Christmas Cooking

As a fabulous winter dish this is definitely staying on my menu for the crisp cold days. It was absolutely delicious !!!

https://donalskehan.com/recipes/beef-stew-with-cheesy-cheddar-dumplings/

Cork Lass wrote: »

Could you post the recipe please - thy look fab

It’s from the Christmas pressies thread referenced above so credit is definitely not mine!

Cranberry Nut Biscotti (makes about 70 biscotti)
Ingredients:
350g plain flour, plus extra for rolling
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp mixed spice
250g golden caster sugar
3 eggs, beaten
coarsely grated zest of 1 orange
85g dried cranberries
50g blanched almonds
50g pistachios (shelled).

If you like raisins you can through in a handful, but they taste fine without!

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C (fan). Place the flour, baking powder, sugar and mixed spice in a mixing bowl. Mix well together.

2. Add the orange zest and the beaten eggs and stir until the mixture starts to come together to form clumps.

3. Bring the dough together with your hands. It will look too dry at first but keep kneading it and include all the floury bits until it all comes together.



4. Add the cranberries, almonds and pistachios, and mix into the dough until they are well combined. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and break into four pieces. Roll each piece out into a sausage shape about 30cm long.



5. Line two baking sheets with baking paper and place two rolls onto each sheet, placed well apart. Bake in the oven for about 25 – 30 minutes (I gave mine 25 mins) until the dough has risen and spread a bit and is firm to the touch. The rolls should still look quite pale.



6. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool for just a few minutes. Turn the oven down to 140C/120C fan. Slice the rolls on the diagonal into about 1cm thick pieces. Lay flat on the baking tray and return to the oven. After about 10-15 minutes, turn them and return to the oven for a further 10-15 minutes. I had my fan oven at about 140C, so I gave the biscotti about 7 minutes on each side. Keep watch on the clock for this part. They will turn into tasty rocks if you leave them too long! Cool on a wire rack.



These keep really well - a few weeks in an airtight container. We packaged them up in cellophane bags last Christmas (10 to a bag), but only at the last minute to keep them fresh. The pistachios do add to the cost, so you could substitute raisins or more almonds if you like.

aceygray wrote: »

Well, I did not know that frying them was an option! In my house growing up they were always boiled. Those recipes all sound lovely - I'm not a massive fan of capers, but I might try some lemon and pancetta. I'm making the stuffing from this recipe (which I highly recommend), which also includes lemon and pancetta, so at least the flavours will go together:

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/pancetta-wrapped-turkey-breast-herby-lemon-pine-nut-stuffing

I was actually going to post this, it depends on who you are cooking for and everyone’s tastes too. Both sets of grandparents in this house would be genuinely horrified/outraged if they weren’t just boiled!