Shortbread Christmas Tree
To prepare a great centrepiece at your Christmas table:
Ingredients:
• 250 g butter softened
• 3/4 cup CSR caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups plain flour
• 1/2 cup cornflour
• 1/2 cup CSR soft icing mixture.
Cooking Method:
First, preheat your oven to 160°C. Grease and line two oven trays. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla until they become light and fluffy. Stir in both the corn flour and plain flour. Lightly dust a flat surface with flour then roll out mixture to less than 1cm thick. To cut out different sized star shapes in the dough, use a variety of cutters. Place them all onto the baking tray. They go in the oven for approximately 20 minutes or until slightly brown then allow to cool.
For the paste, add a few drops of water into the icing mixture. You can then use the icing as a glue between the stars to attach them together. Give it 1 minute to stick. Organize the stars from the largest to the smallest to create the Christmas tree look. Sprinkle some of the icing mixture on the finished tree.
Santa Strawberry and Cream
Like the name suggests, it is the regular strawberry and cream recipe, but with a Christmas twist.
Ingredients:
• 150 ml thickened cream
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 2 punnets fresh strawberries
• 1 chocolate icing pen.
Cooking Method:
Whip the cream with the vanilla and sugar until they become very stiff. Place them in a freezer bag or piping bag. Snip it off the end. Wash and dry the strawberries by patting them with a paper towel. Slice the stalk end off, so that the strawberries sit flat. Slice across each strawberry about halfway up.
Use the piping bag to put cream onto the cut strawberries and place the top back on. To create Santa’s hat, put a little dot of cream onto the top of the strawberries. Make the eyes using the icing pen.
Ham and Cheese Pull-Apart
An extremely popular piece at any Christmas gathering
Ingredients:
• Cooking oil spray
• 380g 2-pack crusty baguettes (34cm long)
• olive oil cooking spray
• 125g-piece brie cheese
• 2/3 cup cranberry sauce
• 150g sliced leg ham
• off-the-bone
• 1 ½ cups grated mozzarella (200g)
• Parsley (garnish).
Cooking Method:
Spray a 35cm round pizza tray with a perforated base with oil. Trim the ends of the baguettes. Cut 2cm slices into them. Place the slices, cut-side up and side-by-side, on the prepared tray. Spray with oil. Put in a hot oven (200C) and let it cook for about 5 minutes or until crisp. Pull out of the oven and let it stand for 5 minutes.
Cut brie into ½cm wide slices and cut each slice in half crossways. Spread sauce over toasted bread. Top with brie then ham. Sprinkle with mozzarella.
Allow the whole thing to cook in a hot oven (200C) for about 15 minutes, or until golden and cheese is melted. Garnish with parsley.
Candy Cane Pops
Both kids and adults love this desert!
Ingredients:
1. 20 candy canes small
2. 14 white marshmallows
3. 80 g dark chocolate melts.
Cooking Method:
Place chocolate melts in a small bowl and let them melt in the microwave for about 2 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.
Crush 6 candy canes using a mortar and pestle. Place crushed candy canes in a bowl. Stick a candy cane into the marshmallow and dip in the melted chocolate. Drain any excess chocolate by gently tapping on the side of the bowl. Roll into the crushed candy cane. Place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Place the candy cane pops in the fridge for about 15 minutes.
Grinch Popcorn
Just like ordinary popcorn, but more “Christmasy”.
Ingredients:
• 2 packets microwave popcorn (lightly salted)
• 300 g white chocolate (use buttons)
• 1 tsp green liquid food colouring
• 10 yellow Mentos lollies
• 1/4 cup mini red M&Ms
• 1/4 cup mini green M&Ms
• 1/3 cup jumbo heart sprinkles
• 1 tube white writing icing.
Cooking Method:
Prepare the popcorn as usual. Once cooked, transfer it into a large mixing bowl. Melt the white chocolate buttons in the microwave for 30 seconds then stir. Repeat this step three times. Add the green food colouring to the melted white chocolate until you get the Grinch green. Stir in the green chocolate mixture to the popcorn until all is well coated. Add half of the green M&Ms and half of the heart sprinkles.
For the Grinch eyes: cut a yellow Mentos in half. Use the white writing icing to glue one red M&M to each half the yellow Mentos. Spread the popcorn out into the tray. Scatter the top with extra heart sprinkles, green M&Ms and then place the Grinch eyes evenly all over the top.
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