A Kransekake with Bells on

Kransekake for Christmas - with a glitterball and bells on.........

I used the marvellous Goons with Spoons recipe for this

Thinking it came out quite well, although my piping leaves a lot to be desired

I also went with the chocolate cement instead of caramel

Gingerbread Houses

Gifts for the girls! THE cutest little gingerbread houses with snow and fairy lights, of course.

Gingerbread

150g butter
60g caster sugar
60g soft dark brown sugar
60g golden syrup
360g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1.5 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Fruit Polos for the windows (crush these with a rolling pin - they don't need to be dust!)

Preheat oven to 180c
Line a baking tray with baking parchment paper.

Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup. Sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ground ginger and cinnamon into a large bowl. Add the melted butter and syrup and mix.

Knead the mixture until it comes together (add a little water if it is too dry) so that the dough is soft and pliable, but not sticky. Wrap with cling film and chill for 30 minutes (the dough, not you).

Roll out on a floured surface until 1/2cm thick. Cut out the pattern for your house - I used this one Gingerbread House Heaven

To make the stained glass windows, put your house pieces on to the baking tray and cut out little windows, hearts, circles or whatever and put a few pieces of crushed Polo into the hole.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking tray (this is important, leave to cool ON THE TRAY, otherwise the windows will come out).

Cover a small cake board with Royal Icing and while it is still wet assemble the house using Royal Icing to glue the walls together -You want the front and back walls outermost.  (I used Silver Spoon Royal Icing sugar, just add water). Leave to set, then add the roof pieces.  

I added roof tiles using chocolate fondant icing and a square frilled cutter, cutting the squares in half for the tiles. Glue to the roof using royal icing.

I used a chocolate mini marshmallow for the chimney

Using a leaf nozzle, pipe snow/icicles to the front of the roof and add little coloured sweets or sprinkles for the lights. 

When you have finished decorating sprinkle the whole thing with icing sugar  for snow (I used a tea strainer)

I made four houses out of this mixture, but you could do one and use the rest for cookies for the tree. I had a bit left over and made these 

Happy Christmas!

Sweet almond pastry mince pies

Gorgeous moist mince pies with delicious almond pastry

You will need

For the pastry

In a Food Processor

175g plain flour

100g cold unsalted butter, cubed

25g ground almonds

25g icing sugar

1 egg beaten (you will only use half of this)

Whiz all the dry ingredients and the butter together in a food processor then add half the egg and whiz a little more.

Turn out the pastry onto a work surface and gently combine into a smooth dough - takes a couple of minutes.

Wrap in clingfilm and chill the dough for 30 minutes in the fridge before use

By hand

Sieve the flour and icing sugar

Rub the butter into the flour and sugar until you have a fine breadcrumb consistency

Stir in the ground almonds

Add half the beaten egg and combine to a smooth dough

Wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes

Preheat the oven to 180c

Roll out the pastry on a floured work surface to about 1/8 inch

Using  a 2 1/2 inch cutter, cut out the same amount of circles and slightly smaller circles for the lids

Line a 12 hole bun tin with the larger circles and fill each with mincemeat (1 teaspoon for minis or 1 1/2 teaspoons for larger ones)

Using a little water round the edges of the lids, place the lids on the pies

Prick a hole in the top of each pie with a skewer or cocktail stick

Alternatively cut out the larger circles and use shape cutters for the tops

Bake for 15 minutes, or until pale gold

Leave to cool and sprinkle with sieved icing sugar

German Spekulatius

Gorgeous little spice biscuits. I used a pretty wooden spekulatius mould purchased at a German Christmas market in Mannheim.

The hearts are from the mould and the trees are made using a cookie cutter and embossing mat.

A final flourish of shimmer und dort haben Sie es. Schöne kleine Spekulatius!!


Here is the recipe:

Makes approximately 50 (depending on thickness)

300g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
125g butter
Pinch salt
1 large egg
150g brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Knead all the ingredients together to form a firm pliable dough. Chill for about 1/2 hour

Either thoroughly flour a spekulatius mould, fill with dough and press in firmly. Slice off the excess with a sharp knife.

Or

Roll out to 1/8th inch on a floured surface and cut out cookies to your desired shape.

If you want to make holes for hanging use a drinking straw to cut them out before baking

Line a baking sheet with baking parchment and bake the cookies for 15 minutes in a preheated oven at 175c
Leave to cool on a rack

Decorate with icing, silver balls..... anything you like