Time for a sweet treat. Bitter chocolate, glistening preserved ginger, glowing candied peel and shimmering fruit preserves can all come out to play at this time of year. This is the moment when I switch the oven on, tune in the radio to a favourite station and spend the occasional afternoon baking. ’Tis time for little cakes, crumbly chocolate cookies, dark and sticky brownies with a coating of crisp chocolate and flaking pastries packed with nuts and sweet fruits. Merry Christmas.
Simple chocolate cookies
The most straightforward chocolate cookies for those who don’t like their biscuits too sweet. Don’t be tempted to skip the refrigerating time.
Makes 12 cookies
butter 70g
light muscovado sugar 70g
dark chocolate 125g
egg 1
vanilla extract 1 tsp
self-raising flour 100g
cocoa powder 50g
icing sugar to finish
Using an electric mixer fitted with a flat paddle beater, cream the butter and muscovado sugar together until it’s light and creamy. Melt the chocolate in a small bowl over barely simmering water. Beat the egg and add it to the butter and sugar then stir in the melted chocolate and the vanilla extract.
Sift together the flour and cocoa powder, then fold into the mixture together with a pinch of salt. Refrigerate the mixture for 2 hours. (Don’t miss this step, otherwise your biscuits will lose their shape when they are cooking.)
Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4. Shape the biscuit mixture into 12 balls then place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes till risen. They will be quite soft.
Let the biscuits firm up for a minute or two then gently remove to a cooling rack using a palette knife. Dust with icing sugar before eating.
Sour cherry and pistachio baklava
I use the sour morello cherry jam for these pastries. Black cherry jam is too sweet for these.
Makes 30 small pastries
For the filling
shelled pistachios 125g
ground almonds 125g
caster sugar 2 tbsp
morello cherry jam 340g
For the pastry
filo sheets 200g
butter 100g
shelled pistachios 30g, chopped
freeze-dried raspberries 2 tsp, optional
To finish
honey 2 heaped tbsp
lemon juice of 1
You will also need a shallow-sided baking tin or Swiss roll tin measuring approximately 30cm × 20cm
Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4. Make the filling: chop the pistachios finely, but not as finely as ground almonds. They should retain a crunchy texture. Put them in a mixing bowl, then combine them with the ground almonds, caster sugar and the morello cherry jam. Set aside.
Cut the sheets of filo to fit the baking tin. Melt the butter in a small pan. Brush a little butter over the base of the baking tin, then add a double layer of filo pastry, brush with butter then add a second double layer, continuing till you have used half the pastry.
Spread the filling over the pastry then continue layering the remaining pastry, brushed with butter as before. Finish with a brushing of butter. Scatter the chopped pistachios and freeze-dried raspberries over the surface then cut into small pieces, about 30 of them, either in squares or in lattice fashion.
Bake for 30 minutes till golden. Remove from the oven. Melt the honey in the lemon juice in a small pan then brush or trickle over the surface.
Maple and candied peel ice cream
This recipe relies on soft, homemade peel, so don’t be tempted to use the hard, tiny cubes of commercial peel. (Better, perhaps, to make it without the peel altogether.) Let the peel cook till translucent and soft, then leave to dry till sticky but not hard before chopping.
Serves 6
For the candied peel
oranges 600g
water 750ml
caster sugar 250g
bay leaves 2
For the ice cream
single or whipping cream 500ml
egg yolks 4
golden caster sugar 2 tbsp
maple syrup 250ml
homemade candied peel 80g (see above)
To make the candied peel, remove the peel from the oranges and cut into long strips roughly the width of a matchstick. Put the peel in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes then drain.
Return the peel to the pan with the sugar and the 750ml of water and bring to the boil. Add the bay leaves and lower the heat so the mixture bubbles gently then leave to cook for an hour. Keep an eye on it, so the liquid doesn’t boil away.
When the peel is translucent and quite soft, lift from the syrup and place on a cooling rack or on baking parchment and leave in an airy place for a couple of days to dry. Alternatively, bake in a cool oven (100C/gas mark ½) for an hour. The peel should not be completely crisp and dry. You want it to retain some softness.
To make the ice cream, put the cream in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Beat the egg yolks and sugar till thick then pour in the hot cream and stir till well mixed. Rinse the saucepan and pour the cream and egg mixture back in, then return to the heat. Stirring almost continuously with a wooden spoon, warm the mixture until it thickens slightly. Cool the custard by placing the saucepan in a larger bowl of ice or cold water and stirring or whisking till it stops steaming. Set aside, then refrigerate till chilled. Chop the candied peel into small pieces.
Pour the maple syrup into the custard and stir to mix, then pour into a freezer tray, or into the bowl of an ice-cream machine. If you are freezing by hand, let the ice cream freeze for 2 hours or until thick, then stir in the chopped candied peel. If you are using an ice-cream machine, churn till thick, then add the chopped peel. The ice cream is a soft set, so it will not harden and can be kept in the freezer for two weeks.
Double chocolate hazelnut brownies
After spooning over the dark chocolate, I decorated my cakes with gold food colouring paste (available from cake decorating shops, major supermarkets and online).
Makes 12
hazelnuts 125g, skinned
caster sugar 300g
butter 250g
70% cocoa solids chocolate 250g
eggs 3 large, plus an extra yolk
plain flour 60g
good quality cocoa powder 60g
baking powder ½ tsp
dark chocolate 200g, for coating
gold food colouring paste
You will also need a square cake tin measuring approximately 20cm-22cm, lined with baking parchment
Toast the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan, regularly shaking the pan to prevent the nuts scorching. When nicely browned, set the nuts aside. Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4.
Beat the caster sugar and butter using an electric mixer till light and fluffy, regularly scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula to ensure even mixing. Melt the chocolate, broken into pieces, in a bowl over simmering water.
Break the eggs into a bowl and beat them lightly together with a fork. Add the eggs, little by little, to the creamed butter and sugar. Sieve together the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder, then fold lightly but thoroughly into the mixture. Add the toasted hazelnuts then scrape the mixture into the lined cake tin, gently smoothing the surface.
Bake for about 30-35 minutes, until the edges are firm, the centre a little softer. (The brownie will firm up a little as it cools.) Set aside and leave to cool.
Cut the brownie into 12 equal pieces and lift each piece out, with a palette knife, onto a wire rack. Set the rack over a piece of greaseproof paper or a baking sheet.
In a small bowl over a pan of simmering water, melt the dark chocolate. Spoon the chocolate over the top of each cake, letting it run down the sides, and leave to set in a cool place. The chocolate will set in the fridge in about 15 minutes.
Ginger, clementine and dark chocolate financiers
You need a special financier mould for these. The shallow, rectangular baking sheets are available from cookware shops. You could also use madeleine tins or even shallow muffin tins, adjusting the cooking time accordingly.
Makes 16
butter 180g
plain flour 50g
icing sugar 180g
ground almonds 100g
ginger in syrup 50g (5 small pieces)
egg whites 5
clementines zest of 2
To finish
lemon juice 1 tbsp
syrup from the ginger jar 2 tbsp
dark chocolate 150g
You will also need a non-stick 8-hole financier tray
Melt the butter in a small pan and set aside. Sieve together the flour and icing sugar then stir in the ground almonds. Finely chop three of the pieces of ginger. Cut each of the remaining two pieces into four thin slices, then cut each slice in half and set aside.
Beat the egg whites – not so thick that they will stand up in peaks, but to a moist, sloppy foam. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the egg whites and melted butter, then gently mix together. Add the finely chopped ginger and the grated clementine zest.
Divide the mixture between the financier moulds (I have only one tray of 8 moulds, so do it in two batches). Add a piece of ginger to the top of each then bake for 10-12 minutes till lightly firm and gently risen.
Remove the tray from the oven and immediately remove the financiers from their moulds with a palette knife and place on a cooling rack. They should slip out easily.
Mix the lemon juice and ginger syrup together, then brush over the financiers as they cool. Melt the chocolate in a basin over gently simmering water. Dip the end of each financier into the chocolate and leave to set on a cooling rack over a piece of baking parchment.
