Top 3 Christmas Recipes

Gorging on a hearty Christmas dinner is a quintessential Christmas experience, inseparable from the spirit of Christmas. Here are three recipes which will be sure to make your Christmas dinner experience unforgettable.

3: The classic gingerbread house

For this delicious ginger masterpiece, you will need:

• 250 g unsalted butter
• 200 g muscovado sugar
• 7 tablespoons of golden syrup
• 600 g plain flour
• 2 teaspoons of bicarb
• 4 teaspoons of ground ginger
• 200 g flaked almonds
• 2 egg whites
• 500 g icing sugar
• 125 g chocolate fingers
• Sweets of your choice
• A dipped chocolate flake

Method:

Melt the butter, sugar, and syrup together. Stir the liquid into the flour, adding bicarb and ginger. Stir until a solid dough is made. Should the dough not work, add water. Knead the dough flat, and once it is kneaded, roll it thin onto a sheet of baking paper. Cut the dough into six sections: four walls and two roof panels.

Once the dough is made and shaped, dig the almond flakes, facing down, into the roof panels to make them look like shingles. Bake the dough at 200C/180C fan/gas mark 6 for 12 minutes, until the dough is firm. After baking, once the dough has cooled down slightly, trim the edges for a sharp look.

Mixing the egg whites and the icing sugar, make thick icing. Spoon it into a piping bag, and use it to cement the walls and roof together. Make sure to prop up the roof panels. Leave it to dry overnight.

Use your sweets to decorate the house, gluing them with the icing. Employ the chocolate fingers to create the door and decorate the side walls, giving the house a log cabin feel. If you wish, you can create icicles by piping small blobs of icing down the eave of the house.

To make the chimney, take the flake and cut it at an angle, and glue it to the roof using the icing. Once you have done all this, you should have a gingerbread house! It will remain edible for about a week.

2: The salted caramel Christmas cake

For this recipe, you will need:

• 230 g unsalted butter
• 150 g chopped pecans
• 100 g chopped hazelnuts
• 200 g dates
• 300 g sultanas
• 100 g toffee
• 225 g plain flour
• ½ teaspoon of sea salt
• 200g soft sugar
• 50g ground almonds
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons of black treacle
• 4 tablespoons of spiced rum
• 3 tablespoons of dulce de leche

Method:

Butter the base of a loose-bottomed cake tin, at least 20 cm (7.8”) in diameter and at least 7 cm (2.7”) deep. Mix the nuts, dates, sultanas, and toffee in one bowl, and the flour, salt, sugar, and almonds in another. In the latter bowl, use an electric whisk to mix in the butter, eggs, treacle, and rum. Once this is complete, stir the former bowl into the latter bowl, then fold in the dulce de leche. Pour the mixture into the cake tin, and level it. Bake it for one hour at 150C/130C fan/gas mark 2. Cover the cake and bake it for another 1 hour and 25 minutes, or until the cake passes the skewer test. This will hold for two weeks in an airtight container.

1: The Christmas goose:

For this recipe, you will need:

• 4.5-5 kg fresh goose
• 4 lemons
• 3 limes
• 1 tablespoon of Chinese five spice powder
• Parsley, thyme, and sage sprigs
• 3 tablespoons of clear honey
• 1 tablespoon of thyme leaves

Method:

If the goose is ready-trussed, loosen the string and pull the legs out, to aid cooking. Pull any giblets or fat pads out of the goose. Using a sharp knife, lightly score the breast and leg skin of the goose, to aid the roasting process.

Combine the grated zest of four lemons and three limes with two teaspoons of sea salt, one teaspoon of five spice powder, and pepper. Rub the cavity with plenty of salt, and rub the zest into the skin, sprinkling some into the cavity.

Once the goose is rubbed, stuff the skinless lemons and limes themselves into the cavity, along with the parsley, thyme, and sage. Set it aside for 15 minutes. At this point you may want to calculate for how long the goose should cook: for every kilogram of goose, cook it for 10 minutes at 240C/220C fan/gas mark 9 for 10 minutes, and then reduce it to 190C/170C fan/gas mark 5 for 20 minutes.

Once the goose has rested, place it in a roasting tin and cook. If you see it browning too much, cover it with foil. When it is finished, let it rest for 30 minutes, to assist carving.