Christmas gin and tonic soap!

Here are some Christmas soaps that I made as presents this year. They smell of gin and tonic (well mostly of lemon!). They made nice little stocking filler presents but the rules and regulations regarding selling soap are already complicated and about to change again in 2013 so will need to think of another idea for my arts and crafts stall!

Gin and lemon tart for alternative to Christmas pudding!

We love Christmas pudding but not everyone in the family feels the same, so we like to offer an alternative pudding as we all like pudding! This year I will be making gin and lemon tart, which is like tart au citron but with added gin!

Gin and lemon tart

Serves: 8

Ingredients

Pastry

150g of plan flour (sieved)

50g ground almonds

35g icing sugar (sieved)

75g of chilled unsalted butter, chopped into cubes

Zest of a lemon

1 egg yolk

Approx 3 tablespoons of cold water

TART FILLING

2 eggs

150 mls of cream

80g of caster sugar

zest of 1 lemon

juice of 2-3 lemons to 100ml

50ml of Gin

3 juniper berries, lightly bruised

To make the pastry.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.

1. Sieve the flour, ground almonds and icing sugar into a bowl and add the lemon zest.

2.  Add the cubed butter and with your fingers rub in the butter until the mix is like fine breadcrumbs.

3.  Add the egg yolk and enough cold water that the mix is covered and then gather into a soft dough.

4. Put the dough into the fridge for 30 minutes.

5. Roll our the chilled pastry on a floured board until is it 3-4 mm thick.

6. Grease an 8 inch flan tin

7. Bake the pastry case blind for 10 minutes until light golden brown. Return the empty pastry case to the oven for another 10-12 minutes or until it is pale golden and completely dry. Set aside to cool while you make the filling. Reduce the oven temperature to 170C/325F/Gas 3.

The Filling

1. For the filling whisk together the eggs, caster sugar, lemon zest and juice. Add the cream, crushed juniper berries and gin and whisk until combined.
2. Leave to mix with the flavour of the juniper berries for ten minutes, then remove the berries.
3.  Pour the filling into the tart base and bake for 7 to 10 minutes or until the filling is just set. Set aside to cool.
4. Serve with cream.

Sloe gin and Walnut loaf from Delicious Magazine.

Sloe gin and Walnut loaf from Delicious Magazine.

I have made this rather yummy looking fruit cake from December's Delicious Magazine. It is now sitting under the bed in the spare room being fed with sloe gin once a week. The plan is to eat it on my birthday at the end of the month with my good friends Janie and Lesley.

Ingredients

1. 650g mix of sultanas, currants and raisins
2. 100g dried cherries
3. Zest and juice of 1 orange
4. 150ml sloe gin, plus extra for feeding
5. 225g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
6. 250g soft light brown sugar
7. 1 tbsp black treacle
8. 4 medium free-range eggs, beaten
9. 250g plain flour
10. 2 tsp ground cinnamon
11. 2 tsp mixed spice
12. 100g walnuts, roughly chopped

Method

1. 1. Put all the dried fruit in a large bowl, then stir through the orange zest, juice and 150ml sloe gin. Cover and leave to soak overnight.
2. 2. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas 4. Grease a 20cm round cake tin with butter, then line the base and sides with baking paper so it reaches 5cm above the tin. Line the outside of the tin with another tall piece of baking paper, securing with string. Set aside on a baking sheet.
3. 3. Using an electric hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until fluffy and a pale toffee colour, then beat in the treacle. Add the beaten eggs, a little at a time, mixing well between each addition. Sift in the flour and spices, then stir to a smooth batter. Add the soaked fruit and any sloe gin left in the bowl, as well as the walnuts, stirring until combined.
4. 4. Scrape the batter into the cake tin, then level off with the back of a spoon. Bake for 75-90 minutes until firm to the touch. A skewer inserted into the middle should come out relatively clean, depending on how much fruit you hit when you stick it in. If it begins to look too dark, cover the top of the cake with baking paper.
5. 5. Remove the tin from the oven. Use a skewer to poke a few small holes in the top of the cake, then pour over 1 tbsp sloe gin. Once cool, remove the cake from the tin, wrap baking paper around it, then wrap in foil. Store in an airtight container.
6. 6. Feed the cake once a week by pouring over 1 tbsp sloe gin. The cake will keep, seemingly forever, although at a certain point it will become more sloe gin than cake!http://www.cakeoftheweek.net/p/baking-with-spirit.html

Freezing mince pies

 Here is what to do if you want to freeze your mince pies, ready for unexpected guests at Christmas!

Freeze mince pies uncooked – just pop your tin of filled mince pies in the freezer until solid, then transfer to a freezer bag or plastic container. When ready to cook just place as many as you want back into the tins and cook at 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4 for 20-25 minutes, until golden and piping hot.

                   Here is a nice Christmas recipe! 
I am going to enter these mince pies with boozy homemade mincemeat in Cake of the week's Baking with Spirit competition!  

Mini mince pies and homemade mincemeat 

Makes18 mini mince pies
 Pastry

 150g of plan flour (sieved) 
50g ground almonds 
35g icing sugar (sieved)
 75g of chilled unsalted butter, chopped into cubes
 Zest of a lemon 
1 egg yolk 
Approx 3 tablespoons of cold water 
Mincemeat 
This mix will do for two batches of mince pies, as there is no suet in the mix it can be stored in a jar in the fridge of about a week.
 100g mix of dried fruit,( this could be sultanas currants, raisins, mixed peel, apricots) 
25g dried cranberries or cherries
 Zest and juice of one orange Zest and juice of ½ waxed lemon 
25g golden caster sugar (add a bit more if you have a sweet tooth!) 
25ml brandy 
Dash of orange liquer if you have any 
1tsp mixed spice 
1 tsp cinnamon
 1 small bramley apple (about 50g) peeled and cored 
1. To make the mincemeat, mix all the dried fruit together add zest, orange and lemon juice, sugar brandy and spices. Mix together . Grate the apple and add to the mix. Cover the bowl and leave for a few hours or even better overnight. Stirring occasionally.
 To make the pastry.  
1. Sieve the flour, ground almonds and icing sugar into a bowl and add the lemon zest.
 2. Add the cubed butter and with your fingers rub in the butter until the mix is like fine breadcrumbs. 
3. Add the egg yolk and enough cold water that the mix is covered and then gather into a soft dough. 
4. Put the dough into the fridge for 30 minutes.
 5. Roll our the chilled pastry on a floured board until is it 3-4 mm thick. Use a 7cm fluted pastry cutter or star shape to cut out 18 shapes. Then roll out the bits that are left and with a small star shape cutter cut out 18 tops. 
6. Grease mini pie tin or individual cases and carefully add the large shapes. 
7. Put about a teaspoonful of mincemeat into each pastry case then add the star lids. Brush the lids with the leftover white of the egg.
 Cook in a preheated oven to 190c fan oven/170c / gas 5 for 15-20mins until the pastry is a light golden colour. Take the pies out of the oven then leave to cool for a few mintues in the tin. Remove to a wire rack and dust with icing sugar. Leave them to cool completely then store in an airtight container.