Christmas Pudding Rocky Road
Seriously how good does this look? A proper Show Stopper and well deserved of a Paul Hollywood handshake even if i do say so myself! Rocky Roads are really easy to make, and involved no cooking so great to do with little ones! No real rules here – biscuits, marsh-mellows, chocolate and more chocolate! Melt the chocolate, add some butter then stir in all the rest of the broken ingredients. Line a bowl with some cling film and fill it up! Leave it in the fridge over night a voilà! Add some melted white chocolate – then we just used some cake toppers for the holly! No one eats Christmas Pudding in our house – unless its of the Rocky Road variety! The only real issue you have is trying to cut the damn thing!!
Christmas Tree Pastry
I saw this on an Instagram post a few years ago and I’ve been making it ever since! Its so easy to do and takes about 15 mins to make! You’ll need two rolls of puff pastry – cut out them into a long triangle/ Christmas tree shape. I use the off cuts to make a little star at the top! Put your filling of choice in between the two puff pastry sheets. I’ve done ham and cheese, nutella and banana and the classic Christmas mince meat. Just keep your filling quite thinly layered. Seal The two sheets together round the edge with a beaten egg then cut straight lines down both sides of your triangle – about 2-3cm wide. Twist the strips you’ve made a couple of times – egg wash it all and place it in the oven at about 180 for 15/20 minutes! The idea is it becomes a bit of a free for all tear and share! Small effort for big impact – just what we like!
Mince Pies
I mean is it actually Christmas without mince pies? Here we have little Eddie making some delicious ones. You can make mince pies REALLY easily – ready made pastry and ready made mince meat or you could go all out and make the pastry and the mince meat yourself! Eddie and his Granny went somewhere in between! Made the pastry and used shop bought mince meat!
For about 16 mince pies, you’ll need one jar of mince meat and for the pastry:
Place the flour and butter into a bowl and rub together to for a crumb consistency. Then add the sugar and one egg and mix together. Tip onto a floured surface and fold the pastry until it comes together then wrap it in cling film and chill for 10 mins. Heat your over to 220C. Roll out the pastry using a round cutter and place them in a muffin tray. Spoon in the mince meat and then add a pastry lid – we did stars!
Glaze the pies with egg and add a little caster sugar and cook for about 20 minutes!
Festive Sausage Rolls
A must in our house at Christmas! You’ll need one roll of puff pastry and 6-8 pack of good quality sausages, an onion, salt, pepper, an egg and some cranberry sauce (that’s what makes them festive!). Take the pastry and fold in both sides so they meet in the middle. Cut down each fold and you’re left with 3 strips. Roll these out a little and then cover them in a thin layer of cranberry sauce. In a bowl, take the meat out of your sausages and mix with a finely chopped onion and plenty of salt and pepper (white pepper works best). Then roll the mixture into a large sausage and place in the middle of your puff pastry strips. Cover the sausage meat with the pastry – using an egg wash to seal, and cover the pastry. I then cut these into small pieces then place in the over, around 200C for around 20-25 mins. I find its best to put them on a wire tray or turn them half way through to prevent a soggy bottom from the cranberry sauce! Once they’re nice and golden brown they’re ready – delicious hot or cold! We always leave a couple out for Santa and he never leaves any so they must be good!
