A Trio of Mince Pies

Every year I go Christmas shopping to help one of my oldest friends to buy gifts for his family and we always drop in to see his mum on the way home to have a chat and a drink whilst wrapping the presents up. This year I wanted to take her some mince pies and decided to try a couple of recipes I've wanted to try for a while.

The box I had to put them in was the right size for 6 pies so I decided that 3 different pies would be the perfect number.

I made a normal mince pie with a snowflake top. A mince pie with a frangipane topping based on an alternative Christmas pie by @hollybellmummy and finally a filo and puff pastry number that was on a Jamie Oliver Christmas special a couple of years ago, but I'd never got around to trying.

I started by making some short crust pastry. I sometimes put icing sugar in sweet short crust, which is a recipe I think I originally got from Mary Berry, but for mince pies I always use a basic pastry recipe my mum taught when I was very young, which was probably passed down to her from my nan. Whilst the pastry was resting in the fridge I started on the Jamie Oliver alternative mince pies. On a flours surface. I rolled the puff pastry to a thickness of around 3mm and covered with a layer of mincemeat, lemon and clementine zest and dried cranberries. The original recipe also had chestnuts crumbled over but I didn't have any so did without.



I then rolled the puff pastry into a tight 'Swiss roll' from the wider side



I put two overlapping squares of filo pastry in a greased muffin tin. Jamie just pushes the whole sheet into the holes but I thought it'd be neater to cut squares. I always use a bit of doughy off cut of pastry as a 'pusher' to encourage the pastry into the corners without tearing it with my nails.

I then sliced the puff pastry roll into thick slices and placed one in each filo case.



I finished off by brushing both pastries with melted butter and sprinkling the top with flakes almonds and icing sugar and popped in an oven preheated to 180C for about 30 mins. I found the filo started to go brown long before the puff was cooked so I places a piece of tin foil loosely over the top to prevent burnt edges. When they had cooled I finished them with another sprinkle of icing sugar.

Whilst they were baking I made the frangipane topping by creaming together butter and caster sugar, gradually adding the beaten egg and finally stirring through the almonds to make a shiny paste.

I then rolled out the pastry and lined greased muffin tins. I placed a heaped teaspoon of mincemeat in each case and topped half with a pastry lid in the shape of a snowflake (brushed with egg or milk for a shiny finish) and half with a spoonful of frangipane topping and three flaked almonds. I then baked them at 190C for about 20 mins.

Here are the three different mince pies cooling on the rack


And boxed up ready to go




Jamie Oliver's Alternative Mince Pies

INGREDIENTS
100g good-quality mincemeat. I used some I had made using a Delia recipe
25g dried cranberries
Zest of 2 clementines and 1 lemon
250g pack of good puff pastry
1 pack filo pastry
50g melted butter
50g flaked almonds
Icing sugar, to dust

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/400ºF/gas 6.

2. Dust a clean work surface with flour and roll out the puff pastry into a big rectangle about 20x40cm/8x16 inch and 3mm thick. Thinly spread the mincemeat over the pastry, leaving a 1cm/½ inch gap around the edges and sprinkle with the cranberries and zest. Tightly roll up the pastry, lengthways, like a Swiss roll.

3. Take two muffin trays (for 12 cupcakes each) and butter each one lightly with the melted butter. Place two squares of filo pastry in each hole ease the pastry into each hole. Brush with the melted butter, then cover with a second layer of filo pastry. Brush with butter again.

Tip: You can freeze the cooked, cooled mince pies in their trays (just wrap the lot in cling film) or in a plastic container. Just reheat them in a hot oven straight from the freezer.

4. Take the puff pastry roll and, with a sharp knife, cut it into 24 slices. Place each slice, flat-side down, into a filo-lined hole. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle a few flaked almonds on top of each little pie, then pop both trays in the oven for about 25 minutes, until cooked and golden brown.

5. Leave to cool, then crack the individual pies out of the trays. Dust with a little icing sugar before serving.

Adapted from Jamie Oliver Christmas Special

Sweet Crust Pastry
8oz flour (self raising if you like thicker fluffier pastry)
4oz butter or margarine
4oz caster sugar
1 egg

Rub the flour and butter together with your fingers until it resembles bread crumbs. Stir in the caster sugar. Add the beaten egg and gradually incorporate it all together being very light of touch until it forms a ball. Tip the ball of pastry into some cling film and rest in the fridge for about 30 mins.

Recipe from my mum

Frangipane topping
50g caster sugar
50g butter
1 egg
50g ground almonds
A few flaked almonds for decoration

Cream the sugar and butter together. Mix in the beaten egg gradually and then stir in the ground almonds.

Adapted from @hollybellmummy's alternative mince pies

This mornings breakfast...Apple and Plum Porridge

I eat porridge for breakfast most mornings with various toppings but have never written a post before. This morning I had jumbo oat porridge topped with apples and plums. I always add some bran and soak the oats in the milk and water for at least ten minutes as I think this makes the final result lovely and creamy. I also always use a mixture of milk (now I use almond milk) and water largely as it is the way my mum used to make it for me as a child. You need 2 parts liquid to 1 part oats. Bring it to the boil and then turn it down and simmer for around 5 mins until creamy.

I served up with bowl of porridge and then topped it with some chopped cooked apple and a plum compote using the wild plums mentioned in this post. I made the compote with no added sugar simply by cooking the plums very slowly for a very long time until sticky and yummy. I've heard it referred to as Hungarian Jam before. I then flooded the edge of the porridge with a milk (I use almond milk). You can also add a sprinkle of dark soft brown sugar or a drizzle of honey if you want extra sweetness (if you want it to be clean skip the sugar and if you really need the sweetness go for a natural sweetner).

Enjoy!

Old faithful recipes...Millies Style Cookies

I know I have posted about this before so apologies for there being no new recipes this time. I promise to make something new soon! I'm all for experimentation and trying new things, but in a similar way I rely on my old Tommy Hilfiger sweatshirt (that I have had for approximately 300 years and refuse to throw out despite the fact it's threadbare) when I need something cosy to wear around the house, sometimes it's also good to fall back on old faithful friends like this recipe. This is crowd pleaser recipe which I pull out when I need a quick, successful result.

Last night was ladies night with a group of lovely ladies from my old work. We meet up once a month for food, drinks and plenty of laughs. As this was our Christmas meet up I wanted to take them a gift. We don't do presents so some little bags of double chocolate chip cookies were perfect for this. I used this recipe and put them in plastic gift bags tied with Christmassy ribbon with a small Christmas decoration/metal gift tag attached.

Here is the finished result:


#letsmakechristmas

Hotel Chocolat Goodies

So the lovely people at Hotel Chocolat sent me some goodies from their Christmas selection and I promised to write a review so here goes.

The first one was a beautiful box of Turkish delight. It was bigger than I expected it to be and in a wooden presentation box so perfect for presents. I'm not the biggest fan of Turkish delight but this had a good texture, not too gelatinous and the flavour wasn't over powering. They tell me it's handmade in Turkey so maybe that's why it's so yummy! Here is a picture of the Turkish Delight and also a link to their website.







The second one was some tiddly caramel penguins. These little cuties would make a perfect sticking filler or (as I am going to do) a filling for crackers if you take them all out of the box and put one in each of my homemade crackers, much better than a set of screwdrivers in my opinion! And a great substitute for any friends and family who now want a baby penguin for Christmas after watching Frozen Planet.

Again here are some piccies and a link to the product.










In case you want to have a look here are all of their Christmas chocolates and here are their stocking fillers Enjoy!

Sweet Chilli Jam

The second thing I made was some sweet chilli jam. This is absolutely delicious and can be served as a chutney (e.g. with cheese or cooked meats) or used as a stir fry sauce or dipping sauce.

It's very easy to make. It's just all wizzed up in a food processor and then cooked for a long while until it's thick and sticky.

How hot the end result is depends on the heat in the chillies so taste a little piece first and select the strength of chilli depending on your taste or the taste of whoever it's for.

Here is the full recipe.

Ingredients

8 red peppers, deseeded and roughly chopped
10 red chillies, roughly chopped
Finger sized piece fresh root ginger, peeled and finely grated
8 garlic cloves peeled and crushed
400g tin of tomatoes
750g caster sugar
250ml red wine vinegar
Tip the peppers, chillies (with seeds), ginger and garlic into a food processor, then whizz until very finely chopped. Pour into a heavy-bottomed pan with the tomatoes, sugar and vinegar, then bring everything to the boil. Skim off any scum that comes to the surface, then turn the heat down to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally. Once the jam is becoming sticky (1-2 hours depending on the size of the pan), continue cooking for 10-15 mins more, stirring frequently so that it doesn't catch and burn. It should now look like thick, bubbling lava. Cool slightly, transfer to sterilised jars, then leave to cool completely. Keeps well in a cool, dark cupboard - refrigerate once opened.

Adapted from a Good Food recipe



#letsmakechristmas

Onion Marmalade

On Saturday I spent the morning making chutney's and promised to post the recipes, so here goes the first, onion marmalade aka caramelised onion chutney. It really is worth the patience needed to caramelise the onions as the result is simply yummy! It is fab as a chutney with cheese or cooked meats or in sandwiches. I would also recommend using it to make a sauce next time you have a steak. Cook the steak and whilst it is resting deglaze the pan with a splash of red wine add a spoonful of the chutney, a splash of balsamic vinegar and maybe a few fresh thyme leaves. Perfect speedy sauce!

The original recipe uses red onions and far more alcohol and vinegar, but I use less liquid and normal onions as they are cheaper and the end result doesn't seem to suffer any detriment to flavour. I also add the sugar at the same time as the liquid otherwise caramelising the onions in the sugar causes havoc with the pan and is a nightmare to clean.

This will make about 4 jam jars.

Here is a photo of the chutney before the lid is on.









And the final product ready for wrapping.









Here is the full recipe

Ingredients
2kg onions
4 garlic cloves
4 tbsps olive oil
A knob of butter
140g caster sugar
A bunch of fresh thyme leaves
250ml red wine
200ml red wine vinegar

Quarter and thinly slice the onions, then crush the garlic. Melt the butter with the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan over a high heat. Tip in the onions and garlic and give them a good stir and reduce the heat slightly. Cook uncovered for 40-50 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding a little water or more oil if they start to stick.. The onions are ready when all their juices have evaporated, they're really soft and sticky and smell of sugar caramelising. Slow cooking is the secret of really soft and sticky onions, so don't rush this part.

Add the sugar and thyme and pour in the wine and vinegar and simmer everything, still uncovered, over a high heat for 25-30 minutes, stirring every so often until the onions are a deep mahogany colour and the liquid almost all reduced. It's done when drawing a spoon across the bottom of the pan clears a path. Leave the onions to cool slightly in the pan, then scoop into sterilised jars and seal. Can be eaten straight away, but keeps well in the fridge.

Adapted from a recipe from Good Food








#letsmakechristmas

Christmas Hamper

Today I went to my friend house for a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner. She creates all the dishes she would have if she was at home and hence I'm now feeling very full, sleepy and on a sugar high! She said she'll let me have the recipes so I'll give them a try and post the results!

I might not see her again before Christmas so took along a hamper full of goodies I had made.





From top right going clockwise there is a lemon crunchy top cake, a bag of candied citrus peel, a mulled spice bag to make mulled wine, apple butter and double chocolate chip cookies.

The recipe for the lemon cake can be found here




The recipe for the candied citrus peel is here I dusted them all in caster sugar before putting them in a Lakeland gift bag and tying with a ribbon.



For the mulled spice bag I simply tied a couple of sticks of cinnamon, some dried orange rind, 5 juniper berries, 10 cloves, 5 cardamom, 2 bay leaves and 10 black peppercorns in a square of muslin and attached instructions to place it in a pan with 75cl of red wine and sugar to taste and then gently heat the wine without letting it boil.


The apple butter recipe is here and I just decorated the jar with a square if brown paper and a ribbon.



Finally the double chocolate cookies I have written two posts about before here and in my first ever post


#letsmakechristmas