THIS week we have two beautiful Christmas desserts for you to try. Halloween has just passed, and pumpkin pie is a distant memory as we get ready for the countdown to Christmas. It’s never too early to start practising these recipes to make sure they are perfect on the day – or any day over the holiday period.
The ginger snap dessert with seasonal berries is a particular favourite of mine and is well used in both the restaurant and my own home.
Another great recipe is the flourless chocolate roulade with redcurrants. Next year we will be introducing gluten-free cooking in the cookery school for those who need a little more reassurance and confidence in how to make a great cake without flour but for now, this recipe is a nice introduction and makes for a lovely Christmas dessert.
GINGER SNAP WITH SEASONAL BERRIES
(Serves 10)
175g butter
175g granulated sugar
115g golden syrup
tablesp brandy (optional)
2 tsp ground ginger
175g plain flour
Seasonal berries:
600g mixed berries – I have used strawberries
2 teasp icing sugar
450ml whipping cream
Preheat the oven to 170C. Melt the butter with the sugar, golden syrup and brandy in a saucepan. Turn the heat off once the ingredients are mixed and sift in the ginger and flour before stirring thoroughly to ensure there are no lumps.
Leave the mixture to the side to cool and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Take out a spoonful of the mix and roll into a ball. Flatten with your hand and repeat until all the mixture is used.
Place in the oven for 10-12 minutes until the mixture is bubbling and is a deep golden brown in colour. Leave to the side to cool but don’t let them set.
Using a palette knife, place the ginger snap on top of a clean bottle and it will fold into itself. Repeat this with the rest of the baked ginger snaps.
For the berries, place a third into the blender and blend to a puree. Add icing sugar to taste, quarter the rest of the berries and mix in with the puree.
Beat the whipping cream until it can hold soft peaks and add in icing sugar to taste.
To serve, place a few of the berries on the plate with the ginger snap and a dollop of cream. Enjoy!
CHOCOLATE ROULADE WITH REDCURRANTS
(Serves 8)
Butter
6 eggs separated
150g caster sugar
60g cocoa powder plus extra for dusting
icing sugar for dusting
For the filling:
250ml double cream
1 tabelsp icing sugar
250g redcurrants
Pre-heat the oven to 160C. Line a swiss roll tin approximate size 23cm, grease with a little butter and set aside. Place the egg yolks and caster sugar in a large bowl and whisk until thick and creamy. Sift your cocoa powder over the mixture and whisk until mixed thoroughly.
You will need a second bowl in which to whisk the egg whites (ensure that your mixer is clean before doing this) until they reach soft peaks. Fold in a third of the egg whites with the cocoa mix and then gently fold in the rest of the mixture until it is evenly distributed. Pour into the tin and spread into the corners.
Place the tin in the centre of the oven and bake for up to 20 minutes. The mixture won’t rise as there is no flour in it, but it will shrink away from the sides of the tin.
Remove from the oven and loosen from the sides with a palette knife before leaving to cool.
To make the filling, whip the cream and icing sugar together until thick enough to stand in soft peaks.
Prepare your redcurrants by removing their stalks. To roll the roulade, place the cake into a clean piece of greaseproof paper, cover the cake with the cream and scatter with redcurrants.
At one end of the cake start to turn over and roll into itself. Don’t squeeze too tightly as you don’t want the cream filling to come out! Roll until all the cake is turned into itself; dust with caster sugar and keep in the fridge until ready to serve.