season getting ahead now will hopefully mean calm in the future, and more importantly less washing up on the big day itself! As well as a batch of these lovely little swirls, ready for Christmas snacking, I’ve already made up a batch of carrot and swede mash, and two batches of pork, cranberry and apple stuffing mixes!

The inspiration for these lovely, festive little swirls came from having a spare block of puff pastry that needed using up, and a recipe from the latest Tesco instore magazine (please tell me I am not the only magpie who picks up every freebie recipe card/ magazine/ newspaper?) Plus I’ve also always wanted to make Danish pastries and finally seized my chance on a treasured day off this week!

I adapted the original recipe to what I had in the various boxes I moved house with and adjusted quantities as to what felt right! These little puffs are rather good and are great with a nice cup of coffee or tea! They are easy and fun to make and will be very popular, judging by how quickly mine vanished!

Makes 30 swirls - Keep half, freeze half. Or all. Depends if you can wait till Christmas!

Ingredients

500g block puff pastry
plain flour and icing sugar for dusting
200g good quality mincemeat – I used Sainsburys Taste the Difference
2 tsp runny honey
1 tsp orange extract (I love Sainsburys TTD Valencian orange extract)
50g + 10g flaked almonds, roughly crushed in your hand
40g + 20g dried and sweetened sour cherries, roughly chopped
Small chunk of Angelica, sliced into little bits

Method:

In a bowl mix together the mincemeat, orange extract, honey, 50g of the almonds and 40g of the cherries.
Cut the pastry block in half, roll one block out on a floured surface into a rectangle shape, about 1/4cm thick or so. I laid mine at this stage onto cling film – makes the next stages easier! Spread over half the mincemeat mixture in a thin layer, right to the edges.

Now use the cling wrap to help roll it really tightly, like a swiss roll, wrap tightly in flim and freeze for 15 minutes


For the second batch, assuming you are going to freeze them, repeat the above stage

Pre-heat oven to 200 fan

Line a baking tray(s) with baking/ parchment paper

Carefully remove your rolls from the freezer. Using a sharp knife cut the first roll into 1cm strips and lay flat on the baking tray, leaving space for them to expand a little. Press over the little bits of angelica

Bake for 15 minutes or until golden and your kitchen smells a little like heaven. Whilst still hot, sprinkle with remaining almonds and cherries and dust with icing sugar. Allow to cool on the paper, then transfer to a wire rack. They will be a little sticky underneath so just nudge now and again to loosen.

With the remaining roll, also cut into 1cm rounds but transfer onto baking / parchment paper, in small layers and transfer to a suitable container for freezing. Freeze until Santa is on his way.

*Note the 10/g20g almond/ cherry mix is only for 15 freshly baked swirls You will need more for when the frozen friends come out to play*

I've sent my Christmas Swirls over to Sweets for a Saturday #45- a fabulous blog full of naughty but nice treats! 

Happy Easter

I'm a little late in posting but wanted to wish you all a Happy Easter!

A Perfect Christmas from Sainsburys

On Monday night, I braved the cold weather and the nightmare tube strike and eventually made my way into central London to Sainsburys HQ, alongside other bloggers to sample some delicious new party food products, mainly from the re-jazzed 'Taste The Difference' range. Did you know there are over 1000 items under the Taste The Difference logo? This past year, Sainsburys have been working hard to ensure all the products are at their best and all of the nibbles I tried were delicious!


I must admit that when it comes to entertaining large groups, catering for them can be a bit daunting and I have felt in the past a little bad inside for when resorting to serving up ready made party food, often as the quality has been so hit and miss. However there are only so many hours in the day and whilst I love being busy in the kitchen, am sure my guests would rather see me! (I hope so anyway!) Some of the products I liked in particular from Sainsburys were the mini fish n chips, which came served in these cute little newspaper holders:


(all images courtesy of Sainsburys)

Delicious chocolate truffles:

And believe it or not, mince pie ice-cream! Deliciously creamy ice cream, with chunks of TTD mince pies in! 

Along with the new products, this year Sainsburys are holding an exciting competition for you and your neighbours to win a Perfect Christmas, including A male voice choir, a massive snowfall to create a magical mood, a huge tree all decked out with lights, a dazzling firework display and delicious festive
food and drink! All you need to do is enter here and get your neighbours to enter too! Good Luck!  Incase you have missed the advert, you can watch it here

Blackberry and Apple Crumbles and new Jamie Oliver kitchen toys!

Last week I was a very lucky girl and sent an array of new kitchen gadgets, from the new Jamie Oliver Kitchen kit range! I will admit to being slightly sceptical before receiving them, as to what the quality would be like but have been suitably impressed, all of the items are well made and have a good feel to them. According to the packaging everythings been designed between Jamie Oliver and DKB Household, and  seem to have had real thought put into their development. If you've been watching the latest Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals, Jamie has been using these products, which is a good advertisement! I am hoping to bring you a couple of recipes from the book soon too.

This past week, I have been putting them all through their paces, before reviewing them, and as with any review I do, I promise to be honest and impartial, I have not personally paid for any of these items or been paid to review them.

Amongst the road testing of the products, I must admit overall I love the knives made from Japanese MoV stainless steel blades, they are really, really sharp, very comfortable to use with a grip handle and make light work of chopping, even cauliflower! They all cut precisely and neatly and are a pleasure to use. They also look rather lovely in their solid beech block:

A bonus is that when they are in the knife block, the handles state which one they are, so you don't have to pull out each one to see what it is, a small thing but very helpful! 

For some time I've been planning to upgrade my old but trusty knives, bought ages back from TK Maxx, which I had thought were pretty sharp...though in comparison to these new Jamie ones, they seem rather blunt!! Now I’ve tested them, I would happily both buy and highly recommend them. You can find a video here on making the most of them.

The first round of testing was making chicken fajitas, I bought some chicken thighs and trimmed and sliced them using the smallest Paring knife, which is normally a lengthy job and a bit fiddly. This knife made light work of them and the results were perfectly trimmed strips of chicken in about half the time! I also sliced up peppers and red onions, both easily and neatly, the knife didn’t slip at all and was like cutting butter it was so easy! No real recipe as such, as I tend to vary it each time but mainly consisted of smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, oregano, ground cumin and ground coriander, bound together lightly with olive oil, delicious they were too!

As I wanted test some more items, I made these lovely Apple and Blackberry crumbles for dessert, which I adapted slightly from this months Delicious magazine. The filling was mostly free as I picked the blackberries from a friends garden and the apples were donated from a family friends garden! You can use normal porridge oats, however I had run out so used a paw-ridge sachet to no ill effect!

Makes 2 individual pie dish sized puddings, Easy

2 Bramley apples, roughly 330g
35g caster sugar
1 tbsp dried cranberries
80g blackberries, frozen is fine
60g plain flour – I used Doves Farm gluten free version
1 sachet porridge oats, about 28g
30g Demerara sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon

Firstly, core and peel the apples. I tested the Twist ‘N’ Slide Apple Corer, I’ve not used a corer since I think I was back at school in food tech classes and it took me a few minutes to work out that this one was special, as after easily impaling the apple, you simply twist the handle, push down lightly and out pops the core! Far safer than getting your fingers wedged in it! Of course I realised afterwards the instructions were on the back of the packet! If I’m being honest, whilst it’s a nifty little toy I’m not sure I need a corer in my life, as I am perfectly happy just chopping an apple up, then removing the core, but if you like your gadgets then it’s a very good one!

I then used the All purpose 3-in-1 peeler, straight blade set which is very sharp! Its excellent as quickly removes the peel, with minimal wastage as it peels very thin slices away, a bonus is the little eyelet on the edge of the blade, its great for removing blemishes quickly and easily.

I’ve not used the other two blades yet but they seem very sharp – my tea towel got nibbled! Initially I found it a little fiddly getting the blades back into the holder, however now I’ve worked how to do it, I like it a lot more!

Dice the peeled, cored apples into small chunks and place in a saucepan with the caster sugar and cranberries, gently heat for about ten minutes or until the apples are softening and break under light pressure, remove from the heat and stir in the blackberries. Transfer to your baking dish or dishes.

Pre-heat the oven to 160 fan/ 180 regular

Rub together the flour and butter, to form fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the oats, Demerara sugar and cinnamon, use your fingers to pinch into little nuggets, sprinkle over the fruit and bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool a little before serving with either custard or cream.

Thanks to Aaron Huckett at Publicasity.

**updated 03/05/2012 - Everything is still going strong! The knives and grater are still a joy to use!**

Happy Easter Baking

As regulars to my blog will know, I am rather fond of sprinkles and Silverspoon recently sent me a set of gorgeous sprinkles, pink icing and other cake decorations, just in time for Easter! Silverspoon have a fantastic range of decorations to make your cakes and desserts look extra special!

You can also find on their website lots of lovely recipes, these gorgeous looking Coconut clusters have caught my eye and am rather intrigued by this lush looking Sticky chocolate yoghurt cake

As its Easter, I just had to make these little fairy cakes to take into work using the lovely Silverspoon decorations and a little glace icing:

I used the Fairy cakes recipe from Silverspoon’s website and also added a bag of their chocolate chips, which made lovely light little buns that rapidly vanished!

Continuing with the Easter baking theme, I also made this gorgeous Mocha cake, my entry for the great Easter Cake Bake held every year over at the lovely Julia's blog A Slice of Cherry Pie

Mocha cake

Taken from Baking, published by Star fire books and aka my baking bible! The original recipe is for Coffee and Pecan cake but had to adapt slightly as I made it for an Easter family lunch and two of the guests have nut allergies.

Ingredients:
175g self-raising flour, sifted
125g butter or margarine
175g golden caster sugar
1 tbsp coffee, instant or granules
2 large eggs
2 tbsp cocoa powder

Icing:

1tsp coffee, instant or granules
1 tsp cocoa powder
75g unsalted butter, softened
175g icing sugar

Oven 190o/ fan 170o, gas 5 – pre-heat 10 minutes

You will need 2x 7” sandwich tins, lined (I always use baking parchment liners!)

Dissolve the coffee in 2 tbsp hot water and allow to cool.

Beat the butter and sugar together (I *heart* my Kenwood Chef!) until light and creamy, mix the eggs with the cooled coffee mixture and beat into the butter sugar mix, adding a little flour every few beats, until all mixed in, pour into the tins and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer comes away clean, allow to cool thoroughly before icing.

To ice, beat the butter and sugar. Dissolve the coffee and cocoa with a little boiling water, add to the mix and beat until smooth, use half for the filling and remaining half for the topping. Store in an airtight container.

Decoration as desired!

Moist Mincemeat Tea Loaf

This recipe almost didn't get blogged, due to greed I realised when eating the last slice I had forgotten to photograph it, and so the picture you see below was indeed the last of it mid-devour!

Its very tasty on its own but even better with a little butter on too!

Its a great way of using any leftover mincemeat up from Christmas (where has the time gone - we are nearly April??) or also incase you found any in the sale post-xmas - I picked up two jars of mincemeat reduced to 60p, despite being in date till 2011!

Recipe is taken from Step by Step Baking, one of my favourite baking books as everything always works!

Makes one lovely fruity loaf (Apparently makes 12 slices..yeah, erm, depends on how thick you cut it really!)

You will need a 2lb/ 900g loaf tin

225g self raising flour
1/2 tsp ground mixed spice
125g cold butter, cubed
75g flaked almonds (I had run out so improvised with pecan nuts)
25g glace cherries, rinsed, dried and quartered
75g light muscavado sugar
2 medium eggs, lightly whisked
250g mincemeat
1tsp lemon zest (I had previously frozen some which worked perfectly in this)
2tsp brandy or milk (I used Port!)

Pre-heat oven to 180o/ 350o/ gas 4 (I have a fan oven and set it at 160o)

Sift flour and spice into a large bowl, add the butter and rub in until breadcrumbs

Reserving 2 tbsp of the nuts, add the remaining, the sugar and cherries to the bowl

Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. In a seperate bowl lightly whisk the eggs, stir in the mincemeat, lemon zest and brandy /milk (or port even!). Fold into the dry ingredients, spoon into a lined loaf tin, smooth over and top with reserved nuts. Bake for 30 minutes, cover with tin foil to stop the nuts burning and bake for a further 25-30 minutes or until well risen and a skewer comes out clean.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the tin before transferring to a cooling rack. Enjoy!

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Alongside the loaf I made some experimental carrot & dried cranberry muffins - tasted good but didn't rise as hoped, will carry on tweaking though and post if succesful!

P.s. really not loving silicon bakeware, did not come away cleanly from the case at all!

Christmas meal ideas - Starter and Main Courses

I'm going to my boyfriends mum's house for Christmas Day, however this Sunday gone we had my family over for a full Christmas Meal, which almost didn't happen as I got struck by a nasty stomach bug; however I luckily recovered enough in time to make everything, though was very, very tired by about 5pm! Unfortunately I didn't manage to get any picture's worth publishing but I wanted to share with you the highlights, in time for your Christmas Meals in case you are still finalizing your menu!

For festive nibbles, please see my other post - Nigellas Spiced Nuts

Firstly, our starter was courtesy of Olive Magazine - Chicken Liver Parfaits, my picture did not come out well, mainly as they were nearly all eaten when I remembered! It was similar-ish to the one shown in the link but not as pretty! My ramekins also seemed a bit bigger as only filled 5...I would also allow a little extra butter for pouring as ran out towards the end. The only recipe amendment was that I added 3 tsp of Port to the mixture. They are a little messy to make, so best done in advance and infact improve with a few days rest. It was also my first real experience with offal and it took me some time to trim them, compared to 30 mins suggested on the site, a messy job but now I know! Verdict wise, me and my dad really liked these, they are smooth and taste smooth and meaty, I had served with suggested brioche but this divided us, me for, dad against! We also had alongside some lovely sweet cornish ale chutney, so maybe too sweet all-together for some... I don't actually like liver on its own, however for me these were very tasty but too much for our other guest...still class this as a winner and will definately make again.

400g chicken livers
150g butter , plus 50g for the top of the parfaits
1 garlic clove , crushed
1 shallot , chopped
1 large sprig thyme , plus sprigs to top
pinch Chinese five-spice powder
2 tbsp double cream
4 brioche buns, sliced and toasted, to serve (I could only find the long ones)

Trim the livers of any green bits (these will be bitter) or sinews. Heat a knob of the butter in a large frying pan and gently fry the livers with the garlic, shallot, thyme and Chinese five-spice. Fry until the livers are browned but still soft when pressed, and pink (but not raw) in the middle.

Tip the livers into a food processor. Whizz to a paste, then whizz in the remaining butter and cream. Push the mixture through a sieve - this is boring, but worth it for a really smooth texture. Season well. Divide the mixture between 6 small china or glass ramekins and smooth the surface.

Melt the final 50g butter in a pan and let the milk solids settle to the bottom. Put a sprig of thyme on top of each ramekin and pour a little butter over each. Chill to set.

To serve, bring the parfaits up to room temperature and eat with toasted brioche buns. (I took them out about 1 hour beforehand)

The main beast was a rather big Turkey Crown, being all I could get at the time before the main lot came into stock, which fed us very well, I still have leftovers in the fridge! I borrowed Jamie Oliver's suggestion from his recent TV programme and made a herb butter with dried chopped cranberries (obviously everyone else watched this as got the last packet of pricey organic ones the next morning!), butter, rosemary and thyme. I think it also was supposed to have sage and nutmeg but forgot/ omitted these, once basheed together it was pushed under the skin and then roasted. The turkey was very good and can really recommend this method!
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Vegetables wise, for the carrots I also looked to the BBC Good Food website and made baby carrots with orange butter http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3191/glazed-orange-carrots . The orange made a really tasty addition, without over-powering orange flavour, am converted to making this way as the carrots shine and taste great. They can also be made in advance and re-heated - I made in the morning, placed in serving dish then re-heated when we were ready to eat.

Ingredients

600g baby carrots, trimmed as desired (or smallies - mine were value ones!)
1½ tbsp butter
3 tbsp orange juice
handful parsley leaves, chopped (I used thyme as not keen on parsley)

Cook the carrots in boiling water for until tender, then drain.
Melt the butter in a large frying pan (I used the saucepan, quickly dried with paper!), add the drained carrots, then fry over a high heat for 1 min. Pour over the orange juice and cook for a further 2-3 mins, bubbling the sauce and stirring to thoroughly coat the carrots. Finally, stir in the chopped parsley* and serve.
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Instead of traditional roast potatoes, I made a rosti 'cake' with bacon, also from the BBC website and was featured in Good Food December 2009. I tried to cheat and use the food processor to grate but it turned a little mushy, find someone with good arm muscles and get them to do the grating! Its relatively easy to make, even though I did slightly mis-read the recipe it survived well! This was a winner for us all. It came out very similar looking to their picture. I made in the morning, up to assembled point then cooked when ready.

1.5kg maris piper potatoes peeled
1 small onion grated
5 tbsp olive oil
butter
5 rashers streaky bacon

Cook the bacon in a dry pan until crispy, dice up.

Boil the whole potatoes for 5 minutes, place in cold water and grate when cool enough to handle, add the oil, onion and bacon and toss together lightly.

Pre-heat oven 190o/ gas 5, place a flat baking sheet in for 5 minutes

Butter a 23cm springform tin and tip the mixture in, gently smooth over and place tin on heated tray, dot with butter and cook for 1hr 20 mins until cooked and crispy (I used foil towards end as quite browned)
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Bread sauce also came from the BBC Good Food area, featuring previously in Olive Magazine. I realise a lot of my recipes are from there but am no way affiliated with them, just happen to like and trust them :)

I made this one though omittted the cloves (dad hates them!) and strained the mixture to remove the onions as well, its a very thick sauce and did dilute it further as thickened on standing. A nicely balanced sauce.

Brussel sprouts were left pretty much alone, boiled for 8 minutes then tossed with freshly sliced garlic and butter, simple and great :)

Pudding will be blogged in next couple of days!

Hope some of you may find this useful, merry cooking and merry Christmas! xx

Nigellas Spiced Nuts

Last Christmas I was given a copy of Nigella Christmas, which I really love and read all year round to keep the festive spirit alive! This weekend we had some family over for an early, full, Christmas meal and I had been meaning to make these 'Seasonally spiced nuts' for ages, and with two nut lovers over it was the perfect opportunity. Or at least it seemed a good idea when planning, forgetting I was doing everything else from scratch on the day! Luckily these only take about 10 minutes from start to finish, and can also be made up to a day ahead. Makes a great little, rather addictive nibble!

The recipe made a very large baking tray full, which I decanted into bowls over the day, and also sent little bags home with our happy guests!



500g mixed nuts (mine were Sainsburys basics!)
1 tsp celery salt
1.5 tsp garam masala
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp light muscovado or soft light brown sugar
3 sprigs rosemary, + extra for garnishing
sprinkle salt (I left this out)

Prepare a large baking tray with foil.

Heat a large frying pan, add the nuts (dry) and toast for 2-3 mins until lightly browned, add the garam masala and celery salt, and mix well

Add the oil, sugar, rosemary, stir again, when the nuts are browned, transfer to the baking sheet, sprinkle with salt if desired

Serve warm (I kept mine loosely wrapped in foil) Serve and garnish as desired

A Sweet Christmas Cracker for Sugar High Fridays!

Many moons ago, at school in Food tech class we made a pastry Christmas tree filled with mincemeat, and many times since I've made this for our Christmas meal dessert. Part nostalgia and also because its an easy, festive pudding that can be assembled from good shop bought ingredients quickly, or if you have the time, from scratch. Its also loved by all, in particular my brother who was most upset that there were no leftovers this year!

This year I was very short on time, so mine was made with some lush all-butter puff pastry from Sainsburys (more than double the price of normal puff but oh so worth it!), plus some suprisingly boozy mincemeat from Lidl's, with an extra scattering of Barbados rum soaked sultanas!

You can shape your dessert as you like, basically roll out two sheets of puff pastry, cut as desired. It helps to cut a template out first. Then fill with mincemeat leaving a 1cm gap round the edges, brush with beaten egg and place over the top layer, press down with your thumbs to seal.

For decoration, I was slightly overjoyed upon finding what I refer to as 'traffic light' glace cherries - red, green and yellow! Sliced up they make an ideal festive decoration. Additionally, I cut a chunky slice from an orange and baked for about 12-15 minutes to dry out, then pressed on to the centre of the cracker. Silver balls are also good for that festive touch. A little sprinkle of hazlenut crackle also adds to the texture and appearance.

Once decorated as desired, brush with beaten egg for a golden finish, bake in a hot oven for around 20 mins or until puffed up and cooked through. Serve with custard or cream. Or both! Ice-cream is also good with this too!



This is also my entry to Sugar High Friday's Holiday edition, this month being hosted by the lovely Nic at Cherrapeno

Mini custard battered xmas pudding bites

mini custard xmas pud bites
Originally uploaded by anneskitchen

Yes, you did read the title correctly!! Its a little different, however all the good for it!

Over on the UKFBA boards recently, a competition was posted to get creative in the kitchen with 'Matthew Walker' Christmas Puddings.

Now I am a real lover of Christmas pudding and so when my package of pud's arrived, also along with some horrible weather today, I decided to experiment! After drawing up a list of possible ideas, I put my apron on and got creative, and here is the results. I should say 'was' though as I've eaten them all!

Best served warm. I believe cream would be fabulous accompaniment but alas I have nothing remotely suitable, I suppose I will just have to make more, sigh ;-)

In a bowl, mix 4 tbsp plain flour, 2 tbsp birds custard powder, 1/2 tsp sugar, 6 tbsp milk, until mixed and creamy. Chop into 6 triangles a 100g 'The Pudding', lightly dust in a little flour. Now heat a deep fryer/ suitable pan with sunflower/ vegetable oil, until a cube of bread browns in about 30 seconds, dip the pudding chunks in the batter, coat thoroughly and carefully put into the hot fat, fry until lightly golden and drain on kitchen paper.

These make lovely, warm, fruity, slightly boozy little bites and I can see them becoming a regular treat this Christmas!

Happy Easter!

Wishing everyone a very Happy Easter!

My cake recipe comes courtesy of Rosie and I can't wait to have a slice! It is very chocolaty through out, consisting of chocolate sponge, sandwiched together and covered with chocolate buttercream, cadbury flakes and mini eggs! However as it is travelling over to my boyfriends mum's house today for Easter lunch, I will resist sneaking a slice for the time being!

The cake decorations come from Lakeland's and from my recent trip to Amsterdam.

I am also sending my cake over to the Easter Cake Bake event run by the lovely Julia of 'A Slice of Cherry Pie'.

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Things may be a little quiet round here for the next few weeks as unfortunately I was made redundant from my job last week. Whilst I have a new job in the pipeline, money is a little tight until then, so lots of lentil and cupboard surprise dishes coming right up! :)

Of course if anyone has a position going for cake tester then I am free!!

Where to start?! Happy New Year!

Well Christmas is now behind us! Sad in someways, you spend weeks (okay, months!) planning and then its all over :( The pile of magazine cutouts, marked pages and print-out's are now all abandoned until next Christmas! (I already have idea's not used this year!) And 6 forgotten custard mince pies in the freezer!

Most of the pictures are over on flickr, if you click on the highlighted links you can see (if you wish!) the outcomes!

As planned, I cooked on Boxing Day and we had a great feast! Amongst lots of other lovely things, I did a whole baked ham, glazed with sweet chilli sauce, muscavado sugar and home made cranberry jam, inspired by a recipe I found over on UKTV Food, and promptly lost so had to guess but it was perfect! Even more perfect when cold and the meat had picked up all the lovely sweet spicy flavours!! I keep finding myself now snacking from the fridge, complete with a small knife to slice chunks off!! We also had spiced red cabbage, made loosely on Nigella's recipe, brussel sprouts with bacon and garlic (they will be made again!) and more!

The leftover vegetables got blitzed this afternoon with vegetable stock and curry powder, you really can't tell the origins but it tastes good and I have 5 portions in the freezer!

For dessert I took my old cake thingy and gave it a makeover with baileys, coffee, dark chocolate shards, toasted hazelnut's and silver balls! It too was lovely and I was so proud when our guests said how professional it looked, despite the beloved taking the photos posted, due to my hands being full!

I also revisited childhood and made mini mincemeat and filo parcels. I have an early memory of standing in my Nanny Jean's kitchen making them, I can't recall where the recipe came from unfortunately.....though my memory did fail on just how long they took to make! Though they did go down very well with our guests, which is always great :)

In fact everything went very smoothly this year, nothing got burned and all very edible. I didn't panic and thoroughly enjoyed myself, despite initial fears of cooking for 9 people!

My previously loved and blogged about blue casserole dish met its maker on the hob 2 weeks ago, leaving me stranded. But thanks to the Debenham's sale and other wonderful people I am now the very proud owner of a shiny, 26cm satin black Le Creuset Casserole!! (Is it possible to believe in love at first sight, with kitchenwares?!)

I received the new Nigella Christmas book and already christened it! I made the puddini bon-bon's today, surprisingly easy and they taste so good! Have wrapped several as gifts...not saying where the rest may end up.......;-) There are some really great looking dishes I will be looking forward to trying in 2009.

Have also made as a gift (goodbye my love, I would eat you if I could!) a cappuchino hazelnut cake. I had the off-cut's. Am making again put it that way!!

Hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas x

Merry Christmas to all!

I have, probably like a lot of others out there have got a few slightly busy weeks coming up, lots of food to make and devour and be subjected to the inevitable crush when going food shopping!

Last year I got stuck in the car park of Tesco's for over an hour, just trying to exit but that will teach me to go in on Christmas Eve to get a last minute bottle of wine! They apparently are opening at 6am this year right up until Christmas Eve, I have a feeling I may be there at that time, armed with a trolley and mean look in my eyes!! This year I have already bought the wine and beer in!

Luckily I am going to my partner's mums house for the big day, which I am really looking forward to as she is a great cook and does a mean roast! On Boxing Day we have a houseful, I'm about 90% there with menu but keep seeing lots of wonderful ideas on other blogs so forever changing my mind! At the moment is maple baked ham, spiced red cabbage, mash or mini roasties and honey glazed carrots but this may well change before then!!

Wishing everyone a wonderful festive Christmas and a Happy New Year, hope we all eat well and be merry!

This picture is one of my favourite tree ornaments, courtesy of Accessorize and makes me smile when it goes on the tree every year, as I bought the same one for my Mum! I'm sending this picture over to Holler at tinnedtomatoes for the No Croutons Required - December entry

Eat-Me gifts - Chocolate Spiced shortbread

Following on from my previous post for Coconut shortbread, here comes hot on its footsteps - Chocolate spiced shortbread. This is a slightly thicker mix, more biscuity than the coconut version, mainly because I should not have weighed out the ingredients, whilst enjoying a nice glass of red from Calloways Crossing (hey it was Friday night!), as I got them slightly back to front at one point - however they did still work and just goes to show deviating from a basic recipe can sometimes prove worthwhile!

Makes 20

175g butter
220g plain flour
120g unrefined icing sugar

2 tsp mixed spice

3 tsp cocoa powder - I used green and blacks

For decorating:

Chocolate sprinkles

Edible Silver balls

Icing sugar for dusting

6 squares white chocolate

1) Pre-heat the oven to 180/ 160 fan. Cream together the icing sugar and butter until fluffy.

2) Now add the flour, cocoa powder and mixed spice and mix until thoroughly combined. Roll into walnut shell sized balls and place on a lined baking sheet, place a piece of cherry in the middle and flatten using the palm of your hand, if you like you can sprinkle over some chocolate flakes at this stage. These do spread out so allow room between them

3) Bake for approx 8 minutes or until they are just colouring at the bottom and slightly firm to the touch, allow to cool for 5 minutes on the tray and transfer carefully to a wire rack.

4) Once they are completely cooled, dust with icing sugar, melt the white chocolate in a bowl over hot water or on a low heat in a heavy based pan, using a wooden spoon, slowly drizzle and flick the melted chocolate over the biscuits, sprinkle over the chocolate sprinkles and place the silver balls on the melted chocolate

I've also sent these over to foodblogga.blogspot.com/2008/11/eat-christmas-cookies-season-2. and mykitchentreasures.blogspot.com/2008/11/home-made-christmas-gifts. where you can check out lots of other lovely looking treats this Christmas!

Eat-Me Gifts - Cherry topped Coconut shortbread

Currently my partner has been struck down with this nasty cold thats doing the rounds, already had my share so hoping not to re-catch it!

On Friday night I decided to keep out of his way and spend some quality time with the kitchen, to make some early Christmas biscuits. I took my favourite whipped shortbread recipe from my Baking Book, split the base mix and now have two new favourites!

Cherry topped Coconut shortbread

Makes 9

60g Plain flour
25g Unrefined icing sugar
75g butter
2 tbsp descicated coconut
2 glace cherries, diced up

1) Pre-heat the oven to 180 / 160 fan. Beat the icing sugar and butter until creamy and light

2) Beat in the flour and coconut, roll into walnut shell sized balls, place on a lined baking sheet, place a piece of cherry in the middle and flatten using the palm of your hand. These do spread out so allow room between them

3) Bake for approx 8 minutes or until they are just colouring at the bottom, allow to cool for 5 minutes on the tray and transfer carefully to a wire rack.

These are lovely, melt in your mouth biscuits but very fragile so package carefully!



I've also entered these this month over at foodblogga.blogspot.com/2008/11/eat-christmas-cookies-season-2. and mykitchentreasures.blogspot.com/2008/11/home-made-christmas-gifts. where you can check out lots of other lovely looking treats this Christmas!

Getting into the Christmas Spirit - Cranberry Vodka

I know, I know, I promised myself no mention of the C word until 1st December but I just couldn't wait any longer!

Last night, in preparation for the Christmas season, I finally got around to making Cranberry vodka. Admittedly it says to wait six weeks* but I didn't see that in the book till the other day, oops! Hopefully it will be ready to drink on New Years Eve, it already is a gorgeous ruby red colour but doesn't take the most attractive of photos due to the crushed cranberries bobbing around inside!

From the Love Food, Christmas book, scaled down and adapted slightly:

100g fresh cranberries

2 tbsp golden caster sugar (or similar unrefined)

35cl bottle vodka

1) Sterilise a wide necked jar

2) Place the cranberries in the jar with the sugar and crush the cranberries to release the juices. I used my rolling pin, which now is an attractive shade of pink at one end ;-)

3) Pour over the vodka and mix well, seal and leave in a cool, dark space for 6 weeks*

After decanting, the above is the outcome! I have to be honest that on its own I wasn't keen, however with ice and lemonade its lovely!

Christmas Chutney

Adapting a much loved and made cranberry jam recipe from Nigella, I have made some Christmas chutney which hopefully is going to be ready just in time for the baked ham on Boxing Day! The mix tasted lovely, so here's hoping!

Makes 1 large jar or two smallies

180g fresh cranberries
180g caster sugar
3 halawi dates, roughly chopped
1/2 tsp mixed spice
3 heaped tbsp sultanas
2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1) Mix the sultanas, chopped dates and red wine vinegar and leave to soak for ten minutes

2) Heat the cranberries and sugar on a low heat until the sugar is just dissolving, add the above mix and the spice and bring to a gentle boil and stir, crushing the berries lightly. Simmer for about 8-10 minutes, stiring often until it starts looking jammy and thickens, transfer immediately to a sterilized jar/s.

3) Leave for a minimum of 4 weeks in a cool, dark place.

This recipe is also with thanks to my neighbour who rescued me mid-cooking when my electronic scales died on me and he lent me theirs!

Mistletoe and Wine?

Well Christmas is almost upon us, the presents are bought and wrapped and all was well until I realised this morning I had completely forgotten about what sides, desserts and starters I was going to do for xmas and boxing day dinners (am doing both!) Cue a little panic and a trip to local greengrocers and butchers and all is well again!

For Christmas lunch I have bought from tescos a Turkey breast joint wrapped in parma ham and stuffed with lemon and thyme sausagemeat which looks delish, doing roast potatoes, honeyed parsnips and carrot and swede mash (seperate in the end as dear brother protested against the poor swede!), yorkies and bacon & cheese rolls ... have not decided on starter or dessert though!! I think my mum said she had a spare xmas pudding so will be snagging that (turns out was from 2002 but risked it anyway and are fine!!) (have since bought some vodka and cranberry cream to go with it! - never used) but really stuck on starter... I would love to go down the fishy route but one of our guests does not like seafood :( am doing soup boxing day so would rather not do that... help!! ...okay have a plan now, am intending to do slices of herby ciabatta, topped with roasted plum tomatoes and some special rosemary infused proscuitio I picked up this afternoon... *can recomend the starter, went down very well and would do again!*

Moving on to Boxing day lunch, current plan is my Cauliflower, bacon and parmesan soup http://anneskitchen1.blogspot.com/2007/05/cauliflower-parmesan-and-bacon-soup.html to start then for the main event have bought a small leg of lamb which is going to be marinaded as per my Fragrant roast lamb recipe http://anneskitchen1.blogspot.com/2007/05/fragrant-roast-lamb.html, also doing more roast potatoes, carrots, sprouts, parsnips and 'pigs in blankets' (for some reason I dont like them but they have been specifically requested!!) Dessert will be my choc orange panna cotta http://anneskitchen1.blogspot.com/2007/08/chocolate-orange-panna-cotta.html as they are so easy to make but delicious!

Wishing all the foodies out there a very Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and all the best for 2008!


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Christmas and Boxing days all went to plan, the xmas starter was really good, mainly becuase of the lovely herby ciabatta from Lidls!

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