Festive Bread

Fancy waking up on Christmas morning and tucking into some festive bread, rather than your usual loaf? If so, then this recipe is for you.

Festive Bread

Ingredients
1 ¾ cups flour
2/3 cups brown sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
1/3 cup butter
½ cup chopped nuts
1 jar (10 ounce size) maraschino cherries

1) Lightly grease a 9-inch loaf pan and pre-heat the oven to 350F (180C, Gas Mark 4).

2) Drain the cherries, reserving 4 tablespoons of juice, and roughly chop.

3) In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt and mix well.

4) In a separate bowl cream together the butter, sugar, eggs and the 4 tablespoons cherry juice. Mix well until fully combined. Add the butter and sugar mix to the flour mixture and mix well. Then gently fold in the chopped cherries and nuts.

5) Scoop the batter into the loaf pan, and spread evenly.

6) Bake bread for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour or until golden and baked through. Remove from the pan and cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes.

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me, three feastive tipples for a cold and frosty morning

Woke up this morning to a hard frost. It's nearly January and it's getting very cold. So, to warm you up on these chill midwinter nights, why not indulge in a glass of something hot and spicy - in others words mulled wine!

I recommend three recipes in particular, those for Clarrey, Bishop's Wine and Glogg - and you can find all of them in What is Mrryh Anyway? Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas, which is still available!

And here's how I got on when I made some Bishop's Wine for friends and family last year...

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

This afternoon it started raining on top of the frozen snow that fell a few days ago. Then it started to sleet until at last it started to snow. This is the view in my street at the moment...


Apparently bookmakers William Hill have slashed the odds of it being a White Christmas, worried that they'll be facing a massive pay-out.

Did you know...?
It can actually get cold enough that it doesn't snow! Because snow is frozen water, if there are not enough water droplets in the air it can't snow - simple as that. As a result, the driest place on Earth isn't in the Sahara Desert or the Arizona Desert. It's actually a place known as the Dry Valleys and it's in Antarctica. The area is completely free of ice and snow, and it never rains there at all! In fact, parts of the Antarctic continent haven't seen any rain for around 2 million years! But Antarctica is also the wettest place in world, due to the fact that 70% of the Earth's water is found there in the form of ice.

For more fascinating facts like these, check out Match Wits with the Kids - available now - as well as What is Myrrh Anyway? Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas.

And if you're feeling the cold, why not sit down in front of the fire tonight and enjoy a Snowball? Of the slightly alcoholic variety...

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Snowball Cocktail
2 oz Advocaat
Top up Lemonade
1/2 oz Fresh Lime juice

Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker / stirrer and pour into an unusually shaped glass. Add Crushed Ice and decorations to create a great speciality drink from an easy to make recipe!

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And while you're sipping your Snowball, why not listen to this ode to the cocktail, celebrating the fact that you can enjoy all your favourite drinks in the same glass?

Christmas Pizza!

As I sit at my computer this morning, looking out at houses and gardens iced with snow, my thoughts turn, once again, to food...

Fed up with the traditional turkey for Christmas or just wondering what to do with the leftovers the next day? Then why not make yourself a Christmas pizza?

Christmas Turkey Pizza

For the Dough
3/4 cup lukewarm water
1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

For the Sauce
250ml whipping cream
4 tbsp. butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 strips crispy bacon, chopped

For the Toppings
1 lb. roast turkey or chicken
3-4 golden fingerling potatoes
1 small red onion
4 tbsp. whole cranberry sauce
1 sprig fresh rosemary

Preparation
1. Prepare dough – Mix all ingredients and let it rise until dough doubled in size, about 1 hour. Dust a pizza stone with flour. Roll out the dough to fit stone. Let rise for 20 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 425°F.

3. Prepare sauce - melt butter over medium low heat. Add garlic and saute lightly - don’t burn the garlic! Stir in the cream and bring to a simmer and reduce heat. Add bacon and simmer until desired consistency is reached.

4. Spread sauce thinly on dough then arrange the remaining toppings as desired.

5. Bake in the center of the oven until the dough is golden at the edges, about 35 minutes. Remove, let sit for 5 minutes, then cut and serve.

And here's a recipe for a sweet Christmas pizza

Sweet Christmas Pizza

Ingredients
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 pound white almond bark divided
2 cups mini marshmallows
1 cup rice cereal
1 cup peanuts
16 ounces red maraschino cherries, quartered
3 tablespoons green cherries
1/3 cup coconut
1 teaspoon oil

Melt chocolate with 14 ounce almond bark in large saucepan on low heat, stir until smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in marshmallows, cereal and peanuts. Pour into greased 12 inch pizza pan. Top with cherries. Sprinkle with coconut. Melt remaining almond bark with oil over low heat. Stir until smooth. Drizzle over coconut. Chill. Store at room temperature.

And here's a Christmas pizza the Franklin family made earlier...

Grow your own drugs for the Hairy Biker's Twelve Days of Christmas

Two festive frivolities to watch on BBC 2 tonight. First there's Grow You Own Drugs for Christmas at 8.00pm with ethnobotanist James Wong concocting a Victorian hangover cure (amongst other things)...


And then at 9.00pm it's The Hairy Bikers' Twelve Days of Christmas, in which Dave Myers and Si King create an array of seasonal dishes that reinterpret the classic Christmas song...

Jamie's Family Christmas

Channel 4 continues its festive season of seasonal shows based around their most popular presenters with Jamie's Family Christmas. There's a double dose tonight at 8.00pm and 8.30pm.


Over the course of the series he'll be treating us to recipes for his own Christmas turkey, Festive strudel, Roast vegetable mega-mix, Christmas spirit cocktail and Turkey con chili.

Christmas curry?

A friend of mine is shunning turkey with all the trimmings and having curry for Christmas instead. As he puts it, "I actually like Christmas. I just think that turkey is overrated. Plus, if you go for a free-range, ethically sourced one you can be paying £60 up. Just for something that tastes a bit like chicken but drier and blander."

However, if you're still sticking with turkey (as we are in our household this year) then here's something you can do with the leftover bird the next day, as an alternative to living off turkey sandwiches for a week!

Christmas Roast Turkey Curry

500g Roast turkey
1 tsp Ginger
1 tsp Lemon juice
1 tsp Chopped coriander Salt
½ tsp Garam masala
1/3 tsp Chili powder
½ tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Ground coriander
4 tbsp Cooking oil
1 Onion chopped
4 Garlic cloves chopped
¼ cup Tomato puree
1 tsp Ground cumin

Put the oil in a hot saucepan and add the onion and garlic. Fry for 7 minutes. In a bowl, mix together: the tomato puree, cumin, coriander, turmeric, chili powder, garam masala and salt to form a thick paste. Tip the paste into the onion mixture and fry for half a minute. Stir in the turkey pieces and cook for 1 minute. Add 400ml of hot water from the kettle and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Mix in the ginger and the lemon juice.

Make your own White Christmas

With Christmas only two weeks away, you might want to start thinking about what you're going to feed all your guests this year. Well, why not make all their Christmases white with this simple recipe for a delicious festive treat from down under?

White Christmas

250g vegetable shortening
1 cup rice crispies
1 cup shredded coconut
¾ cup icing sugar
1 cup powdered milk
¾ cup toasted almond kernels
30g mixed peel
30g preserved ginger
30g glace apricots
30g glace pineapple
30g sultanas
50g glace cherries

Place the coconut, icing sugar, powered milk, mixed fruit, nuts, cherries (all chopped coarsely), and the rice crispies into a bowl and mix well.

Warm the vegetable shortening gently until melted and then pour over the ingredients. Mix well and place in a airtight container and set in the fridge.

Serve sliced into fingers.

Enjoy!

Now that's what I call dedication!

Nicola Simons calculates that she's already munched her way through 600 mince pies this year - and she hasn't finished yet! But then Nicola, 25, is the bakery product developer for Sainsbury's and responsible for creating the supermarket's seasonal range.

"Part of my job involves tasting every product, including mince pies, Christmas cakes and puddings from all our competitors, as well as reviewing our own range," she explains.

And she estimates that while developing this year's mince pies, she has chomped her way through 17kg of pastry and 18kg of mincemeat - approximately 23 jars.

"I usually spend around 12 hours a week eating, but in the run-up to Christmas this can be up to 21 hours," she adds.

To read more about Nicola's extraordinary dedication to perfecting the perfect mince pie, click here. And if you want to know what mince pies should really taste like, you can find an original Medieval recipe in What is Myrrh Anyway? available now!

Make yourself a Victorian Christmas

Fed up with the same old Yuletide gifts and festivities? Then why not take a trip to yesteryear and make yours a Victorian Christmas?


Just follow this link to the BBC's Victorian Farm page for a whole host of authentic Christmas recipes and activities dating from the Victorian era. There's everything from toy theatres and keepsake boxes to paper flowers and Wassail punch, with something new being revealed everyday.

Today it's mince pies made with real meat.

BACON BUTTY IS OUR FAVOURITE NAUGHTY SNACK

Apparently, the humble (yet delicious) bacon butty is the nation's favourite 'guilty' food. You can read more about the sublime-smelling and terrific-tasting sarnie snack here.

And of course bacon is a vital part of the traditional 'all the trimmings' Christmas dinner. But what if you fancy something a little different this year but you don't want to go without your bacon? Then why not try this savoury Christmas roulade?

Savoury Christmas Roulade

Ingredients

1 pack of unsmoked bacon

1 pack of pork sausages

1 pack of stuffing mix

Preparation method

Roll out some cling film on a work surface. Place the bacon on top of the cling film and overlap the edges of each rasher so there are no gaps, thereby forming a rectangle. Squeeze the sausage meat out of the sausages (or just buy sausage meat) and spread the sausage meat over the bacon. Make up the stuffing mix (it helps if you add some butter to stuffing mix) and then spread the stuffing over the sausage meat. Now roll the roulade into a log using the cling film to keep it all together. Place on a lightly oiled baking dish, remove cling film and bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes. Remove from the oven and slice into portions. Serves 2 with roast potatoes and vegetables, or 4-6 if used as the 'trimmings' for a turkey Christmas dinner.

Chocolate Rudolphs & Minty Snowballs

Chocolate Rudolphs

Half almonds
Glace cherries (halved)
Silver balls
Jelly strips
170g / 6 oz Chocolate

Melt the chocolate over a bowl of hot water. Spoon out dollops of chocolate onto a tray lined with greaseproof paper. Before the chocolate sets make Rudolph's face using the halved almonds for the ears, he jelly strips for his antlers, half a glace cherry for his nose and silver balls for eyes. Then simply leave them to set. Easy!

Minty Snowballs

Peppermint essence
One egg white
340g / 12 oz Icing Sugar

Whisk the egg white, adding in four teaspoons of peppermint essence. Add the egg white to the sugar and mix it all together, then form into a ball. Divide the ball into pieces roughly the size of large marbles, form these pieces into snowballs and then leave them to harden overnight. Done!

A Champagne Christmas

Why not splash out this Christmas with a bottle or two of champagne? After all, the cost of a bottle of champagne could drop to as low as £10, as stores are forced to cut prices to clear their stocks of millions of bottles that have been left unsold thanks to the recession.


Then you could have a go at making this delicious Christmas cocktail.

Christmas Champagne Cocktail

Serves/Makes: 1

Ingredients:
1 lemon wedge
1/4 cup pink decorating sugar
1 sugar cube
1 dash of pomegranate nectar
Chilled champagne, or other sparkling wine or sparkling cider

Rub the rim of a champagne flute with the lemon wedge, then dip the rim into the decorating sugar (save any extra sugar for making more cocktails. Put the sugar cube into the flute. Drop the pomegranate nectar on the sugar. Pour in the sparkling wine or cider to fill the glass. Serve at once.

To find out more about the champagne price crash, click here.

Delia's Happy Christmas

What would Christmas be without Delia?

Well the queen of cookery writing has a new title out this season, with Delia's Happy Christmas.

Delia has long been the person we turn to for stress-free Christmas celebrations, and this year she celebrates 40 years of writing recipes.

Delia's Happy Christmas is the definitive guide to all aspects of cooking for Christmas. This cookbook will actually help you to plan your Christmas festivities to the very last culinary detail, even acting as an invaluable Christmas organiser from reminding you to make your Christmas pudding and chutneys in November to giving you a crucial countdown for the Last 36 Hours.

So what are you waiting for? Go here to pick up a copy for yourself so that Christmas this year can be as stress-free as it must be in Delia's household.

Butterbeer

It's not just the drink of wizards from the world of Harry Potter. As it turns out, Butterbeer is actually a genuine Tudor recipe and one that's perfect to bring a bit of seasonal cheer to any festive occasion.


If you would like to try brewing your own butterbeer, it's easier than you might think. Here's a recipe that includes ale among its ingredients. And here's a non-alcoholic version for the kiddies and teetotallers among the audience.

The Supersizers Eat... Medieval

In the BBC series The Supersizers Eat... restaurant critic Giles Coren and writer and comedian Sue Perkins experience the food culture of years gone by. Last night they went back to medieval England to live the life of a Lord and Lady in their country manor.


It was up to Anglo-Saxon lookalike Martin Blunos (who also just happens to be a Michelin-starred chef) to cook all their food for the week, which included everything from roast cockentrice - a creation made from the forepart of a chicken sewn to the rear of a piglet - to peacock, coqz heaumez (helmeted cock), suckling pig, boar's head and hippocras.


Now, it just so happens that recipes for a number of things they ate can be found in What is Myrrh Anyway? So, if you fancy finding out what frumenty tastes like for yourself or you're curious about the health benefits of hippocras (a.k.a. ypocras) then why not pick up a copy today?


There was also much discussion - mainly with monks - about fasting and what the Medieval mind considers to be fish. This is also covered in What is Myrrh Anyway? as Christmas Eve was a fast day, and fish could be eaten on fast days.

What is Myrrh Anyway? - it's not just for Christmas!

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me... eleventh hour preparations for Twelfth Night!

Tomorrow - 6 January - is the Feast of the Epiphany (when the Christian Church commemorates the visit of the Magi to the Christ child) and hence, Twelfth Night.
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From the time of William Conqueror up until the start of the seventeenth century, the feast of the Epiphany was celebrated much more lavishly than Christmas Day. Having taken down the Christmas cards and decorations for another year, Twelfth Night presented one last opportunity for a knees-up, the highlight being the cutting of the twelfth-cake.
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The traditional Twelfth Night cake was supposed to have a dried pea or bean hidden somewhere inside it. Whoever found the bean was proclaimed king or queen for the rest of the evening’s fun and frivolity. It then became their responsibility to announce the toasts and lead everyone else in the drinking that ensued. However, some kings and queens also earned themselves the responsibility of covering the bill the next day. In time, the bean became a silver sixpence which was cooked inside the Christmas pudding rather than the cake.
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If you fancy making your own Twelfth-Cake in preparation for tomorrow's festivities, why not try this recipe for yourself?

Twelfth-Cake

175 g/6 oz flour
175 g/6 oz butter
175 g/6 oz sugar
3 eggs
3 tbs brandy
340 g/12 oz currants
40 g/1½ oz flaked almonds
25 g/1 oz orange and lemon peel, finely chopped
1 tbs honey
1 tsp of vinegar

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Soften the butter and add to the sugar and cream in a mixing bowl. Cream the mixture until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well; also add a tablespoon of flour to stop them curdling. Pour in the brandy, followed by the flour and then the spices. Fold them all in, keeping the mixture light and airy. Lastly stir in the currants, almonds, peel and honey. Then mixture needs to be poured into a prepared cake tin which is when you can also add a pea or bean, if you wish (but do not use a kidney bean as if it is undercooked it can prove toxic!). Bake for two hours until the cake has browned on top.


You can this recipe, and others like it, in What is Myrrh Anyway? which is still available from all good bookshops.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me... two oranges stuck with cloves!

Last night I tried out one of the recipes from What is Myrrh Anyway? on a group of family and friends who were round for Christmas Eve dinner. And even if I do say so myself it was very well received, and tasted pretty good too.

So, if you fancy a taste of Bishop's Wine, here's the recipe from the book, along with a few visual aids. (NB - I made double the quantity, which is why there's double the ingredients in all the photographs.)

Bishop’s Wine

1 bottle of red wine
1 orange stuck with cloves
1 cinnamon stick
The peel of 1 lemon
Sugar to taste

Place the clove stuck orange in a large pan; add the red wine and leave to steep for half a day. During this time the wine will take on the flavours of the orange and cloves.

Then you need to add the other ingredients together and simply warm the whole lot through half an hour before serving.

Last of all, enjoy in the company of friends and family.

23 December - Posset, a traditional Christmas Eve treat

If you're anything like me, I'm sure you're up to your neck in preparations for Christmas. But amidst all the fuss and panic, why not take some time out tomorrow to enjoy a traditional Christmas Eve drink.

Posset was drunk on Christmas Eve to get the seasonal merry-making under way. It was made by combining hot milk with spices, lemon and sugar, as well as oatcake and bread. The posset was traditionally taken with a spoon. Good luck befell the fortunate youth or maiden who drew out the lucky coin (or even wedding-ring!) which had been dropped in the posset-pot!

During the 19th century, on Christmas Eve, it was the custom to offer each carolling guest a posset cup and a piece of apple pie or tart. This recipe serves 8-10.

Posset

4 cups of milk
4 tbs sugar

4 slices of toast

1 tsp cinnamon

4 cups of beer (preferably ale)

Heat the milk, sugar, and toast in a saucepan, taking care not to let it boil. Stir the cinnamon and beer together in a large bowl. Discard the toast, pour the hot milk over the ale and stir. It is best served still warm.

Mulled wine and mince pies

Earlier this evening I enjoyed mulled wine and mince pies at a neighbour's house. Of course, the eating of the mince pies was, technically, against the law and there was no hare's liver in the mincemeat (see What is Myrrh Anyway? for more details) but nonetheless it was very nice too.

If you're looking to host a mulled wine party yourself before Christmas, you could do a lot worse than try out this simple festive recipe for the intriguingly titled Bishop's Wine.

Bishop’s Wine

1 bottle of red wine
1 orange stuck with cloves
1 cinnamon stick
The peel of 1 lemon
Sugar to taste

Place the clove stuck orange in a large pan; add the red wine and leave to steep for half a day. During this time the wine will take on the flavours of the orange and cloves. Then you need to add the other ingredients together and simply warm the whole lot through half an hour before serving.