When my children were growing up I did a Gingerbread creation for them every year, without fail.  I always enjoyed doing and they really enjoyed the fruits of my labours.  This is a recipe which I had shared on my old Oak Cottage Blog about 8 years ago now, but I thought it was worthy of sharing here in my English Kitchen.   The pictures are not the best, but I am sure you can get a good idea of what it should look like.

I've been working hard on this post and what you will see here today is the whole Christmas Feast! I meant to have it up a couple of days ago so you would have lots of time to pop down to the shops, but hopefully you will have most everything in the house already for these recipes and if you need to pick up anything you will still have time to do so.

This is another recipe I like to bake each Christmas.  It just wouldn't be Christmas without a plate of these on offer.   Simple to make and yet so very impressive.  Perfect for a holiday breakfast or brunch, or even for coffee breaks or elevensies.

 

With the holidays looming I have decided to discount my very popular Cookbooklet entitled, Christmas in the English Kitchen for a limited time only.   Normally this beautifully illustrated cookbooklet sells for the full price of £5, but from now until the end of November, 2014 . . .  I am offering it to you for the low price of only £2.



Forty Eight pages  filled with lots of hints and tips to help to make your Christmas Celebrations the very best ever.  Interspersed between my hints, tips and recipes are my own charming little illustrations.  There are delectable soups and spreads.  Holiday entrees from the traditional to the not so traditional and even something to please your veggie friends.  Stuffings, sauces, vegetables.   Tasty puds and traditional folklore abound.  There is even a printable card for you to share with your friends.



This is delivered as a downloadable PDF file within 24 hours of your payment clearing.   Do make sure you have adobe reader enabled, and be sure to add my e-mail address (mariealicejoan at aol dot com) to your list of contacts.

Anyone who has purchased my cookbooklets in the past will tell you that this is a real bargain.   Thanks so much for looking.

Unfortunately this offer has now ended.  Sorry.

One thing my mother always made at least once during the holidays was peanut butter fudge. It was never chocolate or any other kind . . . always peanut butter, but we didn't mind because we loved it so very much. It was a real treat!



She always made it in the same pot, an old aluminum one that she had gotten in her original set of Wearever cookware back in 1955. I think it cost almost as much as a house, but here we are 2011 and she is still using it. Money well spent, I'd say!



She never measured anything. She didn't need to . . . it was all done by memory, and she knew exactly how much of each thing she needed to add by sight alone . . . and it always worked like a charm, every time. (Me . . . I made fudge sometimes for my children when they were growing up, and 9 times out of 10 they'd end up having to eat it with a spoon.



We'd watch her as it went together . . . as if by magic . . . and then sometimes she would let us beat it when it was ready, with her big old wooden spoon . . . if we'd been very good . . .we'd be given the pot and spoon to lick clean . . . we did a pretty good job of that, coz it would always be as clean as a whistle by the time we were done.



The beaten fudge would be poured into the same pan each time . . . it was an old aluminium tin, blackened through use . . . it's bottom engraved in a swirly pattern of raised tin. Some how those little traced swirls on the bottom of each piece only added to it's flavour . . . cakes used to come out with that swirly pattern as well. Nom! Nom!



After I grew up, I was determined to learn how to make it for myself and my family, and so I had her dump in the ingredients one at a time one evening . . . and I carefully measured them as she did so. It worked out pretty well, as I have had a great peanut butter fudge recipe for years that I can count on to turn out every single time.



It never quite tastes quite as good as the memory of the taste of hers . . . but then . . . I don't have that special touch of magic mother's love that she put into it . . . nor do I have a swirley bottomed pan.



*Mom's Peanut Butter Fudge*
Makes one 8 inch square pan
Printable Recipe

It just wouldn't be Christmas without a pan of this to munch on! Creamy and peanut buttery. If you don't like peanut butter, look away now!

21 ounces of white sugar (3 cups)
3 TBS smooth peanut butter
250ml of whole milk (1 cup)
2 ounces butter (1/4 cup)
1 tap vanilla

Butter an 8 inch square pan. Set aside.

Place the sugar, peanut butter and milk into a LARGE saucepan. (You will need a really big one as it really increases in volume when it is boiling. Trust me on this.) Heat, whisking, until the peanut butter is completely melted into the mixture. Increase the heat slightly and bring to a rolling boil. Reduce the heat to a medium boil and continue to boil, stirring occasionally to help prevent it from catching. You will want to boil it to the soft ball stage, (115*C/235*F) This should take between 18 to 25 minutes or so. Once this happens, remove from the heat immediately.

Stir in the butter and vanilla. Beat with a wooden spoon until it begins to look creamy and begins to lose it's gloss. Pour into the prepared pan immediately. (Don't wait too long or it will harden in the pot and you won't be able to pour it into the prepared pan. You just want it to begin losing it's gloss.) Allow to set for about an hour at room temperature, before cutting into squares to serve.

Store in an airtight container. This also freezes well.

Roll two of the pastry discs into a round large enough to fit into each of two nine-inch pie tins with an overhang.  Divide the cooled filling between each crust.  Roll out the two remaining discs to cover the tops with an overhang.  Wet the edges of the bottom crust and place the top crusts over each.   Seal and trim.  Cut out a steam vent in the centre of each pie.  Roll out the scraps if desired and use to decorate the tops.  Brush with the beaten egg yolk to glaze.

Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7.  Place the two pies on a large baking try and bake on the bottom shelf of the oven for 15 minutes.  Reduce the heat to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4 and bake for a further 30 to 35 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and golden brown and crisp on the bottom.



I did a little one for Todd so you could see how flakey that pastry is and what the filling looks like.  He really enjoys this each year, and of course he doesn't have to watch his waistline!



(My sister's pies this year!  Yes we both like to take photos of what we cook and eat!  It must run in the family!)

Note:  If you only want to make one pie, just cut all the ingredients for the filling in half.  Or make the full batch and freeze half of it for another time.   You can also bake this in individual pies.  My sister does and uses canning jar lids for the pans.  Works perfectly!

I just love using mincemeat during the Christmas season.   It's one of my favourite ingredients and I am sure I go through several jars.  Each year I try to do something different with it if I can.  There has been a photo circulating on the net and Pinterest over the past couple of months of a nutella bread which is layered and twisted and I got to thinking that the same thing done with mincemeat would be really nice.



I decided early on though that I would use puff pastry instead of bread dough however, because I wanted these to be like mince pies.   I also decided that if they were going to work properly I would have to puree the mincemeat a bit so that it wasn't too lumpy.



As you can see they turned out really pretty.   Golden on the edges . . . lovely to look at . . . flakey and sweet and spiced just nicely.  I created a thin icing, lightly flavoured with cinnamon (if you want) to drizzle over top once baked and I sprinkled them with some white sparkle sprinkles.



I was really pleased with how they turned out!  They tasted really nice as well.   I think they were just that little bit different than the usual mince pies! In short, I fell in love with them.  Very Festive.  And no . . . they were not as fiddly as they look to make.  Trust me.




Blitz the mincemeat in a food processor until the particles in it are very small.  Almost, but not quite a paste.


Remove from the oven and allow to sit for just a minute or two before scooping off onto a wire rack to finish cooling.   Whisk together the icing sugar and enough milk to give you a thick drizzle icing.  



You can flavour it with a bit of cinnamon if you like.  Drizzle this over top of the snowflakes and sprinkle with the sparkle sprinkles.   Store in an airtight container.  Will keep several days.

One thing that I like to make each Christmas is Peanut Brittle.  It's easy to make and makes a nice hostess gift if you are invited out.  I have never had anyone turn their nose up at a pretty little box of it yet!



Making it in the microwave takes all the guess work out of it.  It goes together easily and always turns out.  I have never had it fail.   Just be sure to check it frequently and if you think it is getting too brown, stop.  It should never be more than a golden brown.



It's made in less than 10 minutes, and that is 10 easy minutes where you aren't standing laborously over a stove, stirring and watching.  The microwave does all the work.  The only thing you need to be careful of is that you use a glass bowl that is truly microwaveable safe and that you use oven mits taking it out of the microwave.  Glass conducts heat very well and this is candy.  Candy is hot.



Also be very sure to take great care in handling the sugar mixture, once again . . . it's really hot and it will stick to your skin, so do please be very careful.  I would hate for anyone to get burnt badly.



This year I added a chocolate dip to mine . . . if there is anything that tastes better than homemade peanut brittle . . . it's homemade peanut brittle dipped in chocolate.  Semi sweet chocolate flavoured with peanut butter.  



Oh baby.  This is good.  I may have to make another batch to give away!  This first batch seems to be shrinking rather quickly.  Oh I do so love the Holiday Season, don't you!




Place the chocolate pieces into a smaller microwaveable bowl.  Cook on high for 1 to 2 minutes, until the chocolate melts when stirred.   Stir in the peanut butter until it melts.  Dip half of each piece of peanut brittle into the chocolate, scraping any excess off on the edge of the bowl.  Place on a wire rack to set.  Alternately you can let it set in the refrigerator.  



Note:  If you are not fond of chocolate and peanut butter, then just leave that final bit out and just make the brittle.  Store in an airtight container.