Christmas in London

Last Friday we took a trip into London to go and see the English National Ballet perform The Nutcracker at the London Coliseum.  It was magical!  As was the rest of London at Christmas - take a peek ......

Easy Christmas Dessert - Lemon Meringue Roulade

If you're looking for a nice, light Christmas day dessert  then look no further.  It's dead easy and looks mighty impressive.

This recipe taken from the British Lion Eggs website is now a firm family tradition and Christmas just wouldn't be the same without it.

·                           4 large egg whites

·                           225g/8oz caster sugar

·                           1 tsp almond essence

·                           1 tsp raspberry or white wine vinegar

·                           50g/2oz ground almonds

·                           1-2 tbsp icing sugar, sifted

·                           6 tbsp lemon curd

·                           300ml/1/2pt crème fraiche

·                           1 tbsp toasted flaked almonds

·                           A few fresh raspberries to decorate

·                           Raspberry or mango coulis to serve

1.       Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas Mark 3, 10 minutes before baking. Line a Swiss roll tin with a single sheet of greaseproof or baking paper and reserve.

2.       Whisk the egg whites until stiff and standing in peaks then gradually whisk in the sugar 1 spoonful at a time. When all the sugar has been added, carefully stir in the almond essence, vinegar and then the ground almonds. Mix lightly together.

3.       Turn into the lined Swiss roll tin smooth the top and tap the tin lightly on the work surface to remove any air bubbles. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until the top is pale golden and feels firm and set. Remove from the oven and leave until cold.

4.       When ready to serve, whip the crème fraiche until thick, reserve. Invert the cooled roulade onto a large sheet of greaseproof or baking paper, sprinkle with the icing sugar and carefully strip off the lining paper. Spread with the lemon curd and then the crème fraiche. Leave for a few minutes to allow the roulade to soften then carefully roll up. (You will find that the roulade cracks slightly on rolling.)

5.       Place on a serving platter, sprinkle with the toasted almonds and decorate with the raspberries and serve.

Cooks note:  don't worry if the meringue cracks when you roll it up - it just adds to the "yule log" effect.  Plus a bit of icing sugar sprinkled over through a sieve covers up a multitude of sins.

Gluten-free Christmas Tiffin Road & Amaretti Tiffin Road

This recipe is a cross between tiffin and rocky road, so I call it Christmas Tiffin Road.  Instead of marshmallows I use chopped up Crunchies Bars, which gives it even more texture.  These little treats are very easy to make and make wonderful homemade gifts but make sure you keep a batch for yourself because they're highly addictive!

To make a different kind of tiffin road [for those who aren't gluten intolerant] you can use amaretti biscuits and white chocolate instead. As I did in the photo above.

250g dark chocolate, chopped or bashed in a freezer bag with a rolling pin

150g milk chocolate, chopped or bashed in a freezer bag with a rolling pin

175g butter – salted or unsalted – I use salted

4 tbsp golden syrup

200g gluten-free shortbread biscuits – I used Waitrose Shortbread Biscuits - bashed in a freezer bag into biggish chunks -  keep the rubble

150g brazil nuts, chopped into chunks – one nut cut into about three pieces

150g sour cherries or dried cranberries – I prefer sour cherries

125g pistachio nuts – left whole

3 Crunchie bars – bashed into small chunks –  keep the rubble

White chocolate stars for decoration or edible glitter or any other festive decoration

Line a 25cm/10in x 30cm/12in baking tray with greaseproof paper

1. Place both chocolates, butter and golden syrup into a heavy-based saucepan.  Cook over a low heat to melt, stirring occasionally

2. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the crushed biscuits and nuts

3. Add the berries and stir

4. Lastly, add the Crunchie bits and fold in [make sure you do this last, as if the mixture is still too war the honeycomb bits will dissolve]

5. Smooth the surface as much as possible but it will still be “rocky”

6. Sprinkle with white chocolate stars, however only do this once the mixture has cooled a bit, otherwise they may melt

7. Refrigerate for two hours or until mixture has just set but is still soft enough to cut

8. Remove block of rocky road from the baking tray

9. If using edible glitter, sprinkle with glitter

10. Using a very sharp knife cut into approx. 24 pieces

Gluten-free Mince Pies

What happens when you cross a person who was brought up a Jehovah's Witness [in case you don't know they don't celebrate Christmas] with someone, who at 46, loves Christmas as much as a 4 year old? 

The answer is........... you get a lot of compromise going on.  Compromise and negotiation which would put United Nation peace negotiators to shame!

Here is a prime example of how we view Christmas - my favourite Christmas film is Bad Santa - his favourite film is "Elf", followed closely by "Miracle on 42nd Street".  That pretty much sums things up nicely.

Our first Christmas together Pixie bought me [at the age of 40] my first ever advent calendar.  Not just any old cardboard calendar from the supermarket.  Oh no, a proper fabric, embroidered calendar with little pockets, which he proceeded to fill - on 01 December - with a mixture of individually wrapped tiny chocolates.  He still has the advent calendar from his childhood. 

Every year, since we met 6 years ago,  I've been de-humbugged ever so slightly.  I can't say I look forward to it exactly but I don't dread it quite so much.

Last weekend I baked my very first batch of gluten-free Mince Pies using this recipe from BBC Good Food.  They turned out great - as you can see below.

Cooks tips:

My one tweak [and I always make a tweak it seems] is that I find fruit mincemeat too sweet, so I substituted some of the mincemeat with dried cranberries to add some tartness.  It worked a treat. 

As suggested in the recipe, I used Sainsbury's Finest fruit mince meat.  Which is for all intents and purposes gluten-free.  There was an allergy warning on the label was that it wasn't 100% guaranteed gluten-free because of the manufacturing environment.  So for those who are ultra gluten intolerant you should look for a totally gluten-free version.

p.s am I the only one who finds Billy-Bob Thornton sexy?