You’ll need adult supervision for this recipe when it comes to making the toffee to coat the apples. Look out for small, red-skinned apples, which will make the toffee look even more festive. Why not try dipping the bottoms of the toffee apples in sprinkles or finely chopped toasted nuts before putting them on the parchment to set?
toffee apples
8 small apples, eg Cox’s, Jazz or Pink Lady
300 g/1½ cups caster/granulated sugar
2 tablespoons golden syrup/corn syrup
juice of ½ lemon
finely chopped mixed nuts and edible sprinkles, for dipping (optional)
8 wooden skewers or lolly/popsicle sticks
a large sheet of non-stick baking parchment
makes 8
1 Wash and thoroughly dry each apple. Carefully push a wooden skewer or lolly/popsicle stick into the stalk end of each apple.
2 Put the sugar, golden/corn syrup and 150 ml/⅔ cup water in a heavy-based saucepan. Ask an adult to help you put it over low heat. Leave until the sugar has completely dissolved.
3 Turn up the heat and simmer until the toffee turns an amber colour.
4 Ask an adult to help you remove the pan from the heat. Carefully add the lemon juice – take care as the hot toffee may splutter. Working quickly, dip each apple into the toffee and swirl it around until evenly coated.
5 Leave to cool for 30 seconds, then dip the bottoms of the apples in mixed nuts or sprinkles, if using. Sit the apples on the baking parchment to harden. Serve on the same day.
Scrumptious, deep, chocolatey brownies that are topped with a delicious chocolate buttercream and scattered with festive sweets.
chocolate brownie squares
100 g/⅔ cup walnut pieces
175 g/1½ sticks unsalted butter
250 g/8 oz. dark/bittersweet chocolate, chopped
250 g/1¼ cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
150 g/1 cup plus 2 tablespoons plain/all-purpose flour
a pinch of salt
Chocolate Frosting (page 77)
red and green sweets edible Christmas sprinkles
a 23-cm/9-in square baking tin/pan, greased
makes 16
1 Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) Gas 4.
2 Ask an adult to help you line the prepared baking tin/pan with baking parchment.
3 Put the walnuts on a baking sheet and ask an adult to help you put them in the preheated oven. Roast them for 5 minutes, then ask an adult to help you remove them from the oven and leave them to cool.
4 Ask an adult to help you put the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir very carefully until it has melted, then leave to cool slightly.
5 Put the sugar and eggs in a mixing bowl. Ask an adult to help you use an electric whisk to beat until pale and thick.
6 Add the vanilla and chocolate mixture. Mix well.
7 Sift the flour and salt into the mixing bowl and fold in using a large metal spoon or spatula. Add the roasted walnuts and stir to combine. Pour the batter into the prepared baking tin/pan.
8 Ask an adult to help you put the tin/pan on the middle shelf of the oven. Bake for about 30 minutes. Ask an adult to help you remove the tin/pan from the oven, then leave it to cool.
9 Spread the Chocolate Frosting evenly over the brownies. Scatter the sweets and sprinkles over the top, cut into squares and serve.
These buns are traditionally served on St Lucy’s day in Sweden, 13th December, where they call them ‘lussekatt’. They are normally made into a backwards ‘S’ shape, but you could make them into any shape you like. Why not have fun with the dough and make simple animal shapes?
swedish saffron buns
250 ml/1 cup milk
a good pinch of saffron strands
500–600 g/4–4¾ cups strong white bread flour
1 × 7-g/¼-oz. sachet easy-blend dried yeast
½ teaspoon salt
50 g/¼ cup caster/granulated sugar
50 g/3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
100 ml/⅓ cup sour cream, at room temperature
1 egg, lightly beaten
24 raisins
2 baking sheets, lined with baking parchment
makes 12
1 Ask an adult to help you heat the milk in a small saucepan until hot but not boiling. Drop the saffron strands in and leave them to infuse in the hot milk for 10 minutes.
2 Tip 500 g/4 cups of the flour, the yeast, salt, sugar, butter and sour cream into a large mixing bowl and stir to mix. Pour the warm milk in and use your hands to mix everything together until you get a dough.
3 To knead the dough, first sprinkle a little flour on a clean work surface. Then shape the dough into a ball and push on it and press it onto the work surface, turning it round often. You’ll need to keep doing this until it is silky smooth and elastic – this will take between 4–7 minutes and you may need to add more flour if the dough is too sticky.
4 Shape the dough into a neat ball again. Wash and dry the mixing bowl and sit the dough back in it. Cover with clingfilm/plastic wrap and leave in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size. This can take at least 1 hour.
5 Tip the dough onto the floured work surface and knead for 1 minute. Divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a 20-cm/8-inch long sausage and twist into a backwards ‘S’ shape. Place 6 of the buns on one of the baking sheets and the other 6 on the other sheet.
6 Lightly oil a large sheet of clingfilm/plastic wrap, then use it to loosely cover the baking sheets (oiled-side down). Leave the buns to rise again for a further 30 minutes.
7 Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F) Gas 5.
8 Brush the buns lightly with the beaten egg and push a raisin into each end of the buns. Ask an adult to help you put the sheets on the middle shelf of the preheated oven. Bake for about 12–15 minutes, until well risen, shiny and deep golden brown.
‘Lebkuchen’ are traditional German Christmas cookies with a good hint of ginger and spices. They can be covered with either a simple white icing or a coating of chocolate.
lebkuchen
2 tablespoons clear honey
2 tablespoons black treacle/molasses
40 g/2½ tablespoons unsalted butter
75 g/⅓ cup dark brown soft sugar
grated zest of ½ orange
grated zest of ½ lemon
225g/1¾ cups self-raising flour
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg
a pinch of ground cloves
a pinch of salt
50 g/⅓ cup ground almonds
1 egg, lightly beaten
Chocolate Glaze (page 76)
Glacé Icing (page 76)
edible silver balls
shaped cookie cutters
2 baking sheets, lined with baking parchment
makes about 30
1 Put the honey, treacle/molasses, butter, sugar and orange and lemon zest in a small saucepan. Ask an adult to help you put it over low heat and stir until the butter has melted and everything is well mixed. Carefully remove from the heat and leave to cool.
2 Sift the flour, spices and salt together into a mixing bowl, then add the ground almonds. Add the melted butter mixture and the beaten egg and mix until you get a dough.
3 To knead the dough, sprinkle a little flour on a clean work surface. Shape the dough into a ball and push on it and press it onto the work surface, turning it round often. Do this for just a minute or so until smooth, then wrap in clingfilm/plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.
4 When you are ready to bake the Lebkuchen, preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) Gas 4. On the floured work surface, roll the dough out to a thickness of 5 mm/¼ inch using a rolling pin. Stamp out shapes with your cookie cutters.
5 Place the Lebkuchen on the prepared baking sheets and Ask an adult to help you put them in the preheated oven. Bake for about 15–20 minutes, or until just begining to brown at the edges.
6 Ask an adult to help you remove the Lebkuchen from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
7 When the Lebkuchen are cold, spread Chocolate Glaze or Glacé Icing over them with a palette knife or back of a spoon. Decorate with silver balls or pipe more glaze or icing over the Lebkuchen with a piping bag. (To make a quick piping bag, take a freezer bag and snip off a corner. Fill with glaze or icing and use to pipe lines onto the Lebkuchen.)
peppermint creams
225 g/1¾ cups icing/confectioners’ sugar
4–6 tablespoons condensed milk
½ teaspoon peppermint extract
green food colouring paste (optional)
a mini star-shaped cutter
makes 20–30
1 Sift the icing/confectioners’ sugar into a large bowl. Gradually add the condensed milk and peppermint extract, mixing with a wooden spoon. The mixture should come together like dough and you may need to use your hands towards the end of the mixing.
2 To knead the dough, sprinkle a little icing/confectioners’ sugar on a clean work surface. Shape the dough into a ball and push on it and press it onto the work surface, turning it round often. Do this for just a minute or so until smooth.
3 If you like, you can divide the dough in half and tint one half green using a little of the food colouring. Knead the dough again until it is evenly green.
4 On the work surface, roll the dough out to a thickness of 4 mm/¼ inch using a rolling pin. Stamp out stars with your cookie cutter and arrange them on a sheet of baking parchment.
5 Leave to dry out overnight before packing into pretty boxes.
These little Italian biscuits are pronounced ‘reech-ee-a-relly’. They’re chewy and sticky and yummy. You could add a little more finely grated lemon zest or lemon extract in place of the vanilla if you prefer. Dust them in icing/confectioners’ sugar, put them in a pretty box and give them to your teacher as a present.
ricciarelli
2 egg whites
a pinch of salt
225 g/1 cup caster/granulated sugar
grated zest of 1 lemon
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
300 g/2 cups ground almonds
4 tablespoons flaked/slivered almonds
icing/confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
2 baking sheets, lined with baking parchment
makes about 20
1 Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F) Gas 2.
2 Place the egg whites in a large, clean mixing bowl with the salt. Ask an adult to help you use an electric whisk to beat the egg whites until they’re nice and thick. When you turn the whisk off and lift them up slowly, the egg whites should stand in stiff peaks.
3 Gradually add the caster/granulated sugar, whisking constantly until completely incorporated. Add the lemon zest, vanilla extract and almond extract and mix again.
4 Fold in the ground almonds using a large metal spoon or spatula.
5 Wet your hands under the tap, then pull off a bit of the dough, about the size of a walnut, and roll it into a ball. Put it on one of the baking sheets and flatten slightly. Keep doing this until you have used all the dough.
6 Sprinkle flaked/slivered almonds over each ricciarelli.
7 Ask an adult to help you put the baking sheets in the centre of the preheated oven. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until pale gold.
8 Ask an adult to help you remove the sheets from the oven. Leave the ricciarelli to cool, then dust with icing/confectioners’ sugar.
marshmallow snowmen
200 g/7 oz. large white marshmallows
brown writing icing
coloured liquorice strips or fruit leather
chocolate-coated mint sticks (eg Matchmakers) or pretzel sticks
large chocolate drops
100 g/3½ oz. white mini-marshmallows
icing/confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
about 10 cocktail sticks/toothpicks
makes about 10
1 Place the marshmallows on a tray.
2 Push 2 large marshmallows onto each cocktail stick/toothpick. Ask an adult to trim off any of the stick/toothpick that is poking out of the top.
3 Using the writing icing, pipe dots and lines of icing onto the face to make the eyes, nose and mouth.
4 Cut the liquorice strips or fruit leather into thin strips and carefully tie around the snowman’s neck for a scarf.
5 To make the arms, break the chocolate-coated mint sticks in half and push into the sides of the large marshmallow.
6 Pipe a small blob of icing onto the top of the snowman’s head and position a large chocolate drop on top. Pipe another blob of icing in the middle of the chocolate drop and stick a mini-marshmallow on the very top.
7 Finally, using the writing icing again, pipe dots down the front of the snowman to look like buttons.
8 Keep making snowmen like this until you have as many as you need to make a fabulous winter wonderland!
9 To serve, scatter icing/confectioners’ sugar over the serving dish, arrange the snowmen on top and dust lightly with more sugar.
This classic treat is so fun to make – and lovely to receive as a gift! Prepare it a day in advance so that it has a chance to dry out before you cut it into small pieces to serve or package prettily into a gift box.
coconut ice
350 g/2¼ cups icing/confectioners’ sugar
400-g/14-oz. can condensed milk
350 g/2⅓ cups desiccated coconut
pink food colouring paste
a 20-cm/8-in square baking tin/pan, lightly greased
makes 25–30
1 Put the icing/confectioners’ sugar and the condensed milk in a mixing bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add the coconut and keep mixing until the mixture is well combined − it will get quite stiff!
2 Scoop out half the mixture and place in another mixing bowl. Add a tiny amount of pink food colouring and mix well to colour evenly. Add more colour if you need to.
3 Spread the pink mixture in the prepared tin/pan and make sure it is smooth and flat on top. Spread the white mixture evenly on top. Cover with clingfilm/plastic wrap and leave to dry out overnight.
4 Cut into squares, diamonds or triangles and arrange in a pretty box.
250 ml/1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
350 g/2⅔ cups plain/all-purpose flour
225 g/1 cup caster/granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
a pinch of salt
125 g/1 stick unsalted butter, chilled and diced
75 g/½ cup chopped mixed nuts
250 g/2 cups fresh cranberries
grated zest of 1 orange
25 g/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
a muffin tin/pan, lined with 12 paper muffin cases
makes 12
1 Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) Gas 4.
2 Put the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla extract in a small bowl and whisk lightly.
3 Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the chilled, diced butter and rub into the dry ingredients using your fingertips. When the mixture looks like breadcrumbs, add the chopped nuts and mix to combine. Scoop out 1 teacupful or roughly 125 g/½ cup of the dry mixture and set aside in a separate bowl.
4 Add the egg mixture to the large bowl and mix until only just combined. Add the cranberries and orange zest and fold in briefly.
5 Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases, filling them almost to the top.
6 Pour the melted butter into the reserved dry ingredients and mix with a fork until crumbly. Scatter evenly over the muffins.
7 Ask an adult to help you put the muffin tin on the middle shelf of the preheated oven. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden and a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.
8 Ask an adult to help you remove the muffin tin from the oven. Leave to cool for 2 minutes, then tip the muffins out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
chocolate truffles
50 g/3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
75 g/⅓ cup packed light brown sugar
150 ml/⅔ cup double/heavy cream
175 g/6 oz. dark/bittersweet chocolate
Toppings
150 g/5 oz. milk or dark/bittersweet chocolate, chopped
chocolate sprinkles
cocoa powder
edible silver balls
chopped hazelnuts
a baking sheet, lined with baking parchment
makes about 20
1 Ask an adult to help you put the butter, sugar and cream in a saucepan over low heat. Leave until it comes to the boil and the sugar has melted.
2 Break the chocolate into small pieces and tip into a heatproof bowl. Carefully pour the melted butter mixture over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate is melted, smooth and shiny. Leave to cool, then cover with clingfilm/plastic wrap and chill in the fridge until it’s firm.
3 Making one truffle at a time, scoop a teaspoonful of the chocolate mixture and roll quickly between your hands into a ball. Place on the prepared baking sheet.
4 For the toppings, ask an adult to help you put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water or in the microwave on a low setting. Stir very carefully until it has melted. Leave to cool slightly.
5 Sprinkle each of your chosen toppings onto a separate plate.
6 Scoop a teaspoonful of the melted chocolate into the palm of your hand and roll one truffle at a time into it to coat completely.
7 Roll in one of the toppings. Repeat with the remaining truffles and leave to set on the baking sheet before serving or packing into a pretty box.
300 g/2½ cups fresh cranberries
200 g/1 cup golden caster/granulated sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon ground ginger
grated zest and freshly squeezed juice of 1 orange
4 ripe pears
3 small sterilized jars (see page 4)
makes about 3 jars
1 Put the cranberries, 150 ml/⅔ cup water, the sugar, cinnamon stick, ground ginger and orange zest and juice into a large saucepan. Ask an adult to help you put it over medium heat. Cook until the cranberries have softened and burst, then simmer for another 5 minutes.
2 Peel the pears, cut into quarters and remove the cores. Chop the pears into small pieces and add to the pan.
3 Cook for a further 15–20 minutes until the pears are soft and the sauce has thickened.
4 Ask an adult to help you remove the pan from the heat. Carefully fish out the cinnamon stick. Taste the sauce and add a little more sugar if needed.
5 Spoon the relish into the sterilized jars, leave to cool, then cover with the sterilized lids. Store in the fridge until needed.
iced christmas tree cookies
225 g/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
225 g/1 cup caster/granulated sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
a pinch of salt
450 g/3½ cups plain/all-purpose flour
Glacé Icing (page 76)
assorted coloured writing icing tubes
sugar balls and edible sprinkles
assorted Christmas tree cookie cutters
2 solid baking sheets, lined with baking parchment
makes 12–16, depending on size
1 Put the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or use a large bowl and an electric whisk). Ask an adult to help you cream them until pale and fluffy. Add the beaten egg, vanilla extract and salt and mix again.
2 Gradually add the flour and mix until incorporated and smooth. Tip the dough out onto the work surface, flatten into a disc, cover with clingfilm/plastic wrap and chill for a couple of hours until firm.
3 Sprinkle a little flour on a clean work surface. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a thickness of about 3–4 mm/⅛ inch. Stamp out shapes with the cookie cutters and arrange on the prepared baking sheets. Gather up any scraps of cookie dough, knead very lightly to bring together into a ball and roll out again to stamp out more cookies. Chill in the fridge for a further 15 minutes.
4 Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) Gas 4.
5 Ask an adult to help you put the baking sheets on the middle shelf of the preheated oven. Bake for about 10–12 minutes until pale golden and firm to the touch.
6 Ask an adult to help you remove the sheets from the oven. Leave the cookies to cool on the baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
7 When the cookies are cold, use a small palette knife to carefully spread the Glacé Icing over each cookie, trying to keep it as neat as possible. Use the writing icing tubes to pipe tinsel across each cookie. Position the sugar balls and edible sprinkles over the top to look like tree ornaments.
8 Leave the icing to set before serving.
This is a popular Christmas treat that can either be made the traditional way – in a circle – and cut into wedges, or in a rectangle and then cut into fingers. You could always flavour the basic shortbread dough with lemon zest or even some stem ginger, if you like.
shortbread
175 g/1⅓ cups plain/all-purpose flour
25 g/3 tablespoons rice flour, fine semolina or cornflour/cornstarch
75 g/⅓ cup caster/granulated sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
a pinch of salt
175 g/1½ sticks unsalted butter, chilled and diced
a baking sheet, lined with baking parchment
makes 8 wedges
1 Sift the flour, rice flour, sugar and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the chilled butter and rub in with your fingertips until you get a ball of dough.
2 Sprinkle a little flour on a clean work surface. Tip the dough onto the work surface. Press or roll the dough into a circle about 20 cm/ 8 inches across. Alternatively, you can flatten the dough into a rough rectangle.
3 Carefully lift the shortbread dough onto the middle of the prepared baking sheet.
4 Working your way around the edge of the circle, press the dough between your thumb and forefinger to create a crinkled border.
5 Using a knife, mark 8 wedges into the shortbread, but don’t cut all the way through.
6 Chill the shortbread dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.
7 Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F) Gas 2.
8 Prick the shortbread all over with a fork and sprinkle with more sugar. Ask an adult to help you put the baking sheet on the middle shelf of the preheated oven. Bake for about 45–50 minutes until light golden.
9 Ask an adult to help you remove the sheet from the oven. Leave the shortbread to cool a little before cutting into wedges, following the marks you made before baking.
These are filled with a sugary cinnamon butter and topped with a crazy drizzle of icing. Add chocolate chips to the filling for an extra helping of sweetness!
cinnamon sticky buns
150 ml/⅔ cup milk
500–600 g/4–4¾ cups strong white bread flour
1 × 7-g/¼-oz. sachet easy-blend dried yeast
50 g/¼ cup caster/granulated sugar
a large pinch of salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
75 g/5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
Glacé Icing (page 76)
Filling
100 g/6 tablespoons
unsalted butter, softened
100 g/½ cup packed light brown soft sugar
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
75 g/½ cup pecan pieces
a 23 × 30-cm/9 × 12-in baking tin/pan, greased
makes 12
1 Ask an adult to help you heat the milk in a small saucepan until hot but not boiling.
2 Sift 500 g/4 cups of the flour into a large mixing bowl and stir in the yeast, sugar and salt. Make a well in the middle and pour in the warm milk, eggs and butter. Stir until mixed.
3 To knead the dough, sprinkle a little flour on a clean work surface. Shape the dough into a ball and push on it and press it onto the work surface, turning it round often. You’ll need to keep doing this until it is silky smooth and elastic – about 5 minutes – and you may need to add more flour if the dough is too sticky.
4 Shape the dough into a neat ball again. Wash and dry the bowl and sit the dough back in it. Cover tightly with clingfilm/plastic wrap and leave in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size. This will take about 1½ hours.
5 While the dough is rising, make the filling. Put the butter, sugar, cinnamon and pecans in a bowl. Beat with a wooden spoon until mixed
6 Tip the dough onto the floured work surface and knead lightly for 1 minute. Roll and press it into a rectangle about 30 × 50 cm/12 × 20 inches, with a long side nearest you.
7 Spread the filling over the dough, leaving a border of about 1 cm around the edges.
8 Starting with the side closest to you, roll the dough up evenly and firmly, but not too tight. Cut into 12 slices and place cut-side up in the baking tin/pan. Lightly oil a sheet of clingfilm/plastic wrap, then use it to loosely cover the baking tin/pan (oiled-side down). Leave in a warm place for 30 minutes, or until risen.
9 Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) Gas 4.
10 Ask an adult to help you put the tin/pan on the middle shelf of the preheated oven. Bake for 30–35 minutes until golden brown.
11 Ask an adult to help you remove the buns from the oven and leave it to cool completely.
12 Using a spoon, drizzle the Glacé Icing over the buns. Leave to set before tipping them out of the tin/pan and pulling them apart, to serve.
Serve these scrummy squares with a good scoop of the very best vanilla ice cream or pop into your lunchbox for a special treat.
pecan, toffee & chocolate squares
125 g/1 cup plain/all-purpose flour
50 g/⅓ cup icing/confectioners’ sugar
125 g/1 stick unsalted butter, chilled and diced
1 egg white
Topping
40 g/3 tablespoons unsalted butter
150 g/¾ cup packed light brown soft sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
200 ml/¾ cup maple syrup
100 g/⅔ cup dark/bittersweet chocolate chips
200 g/1⅓ cups pecan pieces
a deep, 20-cm/8-in square baking tin/pan, greased
makes 16
1 Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) Gas 4.
2 Ask an adult to help you put the flour, sugar and butter into a food processor. Using the pulse button, process until the mixture just starts to come together in clumps. Tip the mixture into the prepared baking tin/pan and pat evenly over the bottom of the tin/pan.
3 Ask an adult to help you put the baking tin/pan on the middle shelf of the preheated oven. Bake for 20 minutes, or until pale gold.
4 Ask an adult to help you remove the tin/pan from the oven. Using a pastry brush, very carefully brush the top of the shortbread with the egg white and return to the oven for a further 2 minutes.
5 Ask an adult to help you remove the tin/pan from the oven and leave it to cool while you prepare the pecan topping. Leave the oven on.
6 To make the topping, ask an adult to help you melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat or in the microwave on a low setting.
7 In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, maple syrup and melted butter with a balloon whisk.
8 Scatter the chocolate chips and pecans over the cooled shortbread base. Pour the filling on top. Ask an adult to help you put the baking tin/pan on the middle shelf of the preheated oven. Bake for a further 35 minutes, or until the topping has set.
9 Ask an adult to help you remove the tin/pan from the oven and let cool completely in the tin/pan before cutting into squares to serve.
These pretty snowflakes are simply made from a basic meringue, but add a festive touch with a sprinkling of edible silver glitter or silver balls.
meringue snowflakes
150 g/¾ cup caster/granulated sugar
75 g/2½ oz. egg whites (about 2 medium egg whites)
edible silver glitter
edible silver balls
a piping bag, fitted with a star-shaped nozzle/tip
2 solid baking sheets, lined with baking parchment
makes about 12
1 Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) Gas 6.
2 Tip the sugar into a small roasting tin/pan. Ask an adult to help you put the tin/pan in the preheated oven for about 5 minutes until hot to the touch – be careful not to burn your fingers!
3 Turn the oven down to 110°C (225°F) Gas ¼.
4 Place the egg whites in a large, clean mixing bowl or in the bowl of an electric mixer. Ask an adult to help you to beat the egg whites (with an electric whisk, if necessary) until they’re frothy.
5 Tip the hot sugar onto the egg whites in one go and continue to whisk on high speed for about 5 minutes until the meringue mixture is very stiff, white and cold.
6 Spoon the meringue mixture into the prepared piping bag. Pipe little blobs of meringue onto the prepared baking sheets in the shape of snowflakes. Scatter silver glitter or silver balls over the top.
7 Ask an adult to help you put the sheets in the preheated oven. Bake for about 45 minutes or until crisp and dry. Turn off the oven, leave the door closed and let the snowflakes cool down completely inside the oven.
Topped with a pastry star and filled with cinnamon-spiced apples and cranberries, these little pies are a delicious alternative to mince pies. Use shop-bought sweet pastry to make them in no time at all!
apple & cranberry pies
2 cooking apples
2 red eating apples
375 g/12 oz. ready-made sweet pastry/tart dough
50 g/¼ cup caster/granulated sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
juice of ½ lemon
50 g/⅓ cup dried cranberries
1 tablespoon milk
icing/confectioners’ sugar, to dust (optional)
a 12-hole tartlet tin/pan
a fluted round cookie cutter, just bigger than the tartlet tin/pan holes
a star-shaped cutter
makes 9–12
1 Peel both varieties of apple, cut into quarters and remove the cores. Chop the apples into small pieces and tip into a medium saucepan. Add the sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice and cranberries. Ask an adult to help you put the pan over low-medium heat, stirring from time to time until the apples are tender.
2 Ask an adult to help you remove the pan from the heat. Taste and add a little more sugar if needed. Set aside until cold.
3 Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) Gas 4.
4 Sprinkle a little flour on a clean work surface. Roll out the dough to a thickness of about 2 mm/⅛ inch. Use the fluted cookie cutter to stamp out rounds. Gently press the pastry rounds into the tin/pan holes.
5 Divide the cooled fruit mixture between the pies, filling them almost to the top.
6 Gather up any scraps of dough, knead very lightly to bring together into a ball and roll out again. Use the star-shaped cutter to stamp out stars for the pie tops.
7 Lightly brush the edges of each pie with milk and top with a pastry star. Brush the top of each star with milk and dust with caster/granulated sugar.
8 Ask an adult to help you put the tin/pan on the middle shelf of the preheated oven. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown and the fruit filling is bubbling.
9 Ask an adult to help you remove the tin/pan from the oven. Leave to cool, then dust with icing/confectioners’ sugar, if you like.
