w ; j CHRISTMAS STOCKING
COOKIES Makes 30
100g butter, plus extra for greasing 55g caster sugar 1 egg, beaten Finely grated rind and juice of 1 lemon 225g plain flour, plus extra for dusting 25g cornflour, plus extra dusting 1
/2
CHOCOLATE MINT CAKE POPS
This is a version of ‘rocky road’ and is incredibly simple to make. If you want a stronger flavour try using dark instead of milk chocolate.
Makes 26-28
300g plain chocolate, roughly chopped 25g unsalted butter, softened 50g hard-boiled mint sweets 450g milk chocolate 50g mini marshmallows, roughly chopped 26-28 lolly sticks Chocolate sprinkles, to decorate
1 Line a baking tray with baking paper. Put the plain chocolate in a heatproof bowl, set the bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water and heat until melted. Stir in the butter. Leave until the mixture is cool but not beginning to set.
2 Put the mint sweets in a polythene bag and tap firmly with a rolling pin until they are broken into tiny pieces. Finely chop 150g of the milk chocolate then stir it into the melted plain chocolate with the mints and marshmallows until thoroughly mixed.
3 As soon as the mixture is firm enough to hold its shape, roll 20g of it into a ball. Shape the remaining pop cakes in the same way. Place them on the baking tray and chill for 30-60 minutes, until firm but not brittle. Push a lolly stick into each cake pop, then chill for 10 minutes.
4 Roughly chop the remaining milk chocolate and melt as above, then remove from the heat. Dip a cake pop into the chocolate, turning until coated. Lift it from the bowl, letting the excess drip back into the bowl, and place it in a cup or tumbler. Sprinkle with chocolate sprinkles. Repeat with the remaining cake pops. Chill or leave in a cool place until the chocolate has set.
Mini Cakes: Gorgeous Little Cakes, Bakes and Cake Pops, Published by Parragon
tsp baking powder 1 tbsp mixed spice
To decorate: 250g ready-to-roll fondant icing Glycerine-based red and green food colouring
280g icing sugar 1 egg white 1
/2 tsp glycerine
1 Whisk together the butter and caster sugar in a bowl until creamy, then gradually beat in the egg and lemon rind. Sift the flour, cornflour, baking powder and mixed spice into the mixture and stir to combine thoroughly into a soft dough. Wrap in
clingfilm and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
2 Preheat the oven to 1800C/Gas Mark 4. Grease two baking sheets. Roll out on a lightly floured work surface to 5mm thick. Using a Christmas stocking-shaped cutter, cut out the shapes from the dough and place on the prepared baking sheets. Re-knead and re-roll trimmings and cut out until all the dough is used up. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, until just golden. Allow to cool for five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
3 Mix the green colouring into 25g fondant icing, adding a little icing sugar until well blended. Cover to prevent drying out. Repeat with remaining fondant icing and the red food colouring. Roll out the green fondant icing as thinly as possible on a surface lightly dusted in cornflower and cut out shapes using a small holly-leaf cutter. Set aside. Roll out the red fondant icing, again as thinly as possible. Cut out the shapes using the Christmas stocking-shaped cutter. Stick each stocking to the cookie by using a little lemon juice.
4 Whisk together the remaining icing sugar,
30 | THE WESTCOUNTRY FOODLOVER
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