Matt had arranged a bit of a
pre-Christmas gathering for his friends and family. It was unclear
to me just how many friends and family would be attending (I was
expecting somewhere between 3 and 20), so catering arrangements were
a little tricky but it seemed like a good occasion for me to get on
with some festive baking.
I had a long list of all the things
that I wanted to make:
* Cheese straws
* Mince pies
* Celebrity chef (the one who does all
the “science”) inspired gingerbread Christmas tree
* Brandy snaps
* Yule log
In addition we needed something
slightly more nourishing to feed ourselves (and our guests if they
chose to partake) so additionally needed:
* Soup – I had four leeks in the
fridge destined for this
* Bread – to go with the soup. Matt
would be responsible for this via the bread machine
* Cheese – courtesy of the
supermarket.
I had intended to make the gingerbread
tree the night before the gathering but to be honest after a tiring
day at work and once I had been to the supermarket (for the above
cheese – I even bought some pregnancy unfriendly types for the
occasion, which in my current condition is quite a taunt to my
palette – and some other supplies) I didn't really feel like
spending the estimated 3 hours in the kitchen. And let's face it
these time estimates in recipes are always inadequate. Instead I
spent some quality time with the TV on Friday night (Matt was at his
work night out so I had my choice entirely).
But Saturday would be a busy day in the
kitchen. I started with the mince pies. Well, the pastry anyway. The
recipe I used today was 100g butter rubbed into 200g plain flour and
then 25g icing sugar and an egg yolk stirred through (I am now left
with one egg white). For some reason I decided not to use the food
processor for this, maybe because I thought I might need it for
something else later, but it was pretty quick anyway and I put the
pastry ball away in the fridge to chill until mince pies were called
for.
Going by the rule of “do the most
difficult thing first” I should have really started getting on with
the Yule log now. Instead I decided to make some gingerbread. Not the
fancy tree, just some plain biscuits. The last time I made
gingerbread
I wasn't entirely satisfied with the outcome so I used a different
recipe today. This one required you to melt 100g brown sugar (I used
the dark & soft type) with 125g butter (I used unsalted but am
really not convinced of the necessity of this) and 4 tablespoons of
golden syrup (very difficult to measure). You then stir that all into
the dry ingredients of 325g plain flour, 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of
soda and 2 teaspoons of ground ginger. I was unhappy about this level
of spicing so also added a generous sprinkle of cinnamon and a bit of
ground nutmeg – hopefully this would make them taste even more
festive. I mixed it all up but it seemed really sloppy. I took the
risk of adding a little more (1 tablespoon) flour and the mixture
seemed to improve a bit. I rolled it out to an estimated 0.5cm in
preparation of cutting.
Proceedings were now delayed slightly
while I emptied the baking tin cupboard (yes, I realise I am very
fortunate to have a whole cupboard of baking tins) to find the
festive cookie cutters. They were obviously right at the back but I
did find lots of things that I had forgotten that I had in the
process. Proceedings were then delayed slightly further as I realised
that I needed to give the cutters a bit of a clean before they could
be used and I decided that I may as well do a load of dishes at the
same time.
Back to the food preparation, I chose
the cutters I wanted – holly leaves, Christmas tress (still
thinking about my original plan), angels / fairies (depending on your
preference) and snowmen (I could also have had Father Christmas,
reindeer and candy canes but decided that less is more in terms of
biscuit forms) – and set to cutting out the biscuits. Now comes the
best thing that I learnt all day....
Dip the cutter in flour before cutting.
I have never done this before but it was specifically mentioned in
the recipe. I can't believe I have never done this before, the
festive shapes just dropped out, none of that annoying getting stuck
in the cutter and poking to try to to remove it. If you've never done
this before you should try it. It really was a revelation.
Anyway 4 angels / fairies, 4 trees, 4
snowmen, and numerous easily cut holly leaves later (as well as a
nondescript shape made with the leftover dough) I baked the biscuits
at 170ยบC
for just 7 minutes. The recipe said 9-10
minutes but I didn't want to risk them being too tough, especially
after I had added that extra flour. The trick here is not to worry
that they are still softish when they come out of the oven. I removed
them onto a cooling tray, where they “solidified”. They
could have some festive decoration added later.
To
be continued.......
(This
would be a really far too long blog if I don't split it up; you are
after all getting multiple recipes.)
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