Mince Pies

My Dad rang me in a bit of a panic on Christmas Eve "I can't find Mrs. Dunbar's pastry recipe", having made six dozen mince pies the previous weekend I could rattle this one off the top of my head. By now my mincemeat has matured nicely, much more moist than the commercial variety with an added citrusy kick.

Rich Sweet Pastry
makes enough for 15 mince pies

8oz of plain flour
2oz of icing sugar
5oz butter
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp ice-cold water
1 tsp lemon juice

• whisk together egg yolk, water and lemon juice
• sieve together flour and icing sugar
• place all ingrediants in a food processor and blend until they come together
• wrap in cling film and refridgerate for at least 1 hour before using

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C and brush the tart pans with melted butter. Roll out pastry to approx 1/2 cm thick and cut rounds using a pastry cutter or glass (I like to cut bigger rounds for the base than the lids). Place the larger rounds in the base of the tart pans and add a generous teaspoon of mincemeat, cover with the smaller rounds and pinch together. Brush with egg wash and bake for 20-25 mins.

Time for Cake

I'm not a great fan of Christmas cake, I find it a bit too rich and I don't like marzipan or icing either. I wasn't going to make one at all this year until I was flicking through my copy of Nigella's 'Feast' (her best book IMO) and came across this recipe which is for a lighter cake that is later topped with glazed nuts and candied fruit. It's very simple to make, I substituted apricot jam for the chestnut puree and also used brandy rather than rum - both of these are suggested by Nigella herself. Don't skip on preparing the tin, you don't want the cake getting too dark around the edges.

Easy Light Christmas Cake (adapted from Nigella Lawson's Feast)
525g mixed dried fruit
250g glace cherries
175g unsalted butter
250g dark brown sugar
250g apricot jam
125ml brandy
juice and zest of 1 orange
zest of 1 lemon
3 large eggs, beaten
250g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

• double line and grease a 10" square tin
  
• put two layers of brown paper around the outside of the tin (secured with string), it should stand 3-4" proud of the tin
  
• chop cherries in quarters and add to heavy pan along with the rest of the dried fruit
• add the butter, sugar, jam, rum, orange juice and both zests
  
• over a low heat stir until the butter has melted
• bring to the boil and simmer for 10 mins
• remove from the heat and leave to cool for 30 mins
  
• preheat the oven to 150 deg C
  
• sieve together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg.
  
• lightly stir in the eggs and flour mix
• pour into the prepared tin
• bake for 1 3/4 - 2 hours, the cake is done when a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean

Once the cake has cooled completely wrap the cake in two layers of greaseproof paper followed by two layers of tinfoil.

Preparation Time

I know it's a bit early to be talking about Christmas but some things, like cake, pudding and mincemeat, taste better when left to mature for a while. Back when I was a teenager my friend S and I made our Christmas money by selling mince pies to our nieghbours. When I think back on it, it was a highly organised affair. The mince pie enterprise started in late November when we canvassed the nieghbourhood for orders. Then it was time to made the mincemeat. leaving it to mature for a few weeks. Typically we made about 1000 mince pies over a single weekend in M's kitchen, then delivered them in nicely packaged boxes a few days before Christmas.

I have always used this recipe from Delia, the real key is the quality of your ingrediants. Buy whole candied citrus peel and chop it yourself - the taste doesn't even begin to compare with the bitter stuff you get in the supermarket. I bought all my stuff in The Gourmet Shop, just beacause I can walk there from work. Interestingly I bought some ground almonds also @ €17.50 /kg .I priced them the next day in my local Tesco where the cheapest ones (and they were on 'special') were €21.50/kg!! It always pays to shop around.

Chocolate Yule Log

I'm starting the New Year with a Christmas recipe. I made this Chocolate Yule Log for Christams Eve and again for a family gathering yesterday. It's inspired by a recipe in the December issue of Delicious magazine where the creamy chocolate filling is offset by the sharp tang of cranberries. I prefer a lighter sponge so I used a version from Good Food (Dec 06) which whisks the egg whites separately. On Christmas Eve I didn't have the required amount of cream so I reduced the ganache by 1/3 - there was still loads - and I have continued to use these proportions.

Sponge:
5 eggs
140g light brown sugar
100g self-raising flour
25g good-quality cocoa

• preheat oven to 190 deg
• butter an line a Swiss roll tin
• Beat together egg yolks, sugar and 2 tbsp water until light and thick
• Sieve in flour and cocoa and fold in lightly
• Whisk egg whites until still and fold gently into cake mix in 3 batches
• Bake for 10-12 minutes and turn out onto some clean greaseproof paper
• Leave to cool and roll up tightly in the greaseproof paper (along the long edge)
  

Cranberries:
200g fresh/frozen cranberries
75g caster sugar
2 tbsp water

• Put 3 ingrediants in a saucepan and heat together gently until cranberries pop
• Leave to cool
  

Filling:
450ml cream
300g good-quality chocolate

• Break chocolate up and place in a bowl
• Warm 300ml cream up to boiling point and pour over the chocolate
• Whisk gently until chocolate is melted - leave to cool
• Whisk reamaining cream into soft peaks - fold in 5 tbsp of the cooled ganache

Unroll the sponge and spread with the chocolate cream and then the cranberries. Roll up tightly, I then cut 1/3 of the log at an angle and placed it at the side to resemble a log. Spread over the cooled ganache, I put some greaseproof paper around the log to catch any ganache that drips down.


The sponge can be made a few days ahead - or even frozen for up to 3 months. It was reported that the first log tasted even better 2 days later - the second one didn't last long enough for me to test this hypothesis!