Favourite Christmas Food

Jamie's Christmas Mince Pies

Today Princess helped me make Jamie Oliver's take on Christmas Mince Pies... and glaze the Christmas Ham. (By the way if you are making Jamie's pies, I don't know how he got them out of the tins so easily - mine stuck like crazy, but came out eventually! I think I needed lots more grease in the tins!

INGREDIENTS (Makes 12)
A packet of pre made filo pastry
A packet of pre made puff pastry (about 500g)
1 jar of mincemeat
Zest of 1/2 an orange
Dried Cranberries
Sliced almonds
Icing sugar
Melted Butter

• Roll out the puff pastry on a floured surface until it is about 3 mm thick
• Paste a thin-to-medium layer of mincemeat on the puff pastry sheet.
  Sprinkle over the cranberries, sliced almonds and orange zest.
• Roll up the pastry into a roll and cut into slices about 2 cm wide. Place your sliced puff pastry mincemeat slices to one side.
• Take 4-6 sheets of filo pastry and brush them with melted butter. Lie the pastry over your muffin tins, butter side down, covering the whole tray.
• Push the filo pastry into each muffin hole, then place a puff pastry roll slice in each depression. Butter around the edges of the filo pastry; sprinkle with more sliced almonds.
• Bake at 180˚C for 20-25 minutes.
• Remove and allow to cool. Dust with icing sugar
• To separate the pies, you are meant to just snap them off (or like me you may need a knife and lots of gentle persuasion).

Christmas Cookies

125g butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 egg

2 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat well.

Sift flour and baking powder together and mix into creamed mixture. Use your hands to combine and knead into a ball of dough. You may need to add extra flour if the mixture is too sticky.

Break into smaller pieces and roll out; cut out shapes with Christmas cookie cutters and place on an oven tray lined with baking paper. (This is the part the kids love to do)

Keep rolling the dough and cutting until there is no mixture left. (Or keep half the mixture back, wrap in plastic wrap and keep in the fridge for another day).

Bake at 190oC for 12 minutes or until pale golden.

Allow to cool and then ice with red or white icing and decorate with silver cachous. Then share with the people you love. ♥

Mum's Sherry-Glazed Baked Christmas Ham



INGREDIENTS

1 half-cob smoked Christmas Ham

Brown sugar (a goodly amount)

Sherry (a decent splodge, enough to make a sticky paste when added to the brown sugar)

Mustard Powder (1 teaspoon)
Whole Cloves (half packet)

Put the brown sugar in a bowl and add the mustard and sherry; mix to a nice thick syrup.

Peel the rind off the ham and score the fat diagonally to form a criss-cross pattern. Place the ham in a roasting dish, and brush the glaze over thickly.

Poke in the cloves until the whole ham is studded. Bake slowly on the lowest oven setting for 1.5-2 hours or until it is golden. You can brush over more glaze if you like. (Don't use the fan setting).

This ham has the best flavour ever. It is my staple Christmas food, and great for sammies on Boxing Day.

Easy Peasy Christmas Trifle

INGREDIENTS

1 medium unfilled trifle-sponge from the supermarket

2 cups of frozen or fresh berries

2 packets of raspberry jelly (dissolved in 3 cups of boiling water)
1 litre packet of thick readymade custard

1 250ml bottle of whipping cream

1 Cadbury flake bar (or grated milk chocolate)

You do the first bit of this trifle the day before you want to eat it, so the jelly can set.

• Chop up the sponge cake into chunks and place in a large, deep serving bowl.
• Mix the (defrosted) berries through, then pour over the jelly mixture. Leave to cool then place in fridge to set.

The next day pour in the custard over the sponge/jelly mixture. Use the whole packet. Before serving, whip the cream with a little bit of icing sugar, and spread in a thick layer over the custard. Crumble up the flake bar and sprinkle over the top.

{My favourite breakfast food on Boxing Day is leftover trifle... mmmmmm... sad or what??}