These little fruit cakes are great to share and look gorgeous. It was so much fun to make these and the smells from the kitchen really warmed the house with rich spicy scent of Christmas.

Tools

I used these Kitchen Craft mini pudding bowls to make my puddings, which makes about 8 from the mixture. I also used a small holly cutter, like the smallest one from these Holly Shaped Cookie Cutters to cut the leaves. You’ll also need a large round pastry cutter, sharp pair of small scissors and a cake tester.

1hr 50mins (45 mins unattended) + prep night before (20 mins) – Prep time: 30mins – Cooking time: 1hr

Ingredients

• 25oz mixed fruit
• 11oz Plain Flour
• 8oz Butter
• 8oz Dark Brown Sugar
• 3oz Ground Almonds
• 3oz Glace Cherries – halved or quartered
• 2oz Candied peel, diced finely
• 3 Large Eggs
• 1 Lemon – juice & rind
• 1 Orange – juice & Rind
• 10tbsp favourite alcohol, I used amareto but you can use more traditional rum or brandy
• 1 tbsp Black Treacle (warmed – stand tin in basin of v.hot water)
• 1tbsp apricot jam
• 3/4 tspn Mixed spice
• 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Bicarbonate Of soda
• 1 tsp Vanilla essence
• 1 tsp Glycerine
• 1/2 pack marzipan
• Good pinch of Salt
• A little bit of flowerpaste or roll out icing
• Red and green food colouring

Instructions

1. Soak fruit, candied peel and cherries in lemon & orange rind and juice in a large bowl. Add 3 tbsp alcohol, then cover and leave, preferably OVERNIGHT.
2. Roll out the flowerpaste and split in two. Make one half green, roll out and cut out small holly leaves (two per pudding). Make the other half red and make holly berries (two per pudding). Leave to harden, preferably overnight.
3. Grease the tins and line the bottoms with greaseproof paper.
4. Sieve flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and spices. In a separate bowl, lightly whisk eggs.
5. Cream butter, sugar, treacle then add vanilla essence and glycerine, gradually add eggs with a little flour to stop curdling.
6. Fold in remaining flour, then ground almonds, add fruit and mix thoroughly.
7. Turn into prepared tins and smooth tops with wet knuckles.
8. Bake on the lower middle shelf for 45 mins – 1 hr. Keep testing with a testing spike should come out clean.
9. Remove from oven and leave to cool in tin. Then turn out and remove greaseproof paper. I pricked the tops with a toothpick and poured 1tbsp alcohol onto each cake.
10. Roll out 3mm thick piece of marzipan and cut out circles using the pastry cutter.
11. Using the scissors, cut a wobbly edge to create drips. Using the rolling pin, roll out the marzipan topping to spread the drips out more, then stick on by brushing apricot jam onto the marzipan and positioning on top of the pudding.
12. Take the hardened holly and gently poke one end into the centre of the pudding top, and stick the holly berries around their bases using a little more apricot jam.
]]> http://laythetable.com/puddings/christmas-pudding-fruit-cake/feed/ 0 http://laythetable.com/snacks/mmmince-pies/ http://laythetable.com/snacks/mmmince-pies/#comments Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:14:39 +0000 Becs http://laythetable.com/?p=302

Spending time on mince pies is always worth the effort! Impress your friends by using the snowflake shaped cutter for the cutout. I based this on Nigella’s recipe but added a few ingredients of my own. The addition of spices to the pastry adds some extra flavour.

55mins – Prep time: 40mins – Cooking time: 15mins

{Makes: 12}

Ingredients

• 8oz plain flour
• 2oz lard, diced into small squares
• 2oz cold butter, diced into small squares
• 130ml orange juice
• 1oz icing sugar
• 1/2 grated nutmeg
• 1tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp ground almond
• 2tbsp demerera sugar for sprinkling
• 1 jar mincemeat (admittedly I cheated and used shop-bought one, Duerr’s Luxury Mincemeat)
• Splash of amaretto

Instructions

Oven temp: 180°C/320°F

1. Grease and flour a 12 hole bun tin.
2. Sift the flour and icing sugar into a bowl and mix in the nutmeg, cinnamon and almond. Then bit by bit, add the lard and butter, shaking the to cover them in flour. Add Place in fridge for 20 mins.
3. Blitz the mixture in a blender until it goes into breadcrumb form, then add the juice until it just starts to form dough.
4. Knead the mixture of a floured surface, then wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for 10 minutes.
5. Once removed, quarter, then roll out 2 quarters into thin layers with a rolling pin on a floured surface. Cut out circles with a cutter, just larger than the bun tin’s holes.
6. Gently push down the pastry circles into the bun tin with the end of your thumb.
7. Add the splash of amaretto to your jar of mincemeat and shake to mix. Then taking a tablespoonful at a time, put the mincemeat into the pies cases.
8. Roll out the other two quarters into thin layers on a floured surface and use the large snowflake cutter from this PME 3 Pce Snowflake Cutter Set to create snowflakes for the top.

   Tip: Be very gentle with the snowflakes , they’re fragile! We found that pushing out the design right on top of the mince pies worked really well as we didn’t need to move them too much, otherwise they can break.

9. You can brush the tops with a little milk and dust with the demerera sugar for a caramel crunch top.
10. Place in the oven for about 12 minutes.
11. Ensure the mince pies cool down thoroughly as the pastry is quite short and prone to breaking if not left to hard a little before moving.
]]> http://laythetable.com/snacks/mmmince-pies/feed/ 3 http://laythetable.com/snacks/brown-sugar-cinnamon-cashews-and-pecans/ http://laythetable.com/snacks/brown-sugar-cinnamon-cashews-and-pecans/#comments Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:17:27 +0000 Becs http://laythetable.com/?p=230

These make a perfect bonfire treat, especially when served still warm. My mother always brings me these back from Belgium when she visits as she knows I love them so much. You should eat a handful of nuts and seeds every day, so this is just a tasty way of doing it. I’ll be making some more of these for my Christmas food hampers, wrapped in cellophane with a ribbon.

15mins – Prep time: 5mins – Cooking time: 10mins

Ingredients

• 150g pecan halves
• 150g cashews, unsalted
• 100g golden caster sugar
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Line a large frying pan with foil (this saves on washing up!)
2. Put the cinammon and the sugar in the pan and heat until it just starts to melt.
3. Add the pecans and cashews and stir to ensure even distribution. Cook until nuts have browned a little.
4. Remove foil with nuts from the pan and allow to cool a little. Then tip onto a plate to prevent the nuts sticking to the foil
]]> http://laythetable.com/snacks/brown-sugar-cinnamon-cashews-and-pecans/feed/ 1 http://laythetable.com/puddings/apple-daim-bar-cheesecake/ http://laythetable.com/puddings/apple-daim-bar-cheesecake/#comments Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:07:21 +0000 Becs http://laythetable.com/?p=66 tweet about Bailey's cheesecake which is an adaptation of a Nigella Lawson recipe. I liked the idea of using Daim bar in the base, but I quite fancied cheesecake with apple as I'd never tried it. In fact, this is the first cheesecake I've ever made!]]>

This was inspired by Creative Review’s tweet about Bailey’s cheesecake which is an adaptation of a Nigella Lawson recipe. I liked the idea of using Daim bar in the base, but I quite fancied cheesecake with apple as I’d never tried it. In fact, this is the first cheesecake I’ve ever made!

3hr 30mins – Prep time: 30mins – Cooking time: 1hr – Cooling time: 2hrs

{Serves: 3-4}

Ingredients

Cheesecake base

• 125g Oat biscuits (I used Hob Nobs)
• 125g Digestive biscuits
• 80g butter
• 3 Daim bars
• 1/2tsp cinammon
• pinch of salt

Cheesecake mixture

• 500g mascarpone cheese
• 100g soft cream cheese
• 3 eggs
• 125g caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste (or 1tsp vanilla essence)

Apple mixture

• 4tsp light brown sugar
• 1tbsp butter
• 1 bramley apple, peeled and sliced into 1cm pieces
• 1tsp cinammon

Instructions

Oven temp: 160°C /320°F

1. Make the apple mixture. Melt the butter on a low heat in the saucepan and add the apple. Mix together and allow to cook for 1 minute before adding 2tsp light brown sugar.
2. Cover and allow to cook gently for 3-4 minutes when the apples will go soft. Stir in the cinnamon and remaining sugar. Leave to cool.
3. Make the cheesecake base. Take the Daim bars, put in a plastic bag and beat with a rolling pin until the Daim bars are in rough pieces.
4. Then add the biscuits to the bag and beat again until everything is in fine crumbs but not dust.
5. Melt the butter and combine with the biscuit crumbs in a medium size mixing bowl.
6. Add the cinnamon and salt and mix well.
7. In a 23cm springform pan, press the biscuit mixture down evenly in the bottom of the pan. Place in the fridge to chill.
8. Make the cheesecake mixture. In a large mixing bowl mix add the mascarpone cheese and soft cream cheese. Add each egg one at a time whisking until the mixture is smooth. Then whisk in the vanilla and caster sugar.
9. Add about half of the apple mixture to the cheesecake mixture and fold in.
10. Remove cheesecake base from the fridge and pour mixture on top.
11. By hand, gently add the remaining apple on top, then push into the mixture with a spoon
12. Place in the oven for about 50-60 mins or until the top is just browning.
13. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 2 hours. Store in the fridge. Serve with a dusting of cinnamon.
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