Cranberry, Rum and White Chocolate Cookies

1. Christmas Presents - Check

2. Enough bottles of wine to last us 'til Easter - Check

3. Turkey and Ham for the Big Day - Check

4. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire - Check

5. Jack Frost nipping at my nose - Check

5. Christmas Baking - ...............................

All you bloggers have been busy little elves over the past few weeks putting the rest of us to shame with your Gingerbread Houses, Christmas Fruit Cakes, Christmas Pudding, Yule Logs.  I've looked at them all and if the truth be told, I may have salivated over some of them.  But I haven't baked anything with a Christmas theme - Christmas baking doesn't go down so well in our house so I would be the one scoffing the lot.   Granted, I would do it gladly but my rotund middle wouldn't thank me for it!

To keep everyone happy, Christmas baking this year will be a Baileys Cheesecake, Tiramisu (can that even be classed as baking?), Nigella's Puddini (Christmas pudding and melted chocolate rolled into truffle sized balls) and these Choc Chip cookies.  After that, I feel no guilt in saying that I'm putting my feet up and digging into the tin of Roses.

To make these cookies a little bit special, I've soaked the fruit in a few tablespoons of rum but I've drained most of it out so don't worry about getting an alcohol kick - the taste is extremely subtle as I drain off most of the alcohol.  If you'd prefer, just leave out the rum altogether and I guarantee you these cookies will still taste amazing.

Adapted from Nigella Lawsons "Feast"

Makes 30 cookies

Ingredients
2 tablespoons dark rum
75g dried cranberries
140g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
75g rolled oats
125g butter, softened
175g soft brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
50g pecans, roughly chopped
140g white chocolate chips

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Place the cranberries in a small bowl and add the rum.  Set aside for at least an hour, stirring every now and again so that a little bit of rum hits each cranberry.
Combine the flour, baking powder and oats and set aside.
Beat the butter and sugar until creamy and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla and beat again.  Beat in the flour mixture then fold in the chocolate chips and the pecans.
Drain the rum from the cranberries and fold them into the mixture.
With the dough in the mixing bowl, leave it in the fridge to set for 10-15 mins.
Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into balls with your hands and place them on a lined baking sheet.  Then squish the dough balls down with a fork.
Bake for 15 mins after which they should be golden at the edges.  Allow to cool slightly on the baking tray for 5 mins before they cool fully on a wire rack.

Virtually Fat Free Malted Chocolate Cake with "Forget The Diet" Icing

Dear Santa,

Thanks so much for the present you brought me last year – the baby that I asked for “magically” arrived in Oct.  So well done on sorting out that one for me.

This year I would love some time please.  Yep, that’s it, plain and simple, no wrapping paper required, just some more time added to each day.  Time to get back into running again.  Time to bake what I want to bake as opposed to something that can be quickly bunged in the oven with a sigh and a “sure, it’ll do”.  Time to spend with my wonderful husband doing things other than taking care of “business”, i.e. the rearing of 3 kids that sees a lot of our conversations interspersed with phrases such as “keeping the show on the road”, “heads above water”, “God, I need sleep” (me), “you can’t leave me with the 3 of them” (him).

So anyway big guy, do your best, I’m counting on you.  I’ve made this cake just for you cos I know you’ll come up trumps again this year (no pressure!).

Love

Claire

This cake is adapted from a Nigella recipe.  The malted chocolate powder gives it a lovely taste that's not as rich as your average chocolate cake, so perfect for a kids party. 

Virtually Fat Free Chocolate Cake with "Forget The Diet" Icing

Ingredients

For the cake

150g soft brown sugar

100g granulated sugar

3 large eggs

175ml milk

1 tbsp butter softened

2 tbsp malt chocolate powder (I used Milo, but Nigella uses Horlicks)

175g plain flour

25g cocoa

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the icing

250g icing sugar

1 tsp cocoa

45g malt chocolate drink (again, Milo or Horlicks)

125g butter softened

2 tbsp boiling water

1 x Flake bar or 1 pack of Maltesers or whatever you want to use to decorate the cake

Method

Preheat the oven to 170C.  Butter and line two 20cm loose bottomed cake tins with baking parchment.

Whisk together the sugars and eggs until light and frothy.  Heat the milk, butter and chocolate powder in a saucepan until the butter melts and it is hot but not boiling.

Beat the hot chocolate mixture into the eggs and sugar mixture, then fold in the flour, cocoa, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.

Divide the mixture between the two tins and bake in the oven for 25 mins or until they spring back when pressed gently.

Allow to cool in the tins slightly before cooling completely on a wire rack.

To make the icing, in a food processor blitz together the icing sugar, cocoa and Milo / Horlicks to remove all lumps.  Add the butter and process again.  With the motor running, add the boiling water down the funnel and process until you have a smooth buttercream.

Sandwich the cold sponges with half the buttercream, then ice the top with what is left.  Stud the edges with pieces of Flake / Maltesers.

Toasted Muesli

I make a list every night when I’m lying in bed, a list of what I need / want to get done the following day.  The lists are usually made in my head and I get annoyed if I don’t cross off everything on my mental list.  Which is silly really since everything won’t always go according to plan – I guess that’s what they call “life”.   I think my main problem is that I pack too many tasks onto my list which means that I’m running around at the end of the day washing the floor, cleaning windows or (most likely) sterilising bottles just so that I can put a tick beside a task on the list in my head. 

Anyway, things didn’t go according to plan last week.  I had intended putting up a post for Rum and Raisin Chocolate Truffles.  I made them the other day and although they tasted really good, you could only eat them with your eyes closed as they looked more like giant sheeps poo than truffles.  Maybe I’m wrong but I doubt anyone would willingly eat giant sheeps poo!  So it’s back to the drawing board to make them again and hopefully next time I’ll be able to post them!

I posted a recipe the other day for Almond and Raisin Granola which is delicious.  Another breakfast recipe that I think is worthy of sharing with you is this one for muesli.  Any muesli recipe I’ve seen just needs the oats mixed with the fruit, seeds and nuts.  This one is different since everything (except the fruit) is toasted so that the overall flavour is more nutty and crunchy than regular muesli.  Sometimes I think muesli is too bland and needs sugar to liven it up a bit, but I honestly think that this muesli is the nicest I’ve ever tasted and that’s down to the fact that everything has been toasted.  Delicious stuff.

Obviously you could use any type of seeds you want and if raisins aren’t your thing, you could replace them with dates, figs, cranberries........etc.

Muesli, from “Feast” by Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

200g mixed nuts

200g porridge oats

75g sunflower seeds

150g sultanas

1 tbsp brown sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5 / 190C

Put the nuts into a food processor and pulse so that some are finely chopped to blend with the oats and others are bigger to give texture.

Spread the oats, blitzed nuts and sunflower seeds on to a baking sheet and toast for 20 mins.  After 10 mins, take the tray out, give it a good shake so that everything toasts evenly and put the tin back in the oven.

When its had its full time in the oven, take it out and give the contents another stir and then leave to cool completely. 

Once cool, stir in the sultanas and brown sugar, then store in an airtight container.

Almond and Raisin Granola

There was a time long ago, BC (Before Children), when I was a champion runner.  Well, that's a lie.  In my head I was a champion runner, leaving Usain Bolt quaking in his boots.  The reality of the matter is that I was a plodder, someone who just kept going, not particularly interested in pace, probably concentrating more on what's playing on my ipod than actually challenging myself.  Even up to the beginning of this year when I got pregnant with my third baby, I used to get up at silly o'clock, when everyone else was in bed, and head off for a run for an hour.  That was the only time of the day that was truly my own.  I left all responsibilities, stresses and list of chores behind me for one whole hour and I loved it.  I'd come back from my run and sit down to a bowl of granola and All-Bran.  The oats in the granola kept me going til lunchtime. 

This recipe was originally from "Feast" by Nigella Lawson (really good book by the way).  I've adapted it ever so slightly as I don't think all of the sugar is needed and I've added a little more apple puree so that it all sticks together in little clumps (no, no, that's a good thing!).  Best granola recipe EVER.  I've tried this recipe using walnuts instead of almonds but it didn't work as well since you don't get the same crunch from walnuts.  Hazelnuts are probably a good alternative if you don't have almonds.

Almond and Raisin Granola adapted from "Feast" by Nigella Lawson.

Ingredients
450g porridge oats
120g sunflower seeds
200g apple sauce (I just stewed some apples)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
100g golden syrup
4 tbsp honey
70g light brown sugar
250g whole almonds
2 tbsp sunflower oil
300g raisins

Method
Preheat the oven to 170C.
Mix everything except the raisins together in a large bowl.  Spread the mixture out on a large baking tray (the sort that come with ovens and are about the width of the rack) and bake for about 40 - 50 mins.  The object is to get everything evenly golden so you will have to toss the granola a few times during the baking process.  Once it's baked, allow to cool and then add the raisins.  Store in an airtight container.

Custard Cream Hearts

When we were growing up any treats we had were made by my Mam, so scones, maderia cake and apple tart were all we ever knew – icing on cakes was never a concept I was familiar with!  On a very rare Sunday afternoon Mam would unearth a packet of bourbon biscuits from the back of the cupboard (probably the equivalent of Tesco “Own Brand”) and we’d all salivate at the very idea of being given a shop bought biscuits – oh the luxury of it.  The 8 of us would be allowed one biscuit each and then to democratically decide which of us got to have a second biscuit (probably only 10 biscuits altogether in the packet), Mam would write all our names on little pieces of paper, wrap up the piece of paper and Dad would pick out the names of the winners – the prize being one of the last bourbon biscuits in the packet.  How sad were we! 

I saw a recipe for custard creams in “Feast” by Nigella Lawson and it brought me straight back to the kitchen table 25 years ago, fighting over the last “fancy” shop bought biscuit.  In honour of my biscuit starved youth, I bring you “Custard Cream Hearts”.  They taste exactly like (but a gazillion times better than – I know, a bit of an oxymoron there) custard creams that you buy, even though the filling is much creamier and the batch I made was much thicker than a biscuit you would buy.  If there is such a thing as a luxury custard cream range, this is it.  Most definitely one of the best tasting biscuits EVER!

Custard Cream Hearts from "Feast" by Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

For the biscuits

175g plain flour

2 tbsp custard powder

1 tsp baking powder

50g unsalted butter

50g vegetable shortening

3 tbsp caster sugar

1 egg

1tbsp milk

For the custard cream

1 tbsp custard powder

100g icing sugar

50g unsalted butter (soft)

1 tsp boiling water

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180C

To make the biscuits, put the flour, custard powder and baking powder into a processor and pulse to mix.  Add the butter and shortening in teaspoonfuls and pulse to create a crumbly mixture.

Add the sugar and pulse again. 

Beat the egg and milk together.  Pour down the funnel of the processor with the engine running until it clumps together in a ball.  Go cautiously as you may not need all the egg and milk mixture or you may need more.   

Form the dough into a ball, press down into a flat disc, wrap in clingfilm and let it rest in the fridge for 20 mins.

Roll the dough onto a lightly floured surface to a thickness of 4mm and cut out your biscuits using a cutter.

If you feel in the mood, you can prick the outside of each heart all the way round (Nigella suggests using a corn on the cob holder, I used a fork – do you need to complete this step – I’d say No!).

Place on a lined baking sheet and bake for 15 mins.  Allow to cool on a rack before sandwiching them together.

To make the custard cream, put the custard powder, icing sugar and butter into a processor and blitz together until you get a smooth cream (I used a free standing mixer for this – easier to clean!).  Add the boiling water and pulse again.

Sandwich each biscuit together with about 1 tsp of the custard cream.  Makes approx. 14 sandwiched hearts (28 individual biscuits altogether)