Nigella Christmas: Food, Family, Friends, Festivities (27 page)

250ml full-fat milk

2 eggs, beaten to mix

300g plain flour

• Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas mark 3 and line a roasting tin or ovenproof dish (approx. 30cm × 20cm × 5cm) with Bake-O-Glide, foil or baking parchment (if using foil, grease it too).

• In a saucepan, melt the butter over a lowish heat along with the sugar, syrup, treacle, fresh and ground gingers, cinnamon and cloves.

• Take off the heat, and add the milk, eggs and dissolved bicarbonate of soda in its water.

• Measure the flour into a bowl and pour in the liquid ingredients, beating until well mixed. It will be a very liquid batter, so don’t worry. This is part of what makes it sticky later.

• Pour it into the prepared tin and bake for 45–60 minutes until risen and firm on top. Try not to overcook, as it is nicer a little stickier, and anyway will carry on cooking as it cools.

• Transfer the tin to a wire rack and let the gingerbread cool in the tin before cutting into 20 squares, or however you wish to slice it.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:

Make the gingerbread up to 2 weeks ahead, wrap loosely in baking parchment and store in an airtight tin. Cut into squares as required.

FREEZE AHEAD TIP:

Make the gingerbread, wrap in baking parchment and a layer of foil then freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature for 3–4 hours and cut into squares.

SCARLET-SPECKLED LOAF CAKE

Simple loaf cakes are grossly underrated in the unspoken hierarchy that exists in baking. They don’t have the show-off credentials of a frosted layer cake or glazed torte, but they are unassumingly, unfailingly good. Hettie, my assistant and so much more, calls them the pumps rather than the high heels of the cake world.

This one here is not exactly plain, however, but more of a festively hued fruit loaf – the kind you eat thickly sliced for tea, maybe with some cream cheese spread over it. I had the idea straightforwardly enough. If you can make a cake from grated carrots – and I’ve made one with grated courgettes, too – why not from grated beetroot? Well, it works, and although its colour is distinctive, the taste is not emphatic, though the lesser amount of lemon does sing through with refreshing clarity; I doubt anyone could guess the cake had beetroot in it. I advise not advertizing the fact: too many people who would adore the cake in reality, might let their prejudices hold sway, as prejudices will.

Makes 10–12 slices

1 large uncooked beetroot, approx. 200g

250g soft butter

finely grated zest and juice of ½ lemon

200g caster sugar

4 eggs

150g dried cranberries

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

300g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

• Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.

• Butter and line a 900g loaf tin with baking parchment or greased foil, or use a shop-bought paper insert (my preference) to drop into the tin.

• Peel the beetroot, and grate it using the finer grating blade of a food processor. It’s as well to wear vinyl or rubber gloves for this, or you’ll have a touch of the Lady Macbeths.

• In a large bowl, cream together the butter, lemon zest and caster sugar, then beat in the eggs, one at a time.

• Stir in the beetroot, cranberries, lemon juice and nutmeg. Then, finally, stir in the flour and baking powder and spoon the mixture into the loaf tin, spreading it out evenly.

• Bake in the oven for 1 hour, or until a cake tester or skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Let it cool in the tin, before turning it out onto a wire rack.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:

Make the loaf up to 3 days ahead, wrap loosely in baking parchment and store in an airtight tin.

FREEZE AHEAD TIP:

Make the loaf, wrap in baking parchment and a layer of foil, then freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.

PECAN-PLUS PIE

This is somewhat of an Anglo-American enterprise. I have taken a pecan pie, and added other nuts, simply because for me, an English Christmas means bowls of mixed nuts and the memory of my grandfather being able to crack them, pressing two against each other, in his bare hands.

I don’t crack them myself here even with a nutcracker, I’m afraid. But I do make sure I buy good fresh (check the dates on the packet) natural ones – that’s to say unsalted and free of additives – that come together in a pack comprising Brazils, natural (unblanched) almonds, hazelnuts, pecans and walnuts.

If you eat this while it’s still warm, then it’s hard to put up a good argument against having a scoop of vanilla ice cream with it; when cold, I like it with a little cream, whipped or poured.

There is something so gloriously festive about this gleaming, golden, nut-laden pie, I wouldn’t even rule it out for Christmas Day itself. The pastry couldn’t be simpler: it’s very plain, as the filling is so rich, and you don’t roll it out, but press it down into the tin; I aim to ease.

Makes approx. 12 slices

225g plain flour

½ teaspoon salt

125ml flavourless vegetable oil

60ml full-fat milk

150g golden syrup

100g soft butter

200g soft light brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

350g mixed nuts

3 eggs

• Preheat your oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt, oil and milk to form a rough dough.

• Tip out into a 25cm flan dish, and press the dough patiently over the base and the sides of the dish, slightly coming up over the top if possible. Put in the freezer.

• Melt the syrup, butter and brown sugar over a lowish heat in a saucepan.

• Add the vanilla, stir, then take off the heat and let it stand for 10 minutes.

• Take the pastry-lined flan dish out of the freezer, and arrange the nuts on it.

• Whisk the eggs into the slightly cooled sugary syrup until it looks like a caramel mixture, then pour it over the nuts.

• Bake in the oven for 40 minutes, or until the filling has set and the pastry is golden.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:

Make the pie up to 2 days ahead and keep in an airtight container.

CHRISTMAS CHOCOLATE BISCUITS

I love these dark, fat patties of chocolate shortbread exuberantly topped with festive sprinkles. There’s something so cheering about the sight of them, but they have more in their favour than looks: they are a doddle to make, and meltingly gorgeous to eat.

Makes approx. 24

250g soft butter

150g caster sugar

40g cocoa powder

300g plain flour

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

FOR THE FESTIVE TOPPING:

2 × 15ml tablespoons cocoa powder

175g icing sugar

60ml boiling water, from a kettle

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Christmas sprinkles (see

Stockists

)

• Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas mark 3 and line a baking sheet with Bake-O-Glide or baking parchment.

• Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl and, when you have a light, soft, whipped mixture, beat in the 40g cocoa powder (sieving if it is lumpy) and, when that’s mixed in, beat in the flour with the bicarb and baking powder. Or just put everything in the processor and blitz, if you prefer.

• This mixture is very soft and sticky and I find it easiest to form the biscuits wearing my CSI (disposable vinyl) gloves, so pinch off pieces about the size of a large walnut, roll them into balls, then slightly flatten into fat discs as you place them, well spaced, on your baking sheet; you should get about 12 on at a time.

• Bake each batch for 15 minutes; even though the biscuits won’t feel as if they’ve had enough time, they will continue to cook as they cool. They will look slightly cracked on top, and it’s this cosy, homespun look I love.

• Remove the baking sheet to a cold surface and let it sit for 15 minutes before transferring the biscuits to a wire rack, with a sheet of newspaper under it (to catch drips while topping them).

• To make the topping, put the cocoa powder, icing sugar, water and vanilla extract into a small saucepan and whisk over a low heat until everything’s smoothly combined. Take off the heat for 10 minutes.

• When the biscuits are cool, drizzle each one with a tablespoonful of chocolate glaze – to glue the sprinkles on in a minute – using the back of the spoon to help spread the mixture, though an uneven dribbly look is part of their charm. After you’ve iced 6 biscuits, scatter with some of the Christmas sprinkles, and continue thus until all the biscuits are topped. If you ice them all before sprinkling, you will find the cocoa “glue” has dried and the sprinkles won’t stick on.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:

Bake the biscuits up to 5 days ahead. Cool and store in an airtight container between sheets of parchment paper.

FREEZE AHEAD TIP:

Freeze the cooled biscuits in sealable bags or rigid containers for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.

CRANBERRY AND WHITE CHOCOLATE COOKIES

This is yet another recipe to make use of dried cranberries, and it is not an accident. I can’t help feeling that their inclusion in a cake, muffin or cookie confers instant Christmassiness, despite their all-year-round availability.

I also love their spicy tartness, which balances perfectly with the intense sweetness of the white chocolate morsels, though you can use darker, meaner chips, if you want. Still, even if you are not usually a white chocolate eater, you will, I think, find these persuasive, perhaps even having to eat a second one straight away just to make perfectly sure.

Makes 30

150g plain flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

75g rolled oats (not instant)

125g soft butter

75g dark brown sugar

100g caster sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

75g dried cranberries

50g pecans, roughly chopped

150g white chocolate chips

• Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4 and line a baking sheet with Bake-O-Glide or baking parchment.

• Measure the flour, baking powder, salt and rolled oats into a bowl.

• Put the butter and sugars into another bowl and beat together until creamy – this is obviously easier with an electric mixer of some kind, but otherwise you just need to put some muscle into it otherwise – then beat in the egg and vanilla extract.

• Beat in the flour, baking powder, salt and oat mixture, then fold in the cranberries, chopped pecans and chocolate chips.

• Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into balls with your hands, then place them on your prepared baking sheet and squish the dough balls down with a fork. (You may need 2 baking sheets or be prepared to make these in 2 batches.)

• Cook for 15 minutes; when ready, the cookies will be tinged a pale gold, but be too soft to lift immediately off the sheet, so leave the sheet on a cool surface and let the cookies harden for about 5 minutes. Remove with a spatula, or similar, to cool fully on a wire rack.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:

Bake the cookies up to 5 days ahead. Cool and store in an airtight container between sheets of parchment paper.

FREEZE AHEAD TIP:

Bake and then freeze the cooled cookies in sealable bags or rigid containers for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.

CHRISTMAS CORNFLAKE WREATHS

I try to rein myself in, but not always successfully, and here’s evidence of my bolting from the constraints of good taste. That’s not to say these don’t taste good: they are crunchy and chewy and (very) sweet, and the almond and vanilla come through strongly. As you might expect, children especially, though not exclusively, adore them. And, what’s more, they can help you make them or even, after a certain age, make these wreaths themselves – so well worth bearing in mind for the school Christmas Fair. My office children, Zoe and Anzelle, made the ones here.

Makes 22

100g soft butter

200g miniature marshmallows

½ teaspoon almond extract

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

125g cornflakes

50g sesame seeds (optional)

Christmas sprinkles to decorate

• Put a piece of greaseproof paper, baking parchment or Bake-O-Glide on a surface for the wreaths to sit and set on later.

• In a generous-sized pan, over a gentle heat, melt the butter then add the marshmallows, stirring until both are smoothly combined.

• Take the pan off the heat, and stir in the almond and vanilla extracts.

• Add the cornflakes, and sesame seeds (if you like them), gently crushing the cornflakes as you go and mixing well so that all are covered in creamy goo.

• Pull out a clump of sticky cornflakes the size of a small satsuma, squish it down into a disc on the baking parchment, then make a hole in the middle to form a wreath of about 6cm in diameter. After you’ve made 3 wreaths, scatter with your Christmas sprinkles; if you leave it any longer, they won’t adhere. Continue until all your cornflake mixture is finished.

• Leave – for at least 2 hours – to cool and firm up out of harm and small hands’ way.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:

Make the wreaths up to 1 week ahead. Store in an airtight container between sheets of baking parchment or greaseproof paper.

FREEZE AHEAD TIP:

Make the wreaths and freeze in a rigid container for up to 3 months. Thaw in a cool room.

GOLD-DUST COOKIES

I freely acknowledge there is a place for the jauntily vulgar at Christmas, as is evidenced by – not least – the previous recipe, but sometimes quietly smouldering elegance can do the trick, too. These gold-dust cookies certainly have that: they are simple, ginger-seasoned (if I’m making them for the children I use vanilla instead) butter biscuits cut into pretty shapes – I am a sucker for stars – and, when baked and cooled, brushed with edible gold dust or glitter flakes. You need a specialist supplier for this (see Stockists) but the actual gilding is easy, and since the cookies are not otherwise iced, you can get them done and dusted in no time. They’re beautiful as a present, offered up after dinner with coffee or to keep in your festive cookie jar or biscuit tin for any eventuality.

Makes about 30, depending on size