Season’s eatings Festive treats and

SEASON’S

Keep your tins and cupboards full of festive treats with these family-friendly bakes

PREPARATION & COOKING TIME 25 minutes MAKES 22-24

Vegan stollen bites

YOU WILL NEED

✔ 150ml plant-based milk ✔ 1 tbsp lemon juice ✔ 280g self-raising flour or gluten-free self-raising flour ✔ 1 tsp baking powder ✔ pinch of salt ✔ 90g vegan butter, cold and cubed ✔ 1 tsp vanilla essence ✔ 1 tsp almond essence ✔ 3 tbsp apple sauce or mashed banana ✔ 50g caster sugar ✔ 90g ground almonds ✔ 140g vegan marzipan, chilled and grated ✔ 100g mixed dried fruits with peel ✔ icing sugar, for dusting

DIRECTIONS

■ Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas Mark 6 and line 2 or 3 large baking trays with baking paper. ■ Add the plant-based milk and lemon juice to a large mixing bowl and stir. Leave for 5 minutes to form a buttermilk. ■ Add the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt to a blender and pulse briefly. Add the butter to the blender and pulse the mix to form a fine, crumbly consistency. ■ To the buttermilk mix, whisk in the vanilla and almond essences, apple sauce (or mashed banana) and sugar. ■ Add the dry mix to the wet mix. Add in the ground almonds, marzipan and the mixed dried fruits. Stir well until no flour specks remain – the mixture will still be quite wet. ■ Using an ice-cream scoop or large dessert spoon, scoop out 22-24 bites and place them on the baking trays. Space them out a bit as they will spread slightly. ■ Lightly flour your hands and shape the bites into neater circles and smooth gently over the tops. ■ Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the bites are turning golden brown. For an even finish, bake 1 tray of stollen bites at a time and turn the tray around after 5 minutes. ■ Allow to cool on the trays for 5-10 minutes until firmer, then transfer then to a wire rack to cool fully. Dust with icing sugar and enjoy. ■ You can store the leftover stollen bites at room temperature in a sealed container for 3-5 days.

Recipe and image courtesy of Amy Lanza, creator of Nourishing Amy, nourishingamy.com

PREPARATION & COOKING TIME 30 minutes plus chilling MAKES 40

Vegan gingerbread cookies Frangipane and cranberry mince pies

YOU WILL NEED

For the cookies ✔ 120g runny, smooth almond butter ✔ 60ml maple syrup ✔ 1 tbsp black treacle ✔ 1 tsp vanilla essence ✔ 105g plain or gluten-free plain flour, plus extra for dusting ✔ 1 tsp ground ginger ✔ ½ tsp cinnamon ✔ pinch of nutmeg ✔ pinch of salt To decorate ✔ 50g icing sugar ✔ 1-2 tbsp water

DIRECTIONS

■ Add the almond butter, maple syrup, treacle and vanilla essence to a bowl and mix to a smooth paste. Sift in the flour, spices and salt and bring to a sticky dough (it may look dry to start with but keep mixing). ■ Bring the dough to a ball with your hands and wrap in cling film. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. ■ Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/Gas Mark 4 and line 2-3 baking sheets with baking paper. ■ Place the dough on a floured surface and sprinkle over more flour. Use a piece of baking paper underneath a rolling pin to roll out the dough to around 5mm thickness. ■ Cut out gingerbread men (or other shapes, such as circles or stars) from the dough. ■ Place the gingerbread cookies on the baking trays (they don’t spread much so they don’t need a lot of room). Arrange the cookies in order of size on different trays so they cook evenly. ■ Bake for 5-8 minutes for very small cookies (such as stars), 8-10 for medium gingerbread men and 12-14 minutes for the largest cookies, turning the trays around halfway through. ■ Cool for 10 minutes on the trays, then transfer your cookies to a wire rack to cool fully. ■ Once cooled, stir the icing sugar and water together until it’s a thick but pipeable consistency. Use a piping bag and snip off the end to decorate the gingerbread shapes. ■ Keep cookies at room temperature in a sealed container for 1-2 weeks. The cookies will soften over time.

Recipe and image courtesy of Amy Lanza, creator of Nourishing Amy, nourishingamy.com

YOU WILL NEED

For the pastry ✔ 300g plain flour, plus extra for dusting ✔ 140g unsalted butter, cold and cubed ✔ 55g lard, cubed ✔ 3 tbsp water For the frangipane ✔ 125g unsalted butter ✔ 125g caster sugar ✔ 2 eggs ✔ 100g ground almonds ✔ 2 tbsp plain flour ✔ icing sugar, for dusting For the filling ✔ 110ml water ✔ 110ml orange juice ✔ 190g sugar ✔ 100g cranberries ✔ 400g mincemeat

DIRECTIONS

■ For the pastry, add the flour, butter and lard to a mixing bowl. Rub together until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. ■ Add the water and knead into a ball, then wrap in cling film and chill for 15 minutes. ■ Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas Mark 6. ■ For the frangipane, beat together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, then beat in the eggs until smooth. Then stir in the almonds and flour. ■ To make the filling, boil the water and orange juice in a pan, then add the sugar and dissolve. Add the cranberries and boil until soft, then drain. When cool, mix it together with the mincemeat. ■ Roll the chilled pastry onto a lightly floured surface until 3mm thick, then cut out 24 rounds using a 10cm round cutter. Place the rounds into a muffin tray and place 1 tsp of the mincemeat mixture into each pastry case. ■ Top each pie with 1 heaped tsp of frangipane mixture, then place the tray into the oven and bake for 20 minutes, until golden. Cool on a wire rack before dusting with icing sugar.

Recipe and image courtesy of Mason Cash, masoncash.co.uk

PREPARATION TIME 20 minutes plus chilling COOKING TIME 20 minutes MAKES 24

Sugar cookies

YOU WILL NEED

✔ 200g unsalted butter ✔ 200g golden caster sugar ✔ 2 medium free-range eggs ✔ 330g plain flour, plus extra for dusting ✔ 60g cornflour ✔ salt ✔ 1 tsp vanilla extract or paste ✔ 400g icing sugar, sieved ✔ red and green food colouring

DIRECTIONS

■ Preheat the oven to 180˚C /160˚C Fan/ Gas Mark 4. Line 2 baking sheets with baking paper. ■ Beat together the butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then tip in the flours, a large pinch of salt and the vanilla. Mix slowly until the dough comes together. ■ Split the dough in half, form into balls and cover each with cling film. Place in the fridge for 45 minutes to firm up. ■ Roll the dough out on a well-floured surface to a thickness of 1cm. Using Christmas cutters, cut into shapes and place on the lined baking trays. Bring the remainder of the dough together and repeat the process. ■ Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes until cooked through and golden at the edges. Remove and cool completely on a wire rack.

PREPARATION TIME 15 minutes plus chilling and setting COOKING TIME 12 minutes MAKES 60

■ For the icing, mix the icing sugar with hot water until you reach the consistency of pouring custard. Then carefully add a few drops of water at a time until you reach your desired consistency. ■ Divide the mixture into 3 bowls. Add the food colouring and mix until the desired colour is reached. ■ Fill a piping bag with the plain icing. Snip the end off the bag to create a 2-3mm hole (or use a small nozzle, 2mm diameter). Pipe the icing around the edges of the biscuits that you want to decorate in this colour. Repeat with all of the other colours. ■ Allow the edge icing to set for 15 minutes. Then, use a teaspoon to gently pour a little of the icing into the centre to ‘flood’ the outlined shape and spread it to the edges. Allow this to set for about 20 minutes. ■ Use your piping bags to create festive shapes and designs.

TOP TIP

To make Christmas decorations, use a skewer to create a small hole in the top of the biscuits before you bake them. Cook as directed, then once the biscuits are iced and set, thread a ribbon through the hole

Recipe and image courtesy of Tesco Real Food, realfood.tesco.com

PREPARATION TIME 30 minutes, plus soaking COOKING TIME 30 minutes SERVES 6-8

Muscovado malt bread & butter pudding

YOU WILL NEED

✔ 300ml whole milk ✔ 300ml double cream ✔ 1 tsp ground cinnamon ✔ ½ vanilla pod, split in half ✔ 100g light muscovado sugar ✔ 2 tbsp barley malt extract ✔ 8 chocolate chip brioche rolls (about 350g in total), cut into 2cm slices ✔ 100g unsalted butter, softened ✔ 50g dark chocolate chips or caramel/ blond chocolate, chopped ✔ 3 eggs ✔ 2 egg yolks ✔ 4 tbsp Bourbon ✔ 2 tbsp demerara sugar ✔ double cream or vanilla ice cream, to serve

DIRECTIONS

■ Pour the milk and cream into a saucepan. Add the cinnamon, vanilla pod, light muscovado sugar and barley malt extract, then warm the mixture over a lowmedium heat until just below boiling. Remove and leave to cool for 10 minutes. ■ Meanwhile, spread one side of each brioche slice with butter. Arrange the brioche in the baking dish and scatter with the chocolate. ■ Whisk the whole eggs, egg yolks and Bourbon in a large mixing bowl until combined. Slowly pour over the infused milk mixture, whisking continuously until smooth and thoroughly combined. Strain the custard into a jug. ■ Slowly pour three-quarters of the custard over the buttered brioche, cover and leave to soak for at least 1 hour (or up to 2 hours) at room temperature. ■ Heat the oven to 180°C /160°C Fan/Gas Mark 4. ■ Pour the remaining custard over the soaked brioche, scatter the top with demerara sugar and bake the pudding for 30 minutes, until golden and crisp, and the custard has set but still has a slight wobble in the middle. Leave the pudding to settle for 5 minutes, then serve it with double cream or scoops of vanilla ice cream.

Recipe and image courtesy of The Great British Bake Off: Favourite Flavours by The Bake Off Team (£22, Sphere)

Terr y’s Chocolate Orange finger-licking cupcakes

YOU WILL NEED

For the cupcakes ✔ 200g butter, softened ✔ 200g caster sugar ✔ 2 medium free-range eggs ✔ 200g selfraising flour ✔ 50g cocoa powder ✔ 1 orange, zest grated ✔ 150g natural low-fat yogurt ✔ Terry’s Chocolate Orange crispy oranges, to decorate For the buttercream ✔ 100g unsalted butter, softened ✔ 200g icing sugar ✔ 50g milk, dark or white Terry’s Chocolate Orange segments

DIRECTIONS

■ Preheat the oven to 180°C /160°C Fan/Gas Mark 4. Place 16 paper muffin cases into 2 muffin tins. ■ Using a hand-held electric whisk or a food mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then sift in the flour and cocoa and mix in gently. Add the orange zest and yogurt, mixing until smooth. ■ Divide the mixture between the paper cases and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until well risen and a thin skewer inserted into the centre of a cake comes out clean. Allow them to cool completely on a wire rack while you make the buttercream. ■ In a food mixer, or using a hand-held electric whisk, beat the butter with a little icing sugar until smooth. Sift in the rest of the icing sugar, a little at a time, beating well between each addition, until the mixture is really smooth and creamy. ■ Bring a small pan of water to the boil and remove from the heat. Put the Chocolate Orange segments in a heatproof bowl and suspend it over the pan without letting the bowl touch the water below. Stir the segments occasionally with a flat-bladed knife until the chocolate softens and melts. ■ As soon as it starts to soften, add the chocolate to the buttercream and stir with a flat-bladed knife until thoroughly combined and the mixture is evenly coloured. Work quickly to prevent the mixture separating. It’s now ready to use. ■ Spoon the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and pipe large swirls on top of each cupcake, then decorate each with a Terry’s Chocolate Orange crispy orange. You can store the cakes in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

PREPARATION TIME 30 minutes COOKING TIME 20 minutes MAKES 16

Recipe and image courtesy of The Terry’s Chocolate Orange Cookbook: 60 Smashing Chocolate Orange Recipes by Terry’s Chocolate Orange (£12, HarperCollins)