Gooseberry Meringue Pie

Ingredients: Pastry
175g plain flour
100g butter
1tbsp icing sugar
1 egg yolk

Ingredients: Gooseberry filling
500g gooseberries
55g caster sugar
25g cornflour
25g butter
2 egg yolks

Ingredients: Meringue
3 egg whites
175g caster sugar

Method
1. Make pastry and put aside to chill - use to line a flan dish, chill for another hour then blind bake in a 180C oven for 15 minutes, remove foil / baking beans, then return to oven for a further 5 minutes or so until pastry is golden brown.
2. Top and tail gooseberries, cook with sugar and a couple of tablespoons of water for about 15 minutes.
3. Drain and reserve juices - leave gooseberries to cool, and top up juice to 300ml with water.
4. Blend juice with cornflour, then heat, melting in butter - bring to boil, then simmer for a couple of minutes until smooth - cool slightly.
5. Beat in egg yolks, and stir in gooseberries.
6. Whisk egg whites until they form stiff peaks, and then whisk in the sugar in two batches.
7. Spoon gooseberry mix into tart case, and top with meringue - bake in oven at 160C for around 20 minutes until meringue is crisp and slightly coloured.

Status
Made once - gooseberry mix is lovely, mucked up the blind baking a bit, forgot about how the pastry would shrink - otherwise very nice.

Simnel Muffins

Ingredients: Muffins
100g Dark brown sugar
100g Light brown sugar
120g Salted butter
450g Self-raising flour
1 tbsp Mixed spice
125g Glace cherries (roughly chopped)
50g Marzipan (cut into small pieces)
3 large eggs
1,5 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
170g Dried mixed fruit
200ml Buttermilk (50ml milk / 150ml yoghurt)

Ingredients:Topping
1 egg
25g Dark brown sugar
1 tbsp Plain flour
175g Marzipan (cut into small pieces)

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180C (160C fan).
2. Make topping by beating egg and stirring through flour, sugar and marzipan
3. Whisk together sugars and butter - gradually beat in the eggs
4. Sift together flour, bicarb and mixed spice - coat the dried fruit and cherries in the flour mixture
5. Gradually add flour mixture and buttermilk to egg / butter mix until just combined
6. Half fill 12 muffin cases - dot with 50g of reserved marzipan - top up with other half of mix - spoon over marzipan topping
7. Bake for 30 minutes until sponge is cooked - cover with foil if browning too much - cool on rack.

Status 
Made once - recipe makes 12 muffins in tulip wraps - instead made lots of smaller cakes, which worked ok except topping was more difficult to handle . . .

Ginger Biscuits

Ingredients
75g unsalted butter2 tablespoon caster sugar
75g wholemeal flour
2 teaspoon baking powder1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 teaspoon ground ginger1 1/2 tablespoon golden syrup
45g stem ginger, chopped

Method1. Preheat oven to 180C.2. Cream butter and sugar.3. Add sifted dry ingredients, mix, and add golden syrup / stem ginger - mix until combined.4. Roll into 16 balls - place on greased or lined baking trays and flatten slightly. 5. Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.  Cool on tray.

StatusNot tried yet.

Christmas Beef Madras

Ingredients
450g diced beef
1 tbsp butter / 3 tbsp oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tbsp madras curry powder
1/4 tsp chilli powder
2 large red chillies
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp cranberry sauce
Handful of dried cranberries
1 beef stockpot
1 x 400ml tin of tomatoes

Method
1. Seal beef in oil / butter - remove from pan, and fry off onion.
2. Add curry powder and cook for a couple minutes, before adding in stockpot and tomato puree - finally add tinned tomatoes, chilli powder, chillies, cranberry sauce, and cranberries.
3.  Bring to simmering point and add sealed beef.
4. Cook in a low oven for 2-3 hours until beef is tender.

Status
Should serve 4 - cooked at Christmas one year and came out well - can adjust spices to taste.

Vanilla Cream Shortbread Biscuits

Ingredients: Biscuits
110g sugar
110g butter
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
225g plain flour
Ingredients: Icing
50g softened butter
110g icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method
1. Cream butter and sugar with vanilla extract - add egg yolk and plain flour
2. Rest mix (refrigerate overnight if possible - can also freeze at this point)
3. Roll out / cut to size required - refrigerate before baking at 180C for 6-8 minutes
4. Cream icing sugar, vanilla and butter for icing - once the biscuits are cool, sandwich together with icing, and dust with icing sugar

Status
Made once - mix makes a lot of smaller biscuits - very nice!

Mini Lemon Meringues

Ingredients: Lemon Curd
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
100g caster sugar
3 lemons, juice of
75g unsalted butter

Ingredients: Meringue
2 egg whites
150g granulated sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Method:
1. Beat egg whites until foamy, and the salt, and begin to sprinkle in sugar while continuing to whisk until the mix is thick, glossy and holds stiff peaks.
2. Fold in lemon zest and vanilla extract - form into 25 small meringues, and bake for c. 2 hours at 100C - remove from oven and allow to cool.
3. Whisk the eggs and egg yolks in a large heatproof bowl until well combined - add the sugar and stir in the lemon juice.
4.  Add the butter and set the bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water (making sure the bowl doesn't touch the water).
5. Stir with a wooden spoon until the butter melts, then use a whisk to continuously stir the ingredients and cook for 10-12 minutes until the curd thickens.
6. Once cool sandwich two mini meringues together with the curd, and place in the freezer for at least 20 minutes before serving - will keep in freezer for a few weeks, but only a couple of days outside.

Status
Won a bake-off heat with these!

Christmas Turkey Curry

Ingredients
Nut paste
150ml cashew nuts
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 inch fresh ginger piece, crushed
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
100ml cold water
1 chicken stock pot
Curry
1 tablespoon butter / 2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium chopped onion
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
4 whole clove
1 tablespoon smooth cranberry sauce
75ml greek yoghurt
Handful of dried cranberries
200g jar of chestnuts (whole)
480g turkey breast in chunks
165ml coconut milk

Method
1. Blend nut paste ingredients to a smooth paste
2. Heat butter and oil and fry off onion with cloves until tender, add coriander and cumin and cook for another couple of minutes
3. Add the nut paste, yoghurt and cranberry sauce / dried cranberries and cook for a further 10 minutes.
4. Stir in the turkey breast and chestnuts and simmer until meat is tender - add in coconut milk and warm through before serving.

Status
Made once - needed more 'curry' so have upped quantities - hopefully should be ok for Christmas day!