Let’s celebrate Christmas with Superb Recipes~

Preparations:

The Christmas turkey experience wouldn’t be the same without a flavourful stuffing or two. Pan-frying or roasting the stuffing separately, rather than stuffing the bird, is the safest way to make a stuffing because, in an unstuffed bird, the hot air of the oven is able to circulate easily inside the cavity of the bird, reducing the cooking time, and the possible incidence of bacterial contamination.

If you decide to stuff the body cavity, don’t overstuff. Pack the stuffing in loosely, to allow the hot air to circulate. An alternative is stuffing the smaller cavity of the neck-end of the bird. Always be sure add the weight of the bird and the stuffing together to calculate the correct cooking time.

Tips: Just put the stuffing in buttered, ovenproof dishes and cook for an appropriate length of time. That way you save on cooking time, eat safely – and get a nice crisp crust on your stuffing.

Instructions:
1. Cover the bird loosely in foil before placing it in the oven. This will allow the air to circulate and ensure even cooking without overbrowning. Remove the foil for the last 40 minutes of cooking time to allow the skin to brown.
2. Fan-assisted ovens tend to cook food more quickly because of increased air circulation. Be sure to take this into account and check the manufacturer’s guidelines.
3. To test to see if the bird is completely cooked, insert a clean skewer into the thickest part of the thigh. If the juices run clear the turkey is cooked. If the juices are still pink cook for a little longer.
4. Allow the turkey to stand for at least 15 to 20 minutes before carving.
5. Remember on Christmas Day power may be reduced slightly because of a surge on the grid. This and regular opening and closing of the oven door will also reduce the heat, so you may need to adjust cooking time accordingly.
6. When roasting your bird, try putting it upside down on its breast so the juices from the back and legs run down to the breast keeping it moist.
7. If you’re cooking a free-range bird, consider cooking the legs (which cook more slowly) separately from the breast. The legs of free-range birds tend to be tougher and cooking it this way means that you won’t end up with dried-out breast and cooked legs – or perfectly cooked breast and raw legs.

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Preparation time overnight

Cooking time no cooking required

An easy yet stunning Christmas cake idea. Use your homemade fruit cake or liven up a shop-bought cake. This recipe has been written by Angela Nilsen

Ingredients:
1kg/2lb 4oz royal icing
silver coloured round chocolate sweets
wired star garland

Instuctions:
1. Spread the icing over the cake in swirls and peaks.
2. Stick the silver smarties into the icing. Leave overnight to set.
3. Attach the wired stars under the cakeboard with sticky tape, and drape around the cake. Do not attach the wire into the cake as it can affect it.

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PREP TIME 20 Min
COOK TIME 8 Min
READY IN 3 Hrs
Original recipe yield 5 dozen

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

* 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
* 2 cups white sugar
* 4 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 5 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Ref: Allrecipes.com

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PREP TIME 45 Min
COOK TIME 1 Hr
READY IN 1 Hr 45 Min
Original recipe yield 36 mushrooms

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

* 1/2 cup egg whites
* 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 cup white sugar
* 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
* 4 ounces chocolate confectioners’ coating

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 225 degrees F (110 degrees C). Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
2. In a large glass or metal bowl, use an electric mixer to whip egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar, salt, and vanilla. Continue whipping until the whites hold soft peaks. Gradually sprinkle in the sugar so that it does not sink to the bottom, and continue whipping until the mixture holds stiff shiny peaks.
3. Place a round tip into a pastry bag, and fill the bag half way with the meringue. To pipe the mushroom caps, squeeze out round mounds of meringue onto one of the prepared cookie sheets. Pull the bag off to the side to avoid making peaks on the top. For the stems, press out a tiny bit of meringue onto the other sheet, then pull the bag straight up. They should resemble candy kisses. Do not worry about making all of the pieces exactly the same. The mushrooms will look more natural if the pieces are different sizes. Dust the mushroom caps lightly with cocoa using a small sifter or strainer.
4. Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until the caps are dry enough to easily remove from the cookie sheets. Set aside to cool completely. Melt the coating chocolate in a metal bowl over simmering water, or in a glass bowl in the microwave, stirring occasionally until smooth.
5. Poke a small hole in the bottom of a mushroom cap. Spread chocolate over the bottom of the cap. Dip the tip of a stem in chocolate, and press lightly into the hole. When the chocolate sets, they will hold together. Repeat with remaining pieces. Store at room temperature in a dry place or tin.

Ref: Allrecipes.com

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PREP TIME 20 Min
READY IN 1 Hr 30 Min
Original recipe yield 2 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

* 1 (1 pound 1.5 ounce) pouch Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
* 1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
* 2 tablespoons Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
* 1 egg
* 1 (16 ounce) container Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy creamy white frosting
* Betty Crocker® decorating icing (assorted colors)
* Betty Crocker® decorating sprinkles and sugars (assorted colors)

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. In medium bowl, stir cookie mix, melted butter, flour and egg until soft dough forms.
2. On floured surface, roll dough to about 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with about 3-inch cookie cutters. On ungreased cookie sheets, place cutouts 1 inch apart.
3. Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
4. Spread frosting on cooled cookies. Decorate as desired with icing, sprinkles and sugars.

Ref: Allrecipes.com
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These look fabulous and are quick and easy to make. They would make a great gift arranged on tissue paper in paper cases in one of the lovely gift boxes you can buy at Christmas.

Ingredients
85g/3oz unsalted butter
110g/4oz plain chocolate
85g/3oz raisins or dried cranberries, cut in half
2 tbsp brandy, port or orange juice
370g/13oz ready-made ginger cake
Preparation time 1-2 hours

Cooking time less than 10 mins

For the decoration:
30g/1oz ready-to-roll icing (or marzipan)
green food colouring and red food colouring
mini red sugar balls (optional)
tube of red writing icing

Instructions:
1. Soak the raisins or cranberries in brandy, port or orange juice for about half an hour.
2. Melt the butter and chocolate either over a pan of simmering water or in a microwave.
3. Stir in the raisins or cranberries and their liquid, then crumble in the cake. Mix and leave to cool slightly. Place in the fridge for about 1 hour to firm up, then roll into 10 walnut-sized balls.
4. To decorate: colour 55g/2oz of the icing green, roll out on a surface dusted with icing sugar and cut into holly leaves using mini cutters (if you don’t have any cutters, cut small diamond shapes from the green icing for the leaves.)
5. Colour 15g/½oz of the icing red and roll into berries (or use red sugar balls instead – you can buy multi-coloured sugar balls from the cake decorating department of some supermarkets).
6. Roll out the remaining white icing or marzipan and cut out 10 wiggly circles for the brandy butter effect on top of each pudding. Decorate with the holly leaves and berries (dampen icing underneath to stick onto the cake).

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Preparation time 30 mins to 1 hour

Cooking time less than 10 mins

Ingredients:
For the biscuits
65g/2oz butter
50g/2oz soft brown sugar
4 tbsp golden syrup
150g/5¼oz plain flour, sifted, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
To decorate
tube ready-made white icing (available in the baking sections of most supermarkets)
edible silver balls (optional)
silver ribbon

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. For the biscuits, beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl using an electric whisk until pale and fluffy.
3. Add the golden syrup, flour, ground ginger and bicarbonate of soda and beat together to form a dough. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
4. Roll the dough out on a floured work surface to about 0.5cm/¼in thick. Cut into star shapes using cookie cutters, working from the outside edges of the dough into the centre, cutting as close together as possible. Re-roll the trimmings and continue cutting out stars until all the dough is used up.
5. Place the stars onto baking sheets lined with baking paper. Make a hole in each star near the top using the end of a straw.
6. Transfer the tray to the oven and bake for about eight minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes on the tray, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
7. To decorate the biscuits, ice the biscuits using a tube of white icing and top with some edible silver balls, if you like. Thread a silver ribbon through the holes in the tops of the biscuits and tie in a loop so that you can hang them on the tree.

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Preparation time less than 30 mins

Cooking time 30 mins to 1 hour

This is a great way to make baked potatoes into a special treat and children will have a lot of fun helping you decorate them. For an alternative filling with a Christmas flavour you could mix the potato flesh with shredded turkey and cranberry sauce.

Ingredients
4 medium potatoes with a good round shape (approx. 175g/6oz each)
For filling 1:
2 tbsp cream cheese
4 tbsp milk
a generous knob of butter
40g/1½oz cheddar cheese, grated
1 tbsp snipped chives
salt and freshly ground black pepper
For filling 2:
½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp tomato ketchup
a knob of butter
150g/5oz tin baked beans
4 chipolata sausages
Decoration:
frozen peas, for the eyes
cherry tomatoes, for the nose
twirly-shaped potato snacks, for the antlers

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
2. Wash the potatoes, pat dry and prick the skins a few times with a fork. Bake in a preheated oven for 45-50 minutes until soft.
3. Cut the potatoes in half and scoop out the flesh.
4. Filling 1: mash together with the cream cheese, milk, butter, cheddar cheese and chives, season to taste and spoon this mixture back into the skins.
5.Filling 2: mash the potato flesh together with a knob of butter, the tomato ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and season to taste.
6. Cut the sausages into bite-sized pieces and mix into the potatoes together with the baked beans.
7. Heat through and decorate as Rudolph using a cherry tomato for the nose, peas for the eyes and potato snacks for the antlers

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Preparation time less than 30 mins

Cooking time no cooking required

This recipe was written by Angela Nilsen.

Ingredients:
750g/1lb 10oz royal icing or 650g/1lb 7oz ready-to-roll icing
3m ribbon
edible coloured and gold balls

Instructions:
1. Attach the balls on to the top of the cake with royal icing. Use the coloured ones for branches, gold for the trunk.
2. Tie the ribbon around the cake.

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Preparation time less than 30 mins

Cooking time 10 to 30 mins

Ingredients
For the biscuits
350g/12oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
100g/3½oz butter
175g/6oz soft brown sugar
1 free-range egg, beaten
4 tbsp golden syrup
packet wrapped fruit-flavoured boiled sweets in different colours
To decorate
tube ready-made white icing (available in the baking sections of most supermarkets) (optional)
narrow ribbon

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. For the biscuits, mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and ginger together in a bowl.
3. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, then stir in the sugar.
4. In another bowl, beat together the egg and golden syrup, then pour this mixture into the flour mixture and mix to make a smooth dough, kneading lightly with your hands.
5. Crush the sweets in their wrappers using a rolling pin.
6. Roll the dough out on a floured work surface to about 0.5cm/¼in thick, then cut into shapes using a selection of Christmas-themed cookie cutters. Transfer the biscuits to baking sheets lined with baking paper.
7. Cut out shapes in the centre of each biscuit, making sure you leave a good edge all around the biscuit. Completely fill the hole in each biscuit with crushed boiled sweets.
8. Make a hole at the top of each biscuit using a drinking straw so that you will be able to thread a ribbon through it later. Bake the biscuits in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until golden-brown.
9. Remove the biscuits from the oven. While they’re still warm, check that the holes are still there – if not, push a straw through again. Do not remove the biscuits from the baking tray until they have cooled because the boiled sweets need to harden. Once the sweets have hardened, gently lift the biscuits onto a wire rack with a palette knife to finish cooling.
10. If you like, you can decorate the biscuits with piped white icing. Thread ribbons through the holes in the biscuits to make loops for hanging from the tree

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Preparation time less than 30 mins

Cooking time no cooking required

Ingredients%