Mince Pies

Mince Pies

Merry Christmas all! Well, it’s been a very long time since I’ve posted on here, but that’s not to say that I haven’t been baking – I just haven’t been uploading, so apologies for the long delay. For Christmas I decided to make Jamie Oliver’s Mince Pies which include TWO different types of pastry. I have to say I didn’t make the pastry as Christmas is always very busy – so shop bought was my method. But never the less – here is Jamie’s recipe for the most beautiful looking mince pies going – really yummy with a cup of tea and just the right size so you don’t fill up before the Christmas cheese board 🙂

Merry Christmas all – more recipes to come!

Holly xx

Ingredients:

• 100 g good-quality mincemeat
• 25 g dried cranberries or blueberries , chopped
• 2 clementines , zest of
• 1 splash sherry or brandy
• flour , to dust
• 250 g puff pastry
• 1 pack filo pastry
• 50 g butter , melted
• 1 free-range egg , beaten
• 50 g flaked almonds
• icing sugar , to dust

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400ºF/gas 6. Scoop the mincemeat into a mixing bowl and mix in the dried berries, the clementine zest and the sherry or brandy.

2. Dust a clean work surface with flour and roll out the puff pastry into a big rectangle about 20cm x 40cm and the thickness of a pound coin. Thinly spread the mincemeat over the pastry, leaving a 1cm gap around the edges. Tightly roll up the pastry, lengthways, like a Swiss roll, place it on a floured tray, and pop in the fridge to firm up.

3. Take two cupcake trays (for 12 cupcakes each) and butter each one lightly with the melted butter. Place one layer of filo pastry over the tray (you may need more than one sheet to cover each tray depending on the size of the sheets) and ease the pastry into each hole. Brush with the melted butter, then cover with a second layer of filo pastry. Brush with butter again.

4. Take the puff pastry roll out of the fridge and, with a sharp knife, cut it into 24 slices. Place each slice, flat-side down, into a filo-lined hole. Brush with the egg and sprinkle a few flaked almonds on top of each little pie, then pop both trays in the oven for about 25 minutes, until cooked and golden brown.

5. Leave to cool, then crack the individual pies out of the trays. Dust with a little icing sugar before serving.

 

Apple Frangipane

Apple Frangipane

I didn’t think I could possibly be SO behind on my GBBO challenges – but here we are – I’m only just posting this recipe which was made on the show roughly 6 weeks ago! (maybe even more) and to make things worse I still haven’t seen the final! But I know who wins thankfully.

So a big apology for being so rubbish at keeping up with my challenge – I blame the re-decoration of my house which took over my life for around 4 weeks – But I don’t feel too bad as I now have lovely carpets and painted walls 🙂

Anyway, enough chit chat – here’s my take on apple frangipane!

Ingredients

• 200g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 200g soft butter, plus extra for greasing
• Pinch of salt
• 100g caster sugar, plus 1 tbsp
• 2 large eggs
• 100g ground almonds
• 1 tbsp finely chopped lemon zest
• 4 eating apples
• 1 tbsp smooth apricot jam

Method

1. Sift the flour into a bowl and dice 100g butter into it. Add the salt. Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in 1-3 tbsp cold water until the dough seems to want to cling together. Knead lightly to make a ball, dusting with flour if it seems wet. Chill for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4.
3. Generously butter a 24cm-diameter flan tin with a removable base and dust with flour. This makes the tin non-stick. Roll out the pastry, line the tin, and trim the edges. Cover with foil and half-fill with dried beans. Bake for 10 minutes, remove the foil, and bake for 5 minutes more.
4. Meanwhile, beat together 100g butter and 100g sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in one egg at a time. Fold in the almonds and lemon zest and tip into the pastry case. Halve and peel the apples, carefully cutting out the cores. Place flat side down and slice thinly across the width. ‘Plant’ the apples in the tart and spread out the slices slightly. Melt a knob of butter, paint the apple halves with it and dredge with caster sugar. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the frangipane is puffy and golden and the apples just cooked. Paint the apples with the apricot jam, and leave in the warm, switched-off oven, with the door ajar, for 15 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

Leek and Bacon Tartlets

Leek and Bacon Tartlet

Tartlet with a side salad

HollyRachelBakes 🙂

Dished up and ready to go!

One of my monthly treats is my subscription to Style at Home Magazine.

When it arrives through the door each month I am full of the joys and grab a cuppa straight away to flick through all it’s amazing stylist tips and not to mention the recipe section at the back! This month they featured a fab Leek and Bacon Tartlet recipe to wow your friends and family this Easter. So I gave it a try and it really was so yummy! So here it is!

Takes 40 minutes & serves 6 (I reckon 4 people though if you’re greedy like me and Tim :))

Ingredients:

• 100g streaky bacon
• 20g butter
• 2 leeks
• 100ml white wine
• 6 tbsp. crème fraiche
• 500g puff pastry (I used shop bought – so much quicker!)
• 2 sprigs of thyme

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190C and fry the bacon for 10 minutes until crispy. Set aside and heat the butter in the same pan and fry the sliced leeks for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Pour in the white wine and bubble for 5 minutes until the leeks are soft and most of the liquid has evaporated. Stir in 3 tablespoons of crème fraiche and add the bacon.
3. Roll out the pastry until just thicker than a £1 coin. Cut out 6 x12 cm circles (I just baked one giant tartlet then cut it up once baked) Score a 1cm margin around the edge and put on a baking tray. Spread 3 tbsp of crème fraiche over the pastry, top with the bacon and leek mixture and thyme leaves.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the pastry is puffed up and golden, sprinkle with a few extra thyme leaves before serving.

Hope you like this recipe – it really is so easy and a great weekday dinner with a big old salad 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!

Holly x