Spreading a little kindness

Kindness elves and Penelope's Pantry don't necessary sound like a natural match. Although, if you've been reading the blog for a while, you'll remember the Random Bakes of Kindness that my Guides carried out one Autumn term - each girl baked something of her choice to give to a woman who inspired, cherished, loved or supported her. The girls loved spreading kindness and I must confess it warmed my heart a little week by week.

I've challenged my Guides to do a reverse advent this year. On Tuesday they were asked to bring (between them) at least 25 items we can pass on to our local food bank to share with those in need over the festive period. The girls did brilliantly and filled 2 calendars worth of goodies that we'll be dropping at the food bank tomorrow.

At home we're learning about kindness too - my focus with Harry has always been on his manners, kindness and thought for others. None of which are easy for a rampaging 2 and a half year old! But, day by day, week by week we're getting there.

One of the things I've spent the last couple of years being more aware of is the Elf on the Shelf tradition - whereby an Elf comes to visit for Advent. House to house, family to family his role differs, but it largely seems to be about encouraging good behaviour via the medium of reporting back to Father Christmas. Without wishing anyone else to feel judged, I just don't like it. The actual Elf on the shelf is scary. And I'm not sure how I feel at all about a child changing their behaviour purely because they're being watched or being given daily presents in Advent. I don't know. Genuinely I feel conflicted about how that sits alongside how we parent for the other 11 months of the year. And then I heard about the Kindness elves from Anna at The Imagination Tree, (which incidentally is one of my favourite blogs) who focus on developing positive behaviours - love, thankfulness and kindness -  which for me felt more manageable, more in keeping with our value base. And I hoped would work for Harry during Advent - a time when so many of us get so much, and yet is a time we should be focussing on giving.

Our elves arrived on the 1st December (I know Advent had already begun) and each day we've had a little kindness challenge to complete. We've made kindness cookies for our Bin men, who without fail wave at Harry every week which is the high point of his Monday mornings. We've donated some of Harry's toys to the charity shop. We've smiled and said Hello to lots of people. We've remembered to say thank you. We phoned Uncle James up to sing Happy Birthday to him and about 9 other things I've forgotten. Much like the Elf on the shelf tradition, Gabriel and Beth(lehem) turn up in odd places, and on 2 days have even brought books with them! When we were poorly with the Winter vomitting virus, they spent the day on the sofa with Harry and I and were kind to us when we needed it.



I think whatever your value base, faith or anything else - it's important for us all to understand that Advent and Christmas aren't just about getting 'stuff'. The commercialisation of the festival does mean that some of the simple truths of Christmas do get lost, and by stripping some of that 'getting' back by focussing on kindness to others I hope we're starting Harry off on habits and behaviours that will last him well into adulthood. Of course he'll be materialistic, want the big toy that everyone else has got, and have a tantrum in the middle of Sainsbury's when I'm tired and rushing - he's a normal child. But if amongst that he can consciously take the time to be kind to others, to give back, to say thank you - then I think our Kindness Elves have done their job.

Fig and nutmeg buns for Advent - a dairy free recipe

It was the start of Advent on Sunday, and these fig spiked buns - gently spiced with nutmeg and sprinkled with demerera sugar are a lovely way to ease yourself into the start of the Christmas festivities. A hint of what's to come, without going full on CHRISTMAS! A simple bake, perfect with a hot drink - quick and easy enough to knock up before an NCT mamas lunch date where the toddlers try to cover as many square centimetres of their skin as is humanly possible with ratatouille. 

On my last post I apologised for my radio silence of late - the combination of getting used to new glasses and another shocking cough and cold from Harry, accompanied by a blast of sleep deprivation has meant that the blog has been last on my list. Well no, I've been last on my list, the blog is penultimate. This morning I've braided my hair, grabbed M's DSLR and got a bit of a wriggle on whilst bubba naps. There's a fair old amount going on in the Pantry at the moment. I'm trying to make some of my favourite Christmas bakes dairy free and get them up on here asap as well as getting organised for Christmas and all that entails.

Anyway - to (mis)quote my favourite Doctor "Allons-y!"

Fig and nutmeg buns
Dairy free, soya free
Makes 12

8oz plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
3oz dairy free spread
2oz caster sugar
6oz dried figs (each chopped up into about 16)
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 egg
3-4 tablespoons almond milk (or the dairy free substitute of your choice)
2 tablespoons demerera sugar

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
Line a cookie sheet with greaseproof paper
Put the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar in a mixing bowl and stir briefly
Rub in the the dairy free spread until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs
Add in the figs, and a really good grating of nutmeg
In a cup, beat the egg and almond milk together, then add this to the mixing bowl
Stir well to combine - you want a dough that cleans the sides of the bowl but that's sticky enough to hold together
Split the mixture into 12 buns, pop on the lined cookie sheet, and sprinkle with the demerera sugar
Bake for 15 minutes
Allow to cool before tucking in

These are not the sort of buns that keep forever (shame) so make them the day or at most day before you plan to eat them. I find husbands are very useful for finishing them off if there's any left!

Carrot and cinnamon Christmas tree cookies: dairy free, egg free, soya free, sugar free weaning recipe

This recipe is based on my Sweet potato biscuit stars, but carrot based and with different spicing for the festive season.

Since making the Sweet potato biscuit stars I've repeated the bake many times, most recently with a savoury twist - carrot and ground coriander, and parsnip and garam masala which were both huge hits. However a few things happened today - I had the last of our veg patch carrots to use up, Harry had a friend to play this afternoon and I'm all about Christmas as there's only a month to go. So even my husband can't be Scroogey about me mentioning it ;-) I decided to use the same spicing as I've used in the Christmas cake which is in the oven as I type.

Part of me wanted to make something Christmassy as lots of our baby groups are gearing up for the festivities and I'd like to make sure that I have an easy, allergy friendly something I can make of a morning and bring with us so that there's something safe for Harry to eat with his friends.

Harry and his friend helped to knead the dough, and they made round biscuits whilst I managed the Christmas tree shapes as the cutters are quite sharp. As this dough is just flour, dairy free spread, carrots and spices I wasn't at all worried at the toddler take on kneading which heavily involves the mouth.

 Carrot and cinnamon Christmas tree cookies
Dairy free, egg free, soya free, sugar free
Weaning recipe

print recipe

Carrot and Cinnamon Christmas cookies

by Penelope Reader November-25-2015

Dairy free

Ingredients

• 200g Carrots, boiled/ steamed until soft
• 360g Plain flour
• 60g Dairy free spread
• 1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Ground cloves
• 1 tsp Ground nutmeg

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 160ºC 2. Line a cookie sheet with greaseproof paper 3. In the bowl of your food processor blitz the cooked carrots, flour, dairy free spread and spices until the ingredients come together in a smooth ball of dough that leaves the bowl clean(ish) 4. Alternatively you can mash the carrots and beat the rest of the ingredients in by hand 5. Roll out the dough to about 1/2 inch thick and cut out the Christmas tree shapes 6. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes (or until very lightly browned)

Details

Prep time: 10m Cook time: 35m Total time: 45mYield: Makes 40 small cookies

I haven't yet tried these with cornflour to make them gluten free, but as I'm anticipating this batch will disappear fairly promptly, I'll have another go next week.

Marshmallow magic

 

When I got my Kmix, marshmallows were firmly on my to-make list - and then life kind of took over. One house, wedding and baby later, the Kmix lives on the fridge (don't get me started on the lack of counter space we have in the kitchen) and I buy marshmallows from M&S. Or at least I did. Before Christmas, Sainsburys asked if anyone wanted to have a go at making marshmallows from their new kit. In the madness that is sleep deprivation I volunteered, convinced of my ability to make perfect snowy mounds of confectionery that I could then bestow upon friends and family a la Nigella. Now I don't know if the baby can read my mind, if this was before he began teething or if I just picked a really good week for his naps, but I managed it.

The Sainsbury's kit takes all the fear that I had about marshmallows - mainly centred around sugar temperatures - and sweeps it away, you follow super simple instructions, let the mixer do the hard work, and voila - appropriately seasonal sweeties with an awesome wow factor. I dipped mine in melted dark chocolate and topped them with freeze dried raspberries before giving them as Christmas gifts to the other NCT mummies - and pretty much anyone else that passed our way.

I would definitely make these again, in terms of a wow factor for not much effort, they're a definite winner. The only thing I'd do differently is think about flavourings as the kit is perfectly plain. You could use a skewer to swirl melted chocolate or a lime curd through them, seived raspberries would make them perfectly pink and impart a lovely fresh tang, or you could add some salted caramel, pile them high and serve them as petit fours with some rich, dark coffee after dinner. The options are endless... I'll definitely be making them again, it is coming up to St Dwynwen's day after all...

Merry Christmas from Penelope's Pantry

Christmas Eve cookies

It's odd that on Christmas Eve I found myself rolling out cookie dough, baking and icing it. Obviously ensuring that Father Christmas has freshly baked goodies in the hope that this'll excuse my innate badness!

Christmas Eve cookies

250g unsalaried butter
250g caster sugar
1 egg
750g plain flour
1 tsp vanilla extract

Make sure your butter is really soft. I left it out on the worktop overnight.
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
Beat the egg and add in
Add the vanilla and beat again
Add the flour in thirds beating well to incorporate
Tip what is now dough onto a floured surface and bring together with your hands
Split the dough into 2 portions, wrap each in cling film and put in the fridge for at least half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C
When the dough is chilled. Flour your surface before rolling out. I try to keep the dough in roughly a square by rotating the dough a quarter turn between each roll.
Cut out your shapes, we made stars. Keep bringing the offcuts together and re-rolling until you have no dough left
Cook on baking trays lined with grease proof paper for 13 minutes
Cool on wire trays

Glacé/ water icing

4 dessert spoons icing sugar
Splash water to make a runny paste
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Mix up a runny paste of icing and tip into a saucer
Dip each cookie into the icing so the top is covered and putting it back on the wire rack to dry

To make mine particularly Christmassy, I crushed up candy canes in my pestle and mortar and sprinkled it over the cookies

Christmas perfection. Apparently they'll be being left out for Father Christmas with sherry

Merry Christmas

Meal Planning Monday: The leftovers edition

Ok, so it's not a proper meal plan as such - more a round up of what to do with your leftover turkey. I've trawled the blog for ideas that you could replace chicken with turkey and the ones I like are listed here.

My Dad's chicken curry (obviously with turkey) - quick, easy and the only extra ingredients you need are some spinach, and tomatoes which are easy enough to chuck in your trolley on that last run round. 

Butternut squash, barley and chicken casserole: one you can put in the slow cooker and leave be all day

Chicken and mushroom risotto: remember you can add any veggies to this, and could even stir in some leftover shredded sprouts towards the end

Turkey soup - made with homemade stock. Again bulk out with any veggies you have, dried peas, beans or lentils

Turkey surprise pie: You can add any leftover ham you've got knocking around to this. Also, just use shop bought puff pastry. There is no point at this time of year in fretting over your own. 

Turkey and sweet leek pie: This is the original recipe for turkey surprise pie - minus leftover veggies, ham (and any other fillers you've got!)

Also don't forget yesterday's turkey chilli, which you can wrap in tortillas, have in a big bowl that people help themselves to with rice, taco shells, cornbread, or as M did when I was poorly a bowl of tortilla chips

Coming up tomorrow (if it works) turkey carnitas

What to do with turkey leftovers - slow cooker chilli

I've done another post rounding up all the ways I could find on the blog to use up your leftover turkey. However, if you wanted something low faff and easy. Something that you could put on while having a cup of tea on Boxing day, then why not try turkey chilli in your slow cooker. 

I deliberately picked this recipe, because it uses largely storecupboard or pantry based ingredients, things you can chuck in your trolley in advance of Christmas and not have to worry about until you need them.  They're also largely cheap ingredients, and the beans especially mean that the meal goes a lot further. I reckon what I've made will easily do 6 portions, more if you were feeding children.

 Ingredients:

1 400g tin kidney beans
2 300g tins black eyed beans
1 Green pepper
1 red onion
2 cloves garlic
1 fresh chilli
1 dried ancho chilli (do either of these to taste) 
200g passata
2 400g tins chopped tomatoes
1 big tin sweetcorn
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
Salt & pepper
Fresh coriander, finely chopped

Chop your onion, pepper, garlic and fresh chilli. Put these in the slow cooker
Drain the beans and sweetcorn and add to slow cooker
Add both tins of tomatoes, the passata, spices, dried chilli, salt and pepper
Cook on low for about 6 hours, high for 4

Shred your leftover turkey (1 breast provided enough meat for 6 adults) and stir into the chilli with the coriander, cook for another hour

Serve any way you like - ideas I had included:

• with cornbread to dunk - my recipe is here 
• with rice, so people can help themselves
• with warmed tortilla wraps - and avocado, soured cream, grated cheese
• in taco shells - with shredded lettuce, soured cream and cheese
• or just in big bowls, off your knees

I liked, and tried this idea because the thought of being able to abandon dinner for 6-7 hours and not worry about it really appealed to me in a Christmas leftovers recipe. Also, the fresh flavours (and spice if you're so inclined) would be a lovely contrast to the heaviness of Christmas day. 

Why not give it a try, or let me know what you're doing with your leftovers. 

This is a sponsored post, Asda provided me with a turkey, and a gift card as recompense

Don't panic! It's just a roast - Christmas Day 2012

So the world didn't end after all? Clearly this is what I was waiting for to write all these posts... We're aiming for the picture above. Clear plates and full tummies all around. 

Think about how you plan on serving up? At the table? In the kitchen? Make sure you've got plates, serving dishes and spoons if you're using them, your table laid all in advance. Remember this is just a roast - so get the faffing done in advance. 

I'm going to say it again and direct you to last year's post before we go any further It's. Just. A. Roast. 

Think about it the same way you would do a Sunday dinner. Then think about it like work: what can you delegate? It doesn't matter if someone won't do it how you would, just let go of some of the responsibility. This year we're at Mum's, I've made the get ahead gravy, frozen it and brought it with me today - one less thing for Mum to cook. 

I approach planning Christmas dinner the same way I was taught to in Cookery years back. And the same way my mum does it too. 

Let's start with what time you want to serve up. Immediately take half an hour off, and work to cooking for then. This allows you to get distracted by a glass of wine, or a passing baby, have a cup of tea, or have a sit down and listen to the radio for a bit. Write this down at the top of a piece of paper. Write down the time at half hour intervals down the left hand side of this page. 

You've worked out how long your turkey takes to cook  - read this post for a guideline. This is complicated to write down, but really straightforward to do in person. Work backwards from your new target time and take off how long the turkey takes to cook. If like me, you've only got a single oven you can keep the turkey warm for ages by wrapping it in foil and bath towels. Find that time on your paper and write next to it, Put turkey in oven

How long does your oven take to heat up? Take this time off your turkey going in the oven, and write Turn oven on, on your piece of paper. 

Now repeat this process for everything else you're cooking:

Parsnips take about 45 minutes in the oven and don't need par boiling
Potatoes take an hour in the oven and need to be par boiled for about 15-20 minutes beforehand
Stuffing takes about half an hour to cook unless you're cooking it in a really deep dish. If you've got sausages or sausagemeat in the stuffing add on an extra 15 minutes. 
Pigs in blankets take about 40 minutes
Give your gravy 15 minutes to half an hour to heat through - closer to half an hour if you're adding in meat juices, cranberry jelly etc, shorter if you're not bothering. I don't think I bothered last year and no one even noticed! 

What I would also say is think about your temperatures - I cook the turkey at about 190 degrees, but would want the oven hotter for the potatoes and pigs in blankets - that's why I take the turkey out in advance so I can hoik the temperature up once the turkey's resting. 

Remember, you've got your half hour slippage. The only thing that had me foxed last year was the last half hour when I tried to stir gravy, strain veggies, put things in a serving dish all at the same time with a wrist in plaster. Then M came into the kitchen, I let him help and it was all fine. 

Last of all - check the oven. I left the stuffing behind last year and only remembered once we were all sat down. 

Here's my plan of attack from last year. Attached to the fridge where I could see it! In the future I might be a complete Guider and laminate it! 

It's just a roast 2012 - The final countdown*

*please add in your own "do do do dooos"*

So yesterday we looked at a simple and straightforward turkey recipe and timings. Today we're going to put that into my time plan. If you've been doing Christmas dinner for years this will be old hat to you. If you're like me and still relatively new at this then a time plan helps keep me on track when I'm distracted by babies, wine or impeding disaster. 

Let's start with what you can do in advance. I'm working on the basis that you've either bought or made things like mince pies, Christmas cake etc beforehand - so I'm not including these here. 

Christmas Eve

Open a bottle of wine or make a cup of tea/ coffee. Turn on Carols from Kings or similar CD. Banish everyone to the lounge/ their bedroom and put on an age appropriate Christmas film. 

Potatoes - peel and quarter your potatoes, I work on a basis of 1 potato per person and a half per person for luck (remember that you can mash them up and fry them off with any leftover greens for Boxing day bubble and squeak) Put these in a big pan of cold water. Don't add salt yet. Leave (the potatoes not the house)

Vegetables - Peel your parsnips, carrots, chop them up how you want them and put them in another pan of cold water. Brussels can be prepped too (I'm not getting involved in debates about whether they're pure evil or not) I steam them.

Stuffing - I make our District Commisioner's stuffing in advance and freeze it. I get it out of the freezer now so it's ready to go in, in the morning. 

Pigs in blankets - If you're using cocktail sausages, cut strips of streaky bacon in half, roll the sausages in the bacon, put in a dish and cover with foil and pop in the fridge until Christmas morning. 

I make my Get ahead gravy, and take it out the freezer now and put it in a bowl in the fridge, again it's ready to go then when you want it.

Christmas pudding - whether you've made it in advance to a family recipe, or been to Leith's to make it (yes, I'm still excited about that) or bought it I do it the same. If you have a slow cooker, put it in that in it's bowl now, add a pint of water and switch it on in the morning when you get up. 

So that's Christmas Eve, doing as much as you can in advance should make Christmas day less stressful - if you're anxious in any way shape or form follow this prescription:

Drink wine/ gin
Say out loud "it's just a roast"
Repeat ad infinitum

Tomorrow... your timeplan for Christmas Day

It's just a roast 2012 - turkey lurkey time!

Following on from last year's "It's just a roast" mantra I had planned originally to continue in that theme with this year's Christmas posts. However, time, work and circumstance seem to have meant that it's suddenly the 21st December, the world hasn't ended but I've barely posted. 

If you're me and a thirteenth hour Kate - you'll have watched Jamie, Nigella, Nigel, and anyone else on telly this last week and got loads of good ideas only to find out that the cranberries, star anise, shiny new must-have ingredient is sold out. Unless I'm prepared, I stick to the way of cooking below... it's simple enough and means that I can swap and change out my side dishes/ stuffings to make things different.

So in a final fit of organisation I'm sat down on my afternoon off and thought I'd add in some posts to go live over the next few days, they'll be picture light as I'm away from home, but I will add in photos as soon as I can. 

Let's work on the basis you're cooking a turkey - first things first we need to consider the food safety angle. The Food Standards Agency has got some guidance on their website to make sure that you're storing and cooking the turkey in the best way possible to stay healthy, safe and well. 

Although you need to store the bird somewhere cold - you want it at room temperature before you start cooking, so take it out about an hour before you want to start.

I don't stuff the turkey, in my eyes it makes timings more difficult and personally I prefer my stuffing cooked separately. 

Preheat your oven to gas mark 5, 190 degrees C

Make some herbed butter, I season unsalted butter with a little bit of sage, parsley, salt and pepper - but use herbs you like and that would go with what else you're serving with your dinner. 

Put an onion, carrot and a satsuma in the turkey cavity.

Separate the skin of the turkey from the breast by sliding your clean hand between the two and using a side to side motion to gently split them. (It's times like this I really should get M to film me) Then, again using your hand, push the butter under the skin, and almost massage the butter in. Do this on both sides of the breast, and with any remaining butter put more over the widest part of the leg, and the wing.

There are lots of different timings knocking around on the internet and in families, but I think this is the easiest way to work it out - and it worked well on a test turkey recently.  Working out your cooking times is easy when you know three main things:

• 20 minutes per kilo
• Add 90 minutes to the total cooking time if your turkey weighs more than 4kg
• Add 70 minutes to the total cooking time if your turkey weighs less than 4kg

Even with these cooking times test your turkey is cooked by inserting a skewer where the thigh meets the breast. If the juices run clear you're done!

If this doesn't help - or you're feeling flustered why not try this:

The British Turkey helpline, 0800 783 9994, is open from 9am-5pm every weekday right up to Christmas Eve. Or text the word 'turkey', followed by the weight of your bird in kilos, to 64446 and you you'll get an instant answer on the cooking time and how many it will feed. This service starts on 1 December and runs 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week. (Texts are charged at standard network rate.)

Once the turkey is cooked, we wrap it in foil and then the foil in old bath towels until you're ready to carve and serve. We normally leave it to rest like this for about 30 minutes to an hour as, having a single oven we need the space for the roasties! 

Tomorrow's post, what can you do in advance... 

Dear Father Christmas...

Things here have been a bit chaotic over the last week, so I'm horribly behind on posts and thought it was time to remedy that. So I'm home, bathed and in pyjamas (don't ask the time) Big Bang Theory is on, and I thought I'd hold back on the early night to a socially acceptable time and try and do some writing. 

I'm starting with the easy post... the Christmas list.

Dear Father Christmas, 

I've been a very good girl this year, I've continued volunteering, worked hard, and haven't lost my temper with any of the people on the tube who sniff and don't use a hanky. I've also done everyone else's Christmas shopping already, so it must be OK to write you a little list now. Please?

Lakeland's Victoria surprise cake tins - I really like the idea of the filling being neatly hidden sometimes so would love these.

Of course I 'need' a new cookbook, and having caught some of the programmes I would like to try out Jamie's 15 Minute Meals

I smashed some of my everyday crockery while my wrist was in plaster, and have decided that instead of replacing the whole set, am going to try mixing and matching it up. So I've had my eye on these bowls from Cath Kidston

As I've mentioned briefly on the blog I've taken up running. Well, it's probably not fast enough to be called proper running, but I'm going and not stopping for 36 minutes most recently and I think that's what counts. However, I'm running in yoga trousers, so would like some running legging type things. Maybe like this? That said, I'm happy to carry on in said yoga trousers, this is just a wish list Father Christmas - I'd actually prefer a bit more daylight so that I can run outside again.

And finally Father Christmas, some things to help me see in the New Year in a pretty, girly way - not my usual sweaty, mucky pinny and slightly flustered state

A really beautiful scented candle - I bought some cheap ones recently which barely made any impression on me, much less the room as a whole. I've been trawling the net, and have found what sounds like the most stunning scent from Neom Organics I'm justifying the astronomical cost as some of the money goes to charity. That makes it OK? Doesn't it? Doesn't it? Ok... you can go back to the supermarket Santa

Other than that Father Christmas, a healthy and happy family. To continue to spend time with M, and of course my wonderful nephew (his Mum and Gran aren't bad to spend time with either). 

I hope you enjoy the mince pies (I made them myself, post here) 

Lots of love

Penelope

PS - have you seen my Nigella measuring teaspoon anywhere on your travels? It's gone walkies and I can't find it! 

Thirteenth hour Penelope: Emergency cake decorating

So, we have a team meeting tomorrow and I promised cake. Christmas cake, which I made a couple of weeks back. All good. Until, of course, I fell down a flight of stairs on Tuesday and utterly wrecked my shoulder. So tonight, dosed up on co-dydramol, diazepam and ibuprofen I realised I needed to marzipan and ice said cake. Cue much (metaphorical owing to shoulder pain) flailing and panic. M came to the rescue like the knight in a focus he is, and did an emergency supermarket run. It's now 11pm and said cake is marzipanned, iced and (hastily) decorated.

My only worry now? What if it tastes awful?!

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 part 2: More pudding

The last post I wrote had the Asda & Leith's recipe for their Extra Special Christmas pudding. This post is Mark's mums recipe. Which is just as good. We made it together last year - which was actually when I wrote and scheduled this post initially. However, technology and I having the somewhat strained relationship that we do, it vanished. Yes, vanished. From my scheduler. And then in August it turned up again. No, I have no idea either. 

So Christmas pudding - actually there's a lot of similarity between this and the Asda recipe, this one is done in old money, and has a shorter initial steam. But this post is all about the pictures

 Christmas Pudding

4oz flour
2oz breadcrumbs
1tsp sweet mixed spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
4oz suet
4ox brown sugar
4oz grated apple
1 small grated carrot
4oz cherries
2 eggs
4ox currants
4oz sultanas
8oz raisins
2oz of prunes or dates
4oz ground almonds
Grated zest half lemon
Grated zest half orange
Juice half lemon
1tbsp golden syrup
1tbsp black treackle
1/4 pint brandy

Cream together the butter and sugar, add the egg and syrup & treacle
Fold in the flour, spices, suet, apple, carrot and breadcrumbs
Add the fruit, ground almonds and brandy
Leave to stand overnight

In the morning:

Stir - wishing hard
Spoon the mixture into greased 1 pint pudding basins
Cover the top with a layer of greaseproof paper
Top that with a flour and water lid
Cover with a double layer of foil, and a layer of greaseproof paper that you've greased. 
Pleat these together and tie around the pudding with string

Steam in a large pan (put the basin on an upturned saucer) for 6-8 hours - top up the water as necessary

Remove the pudding and leave to cool
Remove the wet covers and re-cover with new, dry covers. 

Store in a cool dry place
Re-steam for 2-3 hours on Christmas morning

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.