Bake It A December To Remember

Christmas is the season of joy, of gift giving and of family and friends reunited. We have arrived in the silly season and its love and hate relationship-We Get It.

We have decided to help with a bunch of Blogs for Christmas over the next few weeks.
We will also be sharing our New Stock including Pet Stock, Giftware/Home Decor and Sports.

Today we are beginning with Savoury and Sweet Meal and Drink recipe ideas to share this holiday.

Eggnog

Ingredients:

• 600ml whole milk
• 300ml thickened cream
• 2 sticks cinnamon
• 1 vanilla pod, split in half lengthways
• 4 eggs, separated, at room temperature
• 100g white sugar
• 150ml rum
• 50ml brandy
• A pinch of nutmeg *to garnish

1. Place the milk, cream, cinnamon, and vanilla in a medium sauce pot and bring up to a simmer gently over medium heat, taking care to not let the mixture boil and whisking occasionally to prevent it from sticking.
2. Place the egg yolks in the bowl of the stand mixer and use the whisk attachment to beat on high speed until they have doubled in size
3. Turn the mixer speed down to low, then slowly pour one-third of the hot milk mixture over the eggs, making sure you do not let the vanilla pod or cinnamon fall into the mixer.
4. Turn off the mixer, and pour the egg mixture back into the pot with the remaining milk and spices. Return the pot to the stove and cook gently while whisking constantly until the temperature reaches 80C on the digital thermometer, before pouring the mixture through a sieve into a jug and place in the fridge to cool down completely for two to three hours.
5. Place the sugar into a small pot with 75ml of cold water and heat gently over medium heat until the temperature reaches 110C on the digital thermometer.
6. Place the egg whites in a clean stand mixer bowl and beat with the whisk attachment on half speed for 2 minutes until you have soft peaks.
7. Carefully and slowly pour the hot sugar syrup into the egg whites with the mixer still running, then continue the beat the whites until they have formed firm stiff peaks. Use the hand whisk to mix in the egg whites, ensuring they are fully incorporated, followed by the rum and brandy and place back in the fridge
8. Before serving, give the eggnog another quick whisk to combine and garnish with nutmeg.

Wild Garlic Prawns Recipe

Ingredients

• 1kg of prawns
• 5 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 80g unsalted butter
• 164g or half a cup of finely chopped parsley
• Pinch of dried chilli powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 lemon

• Peel and devein your prawns leaving the tail on
• Marinate your freshly peeled prawns with garlic, olive oil, juice of half lemon, salt and set aside for 15-20 mins
• Grab a frying pan, melt the butter on a medium heat
• Add your marinated prawns and coat them in melted butter
• Add your chilli and cook on medium heat for 90 seconds and reduce the heat to low
• Add most of your freshly chopped parsley and cook for a further 90 secs until the prawns have curled up and changed their colour to pink
• Transfer to your serving bowl and garnish with the remaining parsley and wedge of lemon – voila, the perfect garlic prawns.

Christmas Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

• 225g / 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (or use salted, skip salt)
• 1 cup (220g) white sugar, preferably caster / superfine
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 3 cups (450g) flour, plain / all-purpose
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• ICING FOR SUGAR COOKIES–
• Icing for Sugar Cookies

1. Preheat Oven to 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until creamy (1 minute on speed 5)
3. Add egg and vanilla, beat until completely combined.
4. Add flour, baking powder, and salt.
5. Start mixing slowly, then beat until the flour is incorporated – it will be clumpy.
6. Dust work surface with flour, scrape dough out of bowl. Pat together then cut in half, then shape into 2 discs.
7. Roll out to 0.3cm / 1/8″ (for thinner, crispier cookies) or 0.6cm / 1/4″ (for thicker, softer cookies), sprinkling with flour under and over the dough so it doesn’t stick.
8. Use cookie cutters to press out shapes and use a knife or spatula to transfer shapes to prepared baking sheets. (Keep dough that doesn’t fit in the oven in the fridge).
9. Bake for 10 minutes, swapping trays halfway (Note 2), until the surface is pale golden and the edges are just beginning to turn light golden.
10. Allow cookies to cool completely on trays (they will finish cooking on the trays).