Helen Johnson

Mini Stollen

Most people don’t associate economy with Christmas – but I like to waste nothing, so I devised this recipe to use up the scraps of marzipan left after I’d covered the Christmas cake.  The result is between a Danish pastry, a hot cross bun, and an almond croissant: delicious.

Ingredients:

12 oz strong white flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 oz sugar

1 sachet all in one dried yeast

1 egg

half a cup of milk

drop of vanilla essence

warm water

marzipan scraps – mine weighed between 3 and 4 ounces

2 oz raisins

2 oz sultanas

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1 to 2 oz softened butter

Method

Make a dough with the flour, salt, sugar, yeast, spices,  egg, vanilla, milk and water.  Knead it for ten minutes, then cover it with a damp tea towel and leave it to rest for a while – anything from half an hour to half a day, whatever is convenient.

Now work the dried fruits into the dough, then roll it to a rough rectangle, about 8 inches by 4.

Spread a third of the butter onto the dough.  Fold the top third of the dough over the middle, then the bottom third up over the folded top – as if you were folding a sheet of paper to put it in an envelope.

Turn the dough round a quarter turn, then roll it out again, spread another third of butter, then fold as before.

Turn the dough a quarter turn again, then roll, spread the remaining butter, and fold.

Now roll the dough out again, but this time into a large square.  Cut the dough into 16 little squares.

Cut the marzipan into 16 pieces.  Then brush the dough squares, with milk, place a piece of marzipan on each one, and fold it over to seal the marzipan inside.

Place the dough/marzipan packets onto greased baking tins, leaving them plenty of room to grow.

Cover them with a damp tea towel, and leave them until they have doubled in size.  How long it takes depends on the weather, how warm the room is, etc etc.  Just go and do something else, and from time to time, come back and check them.

When they’re risen, bake them in a hot (220 C ) oven, for about 15 minutes, until they are golden.

If you want them to have soft crust, when they come out of the oven, cover them with a CLEAN damp tea towel.  If you like them crispy, then leave them be.

Mincemeat Tart

This makes a variation of the traditional mince pie.  It’s also a substantial pudding/dessert, especially if served with cream, custard, or ice-cream.

Ingredients:

Shortcrust pastry made with 40z plain flour and 2oz butter or block margarine.

Mincemeat

Sponge:

2 0z soft margarine

2 0z sugar

2 0z self-raising flour

1 egg

1 teaspoon almond flavouring

handful of flaked almonds.

Method:

Make the shortcrust pastry by rubbing the fat into the flour (you can use fingers, a fork, a pastry cutter, or a food processor).  Use water to bind it to a firm dough.  Let it rest, then roll it out and line a greased 7 inch pie plate.

Make the sponge filling by beating the sugar, margarine and flavouring, then add beaten egg and flour and mix it well.

Spread a generous amount of mincemeat over the pastry base, then spread the sponge mixture over this.

Sprinkle the flaked almonds over, then bake it in a medium oven (around 170 C), until the sponge is golden and a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean.

This can be eaten hot or cold, alone or with cream, custard (it’s particularly good with custard) or ice cream.