Christmas #3: Mince pies

I love mince pies. I really do, I have a tendency to pick the pastry off of shop bought ones. Not in a snobby way, I just don't really like pastry that's not got butter in it. 

So, mince pies. At the Asda event we got to have a good play at pastry making. I would like to point out to the snotty Mrs Carter who threw my first attempts at pastry in the bin, that I just made pastry at Leiths. And no one judged me. So there! 

We used Extra Special mincemeat which comes in two varieties - Brandy & Port, and Whiskey and Orange. I've made mincemeat in the past, but honestly - sometimes it's just quicker and easier to open a jar. The Extra Special mincemeat certainly smelled homemade. For homemade read alcoholic, which is exactly how I like my mincemeat. Oh and without nuts and peel. Not that I'm fussy.

Mince pies

Rich, sweet shortcrust pastry

170g plain flour
Pinch of salt
100g unsalted butter
2 tbsps caster sugar
1 egg yolk 
2 tbsps iced cold water

Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl
Cube the butter and rub into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. If you have hot hands like me, work quickly!
Add the sugar and mix
Add the water to the egg yolk and add to the flour mixture
Use your hands to mix to a firm dough

Pantry note: If you're hot handed like me, you could easily do this in a food processor and do it yourself from the rolling out section.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C
Split your pastry into 2 - one should be about 2/3 of your mix for the bases, and the other third is for your pretty stars

Roll out the larger portion to about 3mm thickness
Cut out 12 circles using a large fluted cutter
Put each circle into a section on a jam tart tray

Roll out the smaller portion to the same(ish) thickness
Cut out 12 stars and put them on a baking sheet

Chill both trays for about half an hour

Remove the pie bases and fill with a teaspoon of mincemeat - don't be tempted (ahem) to overfill as when the mincemeat bubbles up it will make the pastry stick to the sheet. Nothing to see here, move along please *innocent eyes*

Put the stars on top of each mince pie and bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown
Remove from the tray and cool on a wire rack
When you're ready to serve, dust with icing sugar

Pantry note: I've frozen my mince pies as I knew we wouldn't eat them - we have liebkuchen and blondies to eat up at the moment. I froze them in a single layer the same day I made them, and will defrost and warm through in the oven

Christmas post the first: Stir up Sunday

The last Sunday before Advent is Stir up Sunday. The traditional day to make your Christmas Pudding. This year (for the first time ever, possibly) I was ahead of the game and on Tuesday, instead of Guides found myself once again at Leith's with some friends, stirring up a pudding.

There are lots of traditions around Stir up Sunday - my favourite is that each member of the family should give the pudding a stir and make a wish for the year ahead as they do so.  On telling this to our group at Leith's we made sure everyone made their wish!

Other traditions include:

• Stirring the pudding from East to West, to remember the journey of the three Wise men on their way to visit the baby Jesus. I'm a bad Guider - I would so need a compass to be able to do that!
• A pudding should be made with 13 ingredients to represent Jesus and his 12 disciples
• Traditionally there should be a thimble (for luck) a ring (for marriage) and a coin (for good fortune) hidden in the pudding. What turns up in your portion is your fortune for the year to come. Heaven only knows what Food Hygiene would make of that!
• Early Christmas puddings did contain meat (as did early mincemeat) The puddings we recognise today was introduced by Prince Albert to Queen Victoria.

A Christmas pudding is made as it were, in three stages:

1. Making the pudding mixture and putting it in the pudding basin
2. Steaming the pudding
3. Storing it - for up to 2 years to mature in flavour

We had a taste test of three puddings at Leith's, one was a newly made and steamed pudding, another 6 months old and the third 18 months old. Many of us liked the newer pudding, I wasn't too keen on the 6 months old pudding, but the one that was 18 months old tasted as if it had been steeped in a beautiful bourbon (Knob creek is my bottle of choice. Are you reading this Louise?)

Anyway, so... onto the recipe - the one we used is the one that Asda have used for their Extra Special puddings 

• Makes one pudding for a two pint pudding basin

85g raisins

55 currants

100g sultanas

40g chopped mixed peel (I would usually leave this out and substitute glace cherries)

110g mixed dried apricots and figs, chopped

145ml brown ale

1 tablespoon run

Grated zest & juice of half an orange

Grated zest & juice of half a lemon

55g prunes - soaked overnight in cold tea, then drained and chopped 

1/2 dessert apple - grated

Soak all the fruit (except the prunes) overnight in the beer, rum, orange juice and lemon juice. In the morning add the drained, chopped prunes

Grate the apple into this mixture

110g softened butter

170g soft, dark brown sugar

1 tblsp treacle (dip your spoon in boiling water to make adding this easier)

1.5 eggs (nope, me neither)

55g self raising flour, sifted

1/2 tsp ground mixed spice (I normally call this cake spice I think)

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Pinch freshly grated nutmeg

Pinch ground ginger

Pinch salt

110g breadcrumbs

30g toasted hazelnuts, toasted (again, I would usually substitute more glace cherries for this)

Beat together the butter and sugar, when light add the orange and lemon zest and the treacle

Whisk the eggs together and gradually add them to the mixture, beating well after each addition. It's a fairly stable mixture so I didn't add flour with each bit of egg

Fold in the flour, spices, salt and breadcrumbs

Stir in the nuts and dried fruit mixture, plus any of the soaking liquor

Spoon the mixture into a greased 2 pint pudding basin

Cover with two layers of pleated greaseproof paper, and one piece of pleated kitchen foil

Tie up with string (no knots required. Yes, I was sad)

When ready to cook, steam for 10-12 hours. Put a large saucepan (I would need to use my stockpot) on to boil and put an upside down saucer on the bottom. Using the string handle, lower the pudding into the boiling water. The water needs to come at least half the way up the basin. 

Cover the pan, and leave, topping up the water as necessary (use water from the kettle to top up)

Leave the pudding to cool, and re-cover it. You can now store it for up to 2 years, in a cool dark place.

When you're ready to serve, steam for 2-3 hours and serve with custard. Other toppings are available, but I'm afraid they're wrong. 

And there you have it - Christmas pudding, a la Leith's and Asda. We had such fun - and there's another two posts to come - one of which is an activity plan! I'm giving in to Christmas - let the festivities commence! 

A huge thank you to Asda and Leith's for hosting our event this week, I had so much fun, and really enjoyed not just making the puddings, but also meeting some new people, catching up with friends and having my first mug (or two) of mulled wine. 

An Extra Special Easter

See the pretty picture, I am teaching myself how to do fancier things on the computer. Today this included downloading Picasa and using it to make a collage. Get me! 

The pictures are of a lovely evening last week I spent as a guest of Leith's and Asda for the launch of the summer's Extra Special collection. I was astounded to see that it included samphire, which as the grandaughter/ neice of fishmongers I felt terrible admitting I had never tried. I really liked it, salty and cooked briefly so it retained a bite it was the perfect foil to a lightly boiled egg and some asparagus. A terrific starter, and one that I thoroughly enjoyed making with some other foodie bloggers. 

We also made soda bread which was lighter than I usually make, the difference being butter, half and half white and brown flour and some sugar. So definitely a few changes to try there. 

However, my all out favourite dish of the evening has to be the strawberry tarts, incredibly light ready-made pastry tart cases, smothered in a lightly sweetened, beaten vanilla cream and topped with strawberries and a warmed jam glaze. I had the luck to take a couple of extras home and they were as fabulous with a cup of tea as they were as a dessert. 

It was a lovely evening, with terrific company, so thank you Asda, Leith's and all the other ladies who attended. 

Asda have very kindly offered a hamper of goodies for one of my followers. All contents are Asda Extra Special and approved by the chefs at Leiths.

Extra Special all butter pastry cases

Extra Special artisan flat breads

Extra Special plain chocolate

Extra Special mini meringues

Extra Special strawberry conserve

Extra Special Spanish orange blossom honey

Extra Special Italian pesto alla Genovese

Extra Special Aceto Balsamico di Modena

Extra Special all Butter parmesan and garlic mini twists

Extra Special garlic dipping oil

Extra Special apricot crumbles

Extra Special Italian conchiglioni

Extra Special spiced plum and ginger marinade

Extra Special stem ginger chocolate biscuits

Extra Special Belgian milk chocolate and pecan popcorn clusters

Extra Special black pepper ciabatta croutons

ES Semillon Sauvignon Blanc

ES Chianti Classico Reserva

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