New Stour & Avon, December 3, 2021 27
Food & Drink
Queen of the cakes... Sadie Smith is an award winning cake designer and baker from Cake by Sadie Smith, Wimborne Christmas Cookies These cookies are the perfect bake for any skill level, some icing and sprinkles is all the decoration you need or if you feel up to the challenge you can pipe royal icing details on them. I always have a tin of these cookies in at Christmas as they are the perfect treat for the kids or any surprise visitors. Makes approximately 12 but depends on the size of cutters you use. Ingredients for the cookies 175g plain flour 110g soft salted butter 75g sugar 1 level teaspoon of mixed spice For glace icing – which is perfect for topping with sprinkles 250g icing sugar Water For royal icing – the easiest way by far is to buy ready to use tubes of coloured icing or a tub of ready-made royal icing from the supermarket, you may need to water it down slightly.
If you’d like to make your own 3 egg whites 600g icing sugar 1 tsp liquid glucose 1 tsp lemon juice Method Preheat oven to 180c Place the flour, mixed spice, sugar, and butter in a bowl, mix well until a dough is formed, add a few drops of milk if needed
Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for 30 minutes Roll out to 5mm thick and using Christmas cookie cutters stamp out required shapes Place on a non-stick baking tray and bake for 8-10 minutes Leave on the tray to cool for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire cooling rack Once cool, make your
Sadie Smith chosen icing and have fun decorating as you like Method for Glace Icing Add a few drops of water at a time until the icing is smooth but not too runny. If it is too runny add a little more icing sugar until you get the consistency you want Method for Royal icing (if making your own) Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks Add the icing sugar a bit at a time, whisking until fully incorporated Add the glucose and lemon juice Continue to whisk until the icing is at the consistency you need. Stiff peaks for spreading on the cookies, firmer peaks for piping and a softer/runnier consistency for flooding icing. If you would like coloured icing, add a tiny bit of food colouring to the icing, edible gel colours are best. These cookies will keep in an airtight tin for a couple of weeks so can be made in advance
Christmas pudding causing a bit of a stir The Great Pudding Stir has taken place in the historic kitchen of the Museum of East Dorset in Wimborne Minster for almost 30 years. This year it is on Saturday, December 11, from 10.30am to 4pm and is included with your museum ticket. The recipe is taken from Mrs Beeton’s Book Of Household Management, edited by Isabella Beeton between 1859 and 1861.
Museum visitors are invited to stir up a little festive cheer and take part in the event, make a Christmas wish and sample the finished pudding. The original recipe for ‘A Plain Christmas Pudding For Children’ contained flour, breadcrumbs, stoned raisins, currants, suet, eggs, milk, candied peel, powdered allspice and salt. Mrs Carter, the resident pudding expert, said sugar is
now added to the recipe ‘to make it more palatable’, and the pudding is warmed on a coal-fired range. Chezzie Hollow, director of the museum, siad: “We are delighted that we are able to bring the Great Pudding Stir back this year. “This festive event aims to bring history to life”. For more information visit museumofeastdorset.co.uk/pr oject/the-great-pudding-stir/
