Christmas

We set up our main dining table in the Conservatory this year.  We have a largish round table there, and all five of us would be able to sit round it in comfort, and we have a nice side table for the dishes etc.  All went well, but I don't seem to have taken any pictures.....

I had taken a few of my baking:  the mince pies, tiny tarts and almond and cranberry tarts for my daughter in law

A couple of days before Christmas I made some stollen, and it is now nearly gone, but here it is at the stage when one is ready to roll up the dough with the marzipan:

On Christmas Eve I also baked our bread ready for breakfasts over the following few days.  I've made some individual buns in brioche tins, ready to pop straight into the freezer.

We've been out most days for long walks, and on Christmas Eve, we went to look at the Ford in Kenilworth.  With all the rain we had had, the road looked like a river, traffic was diverted, and people lined up on the side to view the water.  It rushed through the railings alongside the road, and the sound level was very high.

On the West side of the Castle it looked as if the Mere was being re created.











We've had a very wet year, too wet for comfort, and far too wet and devastating for farmers, and people who have lost homes and businesses.  My heart goes out to them.

On the other side of the World, it is very hot.  I've just spoken to my sister, and she has had to have the airconditionning on all day and night, and it is too hot to do anything but stay inside with the curtains drawn.......

Christmas Cake

This year I am making our Christmas Cake.  Last year I bought one...dear Hubby wanted me to take things easy last  year, and I think I have been able to explain to him, that I really love baking, and with planning and preparation, there is nothing to get flummoxed about.  But I am writing this a few days before the day, and I have diaried my baking to cover each day....

Quite a while ago, I baked a little cake, 6 inches only, as I thought then that there would be just the two of us....but we shall be more, and anyway, if the cake is eaten quickly, it will be an excuse for me to try something else.

It has been fed a few times....I shall explain what this means.  The reason for the explanation is that I have had a lovely email from a friend living in the tropics saying how much he enjoyed my blog.....March Henri a neighbour of my late Mother.  When sorting out her home, we gave him her lovely Kenwood Chef with all the attachements.  It had been mine, and Mum has carted it all the way out there.  He is a great baker too, and is famous for his carrot cake.  The Kenwood had no end of attachements, Mum's old Kenwood which I can remember when very young, was on its way out, and with my work committments then, baking was taking a back seat.....and now I have recently heard that my dear friend Vicki in London is passing over her machine to me.....Just imagine all the cakes, bakes, etc made on these machines....

Feeding entails pricking the cake with a toothpick or anything fine and sharp, then drizzling brandy over it.  Not too much, only a teaspoon or two, just enough to have a nice moist feel.  The cake is matured over several weeks, then comes the day to cover the cake with Marzipan.  I make this myself, with eggs, almonds, two types of sugar, and a touch of lemon juice.  It is very malleable and easy to roll out to cover the cake.

First one has to cover the cake with something so that the marzipan sticks to it.  I searched the preserve cupboard and found that my last jar of summer apricot jam had been eaten.  In the end I bought a punnet of apricots which are really excellent at the moment, coming from the Southern Hemisphere for Christmas.  The jam was still warm when  it went on the cake.  Maybe I put on a little too much, but the taste of the jam is tart and a delicious contrast between the richness of the cake, and the marzipan.

The piece of string comes in handy for measuring the circumference of the cake and then rolling out the marzipan for the sides.  Its strange how memories come flooding in.  I went to Stretford Grammar School for Girls, for just over a year, before going to boarding school...and because I arrived too late to pick up German, I was placed in O Level Domestic Science....we had a really great teacher, and I remember making the cake over the autumn term.  I did all sorts of fabulous pipped decorations....

After a little rolling and smoothing, the cake is ready to 'dry' out for a few days, or else some of the oil from the marzipan may leach through the icing.

No fancy pipped  icing decorations this year.  As I played with the icing on the cake, smoothing it down the sides, I found a pattern made by the spatula pleasing to me....a little like the bark on a wood log.  With the pattern across the glass stand, reminding me of fancy ostrich feathers at the bottom of a ball gown. 

On the top when the icing is a little drier, I shall place a little scene which we have had for over 15 years.  As it is a little damp today, I have set the dehumidifier on to gently help dry out the icing.

Savoury buns inspired by Chelsea and Sorrento

How can I describe these as Chelsea like, when really they ought to be Sorrento type?  Neither really, but inspired by both, here is a recent bake....

 Rolled up olive dough, filled with goats cheese, roasted red pepper, onions, olives....a few herbs, et voila, put the little rolls to rise in a large bag, heat the oven up,

plenty to tear and share, some to go in the freezer for later, and very easily carried for a picnic.....

delicious warmed up with a bowl of soup for lunch.

Cranberry Frangipane Tartlets

With a baking challenge in mind, I first had to think what I would bake.  Its dreadful, the more books one has, the more difficult the task of deciding.  In the end I thought about Christmas, and preparing a nice tart with my daughter in law in mind.  She loves things Christmassy, but does not like mincemeat.

This is how I came up with this recipe:

First make your Cranberry conserve.  I used 250g fresh cranberries, the juice and finely grated rind of an orange, star anise, and 250g sugar.  I cooked up the cranberries in the juice until just soft, and left them a day for all the flavours to mature, then added the sugar, and completed the preserve.

With rich shortcrust pastry well rested overnight in the fridge, and a lovely frangipane, the tarts were assembled:

Complete with a sprinkling around the edge of almonds

they are ready to go into the oven, and bake on a preheated tray to avoid the soggy bottom

given a light dressing of caster sugar, and I avoided putting on top of that some more conserve, as that would spoil the pale finish, they were ready, and very delicious too!

I've since heard that a friend in London will love these, so there will be more batches of this for Christmas and for our next visit.

Library Christmas Party Food

Last week we had a little Christmas Lunch Party for all the volunteers who help up with the service offering books, cds, tapes etc, to people all over Warwickshire who are unable to get out through age or infermity to choose their own books. 

Everyone takes something to share for lunch, and sitting around it is a chance to meet other helpers who work on different days, or are driving and delivering.  My contribution this year was these Tiramasu Inspired Macaroons.  I added a little more than just the marsala wine to the mascarpone cheese, a little amaretto too, as I use that when making Tiramasu, and for the sort of generous filling I was looking for used 200g rather than the 100g of mascapone given in the recipe.  Originally I found this recipe in one of my WI magazines, but have including the link to the online recipe.  I made the macaroon the day before and sandwiched them just before leaving.