Fruit mince parcels are a wonderful Christmas treat, and not quite as sweet as fruit mince pies. You could make your own fruit mince (well in advance of Christmas Eve to allow the fruit to soak in rum), or you could keep it simple like I do and buy a good fruit mince (I use Robertson’s Traditional Fruit Mince).

What’s beautiful about fruit mince parcels is they are made with filo pastry rather than sweetened shortcrust pastry, so they are really crunchy when you bite into them. The buttery filo is the perfect foil for the rich sweetness of fruit mince.

Ingredients

410g jar of Robertson’s fruit mince
375g filo pastry
3 tbs melted butter

Method

To make the fruit mince parcels, pre-heat the oven to 200°C.

Lay out on the kitchen bench (or large cutting board) one sheet of filo pastry and brush it with melted butter, lay another sheet straight on top and butter it. Repeat until you have six buttered sheets of filo pastry. Note: Allow your filo pastry to completely defrost before using it. It should be a room temperature before you try to spread it out otherwise the pastry will crack.

Cut the pastry into approximately 12cm x 12cm squares (adjust the size of the squares depending on the size of your pastry sheets; I end up with six squares from each of mine). In the centre of each pastry square place 1 tbs of fruit mince. Gather up the sides of the filo pastry and pinch in together just above the fruit mince so that it is enclosed in the pastry. The filo pastry above the fruit mince should resemble the gathered cellophane around the top of a chocolate truffle.

Butter the outside of the fruit mince parcel and place on a lined baking tray. Repeat until you’ve used all the fruit mince. The quantities should make between 15 and 20 fruit mince parcels.

Place the tray of fruit mince parcels in the oven and allow to cook until golden brown, approximately 10 minutes. Once golden, remove from the oven and allow to cool—the fruit mince will be bubbling furiously while baking. These should be served warm with a dollop of double cream.

If you wanted give fruit mince parcels as little festive gifts in the lead up to Christmas, allow them to cool completely and tie thin green and red ribbons around the gathered section of pastry.

Part of cooking a roast turkey is finding a delicious stuffing, for us that’s chestnut stuffing. Chestnuts have an incredible richness that is simply beautiful with roast turkey (and it would work very well in a roll of beef as well). We use some of the chestnut stuffing inside the turkey cavity to flavour the meat and bake the rest of the stuffing separately to serve as a side dish. That way there are two different textures—soft and moist from inside the turkey, and a crunchy side dish.

Be warned, there is a ridiculous amount of butter in this recipe, but the chestnut stuffing tastes so good it’s worth it. And it’s Christmas, so hang the calories.

Ingredients

2 x 425ml tinned chestnuts, drained, rinsed and roughly chopped
2 cups butter
2 onions, finely diced
6 stalks celery, finely diced
1 x 375g packet dried breadcrumbs
1¼ cups fresh herbs (rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano—choose the blend that suits your tastes, for us it will be homegrown sage), finely chopped

Method

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in the onion and celery, and cook until soft.

Add in the chestnuts, breadcrumbs and fresh herbs, and combine thoroughly. Set aside until you’re ready to stuff the turkey.

Note: This can be made the day before and refrigerated. Before stuffing the turkey with it, make sure the chestnut stuffing is at room temperature—cold ingredients going into the turkey will slow down the cooking process.

Once the turkey is stuffed, spread the remaining chestnut stuffing in a layer 1½–2cm thick across a shallow baking dish. Avoid pressing the stuffing into the dish, you want rustic chunks of stuffing. Bake in a moderate oven (180°C/350°F) until golden and crunchy, approximately 20–25 minutes.

Our family recipe for trifle differs quite dramatically from what is generally known as a summer fruit trifle, relying instead on tinned peaches rather than fresh berries. This makes it a trifle for all seasons. Having said that, you could easily substitute the peaches for raspberries, strawberries and blueberries.

Note: There is a little bit of preparation involved with this recipe. The jelly needs to be made beforehand so that it’s set before you start assembling the trifle. You may also want to make your own custard rather than using a store-bought one.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 rectangular sponge slab (approx 25cm in length and 2–3cm thick)
1 jar good quality raspberry jam, such as St Dalfour
1 pkt raspberry jelly
400g tinned peaches (or fresh berries of your choice)
3 coconut macaroons
2 cups homemade custard, or a thick store-bought one that you can dollop
1½ cups cream, for whipping
30g chocolate (preferably 70% cocoa), grated
½ cup sherry

1. Make the jelly as per the instructions on the packet and refrigerate until set (usually a minimum of four hours but this can be made the day before).
2. Cut the sponge slab in half so you have two 1cm-thick slabs. Spread jam in the middle and stack on top of one another again. Slice 1cm thick pieces and line a large bowl with them, leaving no gaps in between and leaving about 3cm to the rim.
3. Drizzle sherry over the sponge ensuring that each piece is moistened with it.
4. Break the pre-set jelly into large chunks and pour into the centre of the bowl. Drain the peaches and layer them on top of the jelly. Break up the coconut macaroons and layer them on top of the peaches.
5. Cover with a thick layer of custard to the level of the sponge, cover the bowl with cling wrap and refrigerate allowing it to set slightly (about 30 minutes).
6. Whip the cream until it holds soft peaks. Spread it evenly over the top of the custard. Grate the chocolate lightly over the top and refrigerate until ready to serve.

This can be made up to one day in advance and easily serves 10 people.

This is definitely a Christmas treat…there’s a lot of different textures and flavours but it all combines into a gorgeous silky dessert that everyone will love—sweetness and fruit, soft sponge, smooth custard and cream and crunchy macaroons. This would also be great with toasted nuts on top for extra crunch.

Christmas is drawing ever closer. In our house the tree is already decorated and that means it’s time to get into the spirit with some Christmas snacks. Gingerbread is a hit and feels a bit special for Christmas. Plus while you’re cooking it, it makes the house smell amazing—sweet and spicy at the same time.

Gingerbread is so easy to make and has a really lovely flavour—there’s something warm and homely about it. I’ve been making gingerbread cookies since I was a teenager and still love to serve them around Christmas. Once upon I time I would always decorate the gingerbread with icing, and if you have kids, they get hours of enjoyment it—decorating gingerbread Christmas trees, snowmen, stars and people with coloured icing and showing off their creations.

These days I prefer the plain gingerbread. Instead of all that sweet icing, I add a spicy flavour to mixture with extra cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves…surely the essence of Christmas.

You’ll need:

125g softened unsalted butter
⅓ cup soft brown sugar
¼ cup golden syrup
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cups plain flour
¼ cup self-raising flour
1 tbs ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp bicarbonate soda

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Cream butter, sugar and golden syrup until light and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten egg, and beat well. Add the dry ingredients and mix with a knife until the mixture just combines. Mix with your hands till the dough comes together. Place on a floured surface and knead for 1–2 minutes, or until the dough is smooth.

Roll out the dough between two sheets of baking paper until 5mm thick. Refrigerate for 15 minutes so the dough firms up. Place the flattened dough on the bench and cut into shapes using cookie cutters. Place the shapes on lined baking trays and bake in the oven for 10 minutes, or until lightly golden. Take the trays out of the oven, allowing the gingerbread to cool completely on the trays before trying to move them.

Icing (optional)

1 egg white
½ tsp lemon juice
1¼ cups icing sugar
Food colouring

Beat the egg white until it’s foamy then gradually add the lemon juice and icing sugar. Beat until thick and creamy. Divide the icing mixture between a number of small bowls (depending on how many colours you want to use) and use your choice of food colourings to tint the mixture. Spoon the mixture into piping bags and decorate the gingerbread. For a more traditional look, you can use plain white icing for your decorative flourishes.

I promised to pass on the recipe for one of our contributions to the meal—the custard to serve with plum pudding. The following recipe makes well over a litre of gorgeously rich custard. It can be prepared the night before and stored in the fridge, then reheated in a saucepan or the microwave.

Ingredients

500ml milk
500ml double cream
8 egg yolks
125g sugar
1 vanilla bean

Method

Bring the milk and cream to the boil in a heavy-based saucepan. Remove from the heat and scrape the vanilla seeds into the mixture. Also add the vanilla pod to infuse. Rest for a couple of minutes while preparing the egg mixture, allowing the milk and cream mixture to cool to at least 70°C.

In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until the mixture becomes thicker and lighter in colour. Gradually add the cream and milk mixture to the egg mixture, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon. Return to the pan and continue to stir until the mixture thickens. Be careful not to overheat the mixture—you want to keep it well below boiling point to avoid curdling. The custard will start to thicken at 70°C and should never be heated to more than 80°C. The custard is ready when it coats the back of the wooden spoon and leaves a trail when your finger is drawn across it.

Remove the vanilla pod and, if in doubt about the consistency, pass the mixture through a fine sieve or chinoise.

It’s Christmas Eve and, because we’re hosting Christmas dinner tomorrow, there’s a mad panic in our household to prepare all the food.

One of the lovely family traditions that we all look forward to is the Christmas pudding. After dinner has been cleared away, the lights in the dining room are dimmed and out comes the Christmas pudding—the showpiece of the desserts, with its glowing purple flame.

Yes, a flaming Christmas pudding. Just before serving, Dad gently heats a couple of tablespoons of brandy and pours it over the Christmas pudding. The pudding absorbs the brandy and Dad then lights it. The flame doesn’t last long but it’s enough to heat the pudding through.

The warm pudding is then sliced and served with old-fashioned hard sauce (or brandy butter), which melts into the pudding and adds sweetness to the rich fruity flavour. Yum…I can’t wait for tomorrow!

Hard sauce is a delicious sweeter alternative to ice cream, custard or cream, and definitely our family favourite.

Hard sauce (brandy butter)
125g unsalted butter
2 cups icing sugar
1½ tbs brandy

Cream the butter with electric beaters until it’s white and creamy. Add the sifted sugar and brandy and cream until you have a thick smooth paste. Spoon into a serving bowl, cover with cling wrap and refrigerate until set.

‘Tis the season to be jolly…and with these adults-only rum balls, there will be plenty of Christmas cheer.

A good rum ball is an absolute delight. It should be rich, smooth and chocolatey with a solid hit of rum, not just rum essence (that’s only for kids!). I always think a fudge consistency, with a little bit of crunch from the biscuit crumbs, is the benchmark.

So after much trial and error, extensive research into the best tasting rum, and the appropriate quantity of it for a soft (but not gooey) texture, we have arrived at a recipe for the near-perfect never-fail rum ball. The only thing that could possibly make this recipe better is couverture chocolate powder instead of cocoa powder.

Ingredients:

1 tin condensed milk
¾ cup coconut
1 packet arrowroot biscuits, whizzed to a fine crumb
½ cup Mount Gay rum
3 tbs of cocoa powder, sieved
½ cup coconut, extra for coating the balls

Method:

1. In a large bowl, add the whizzed arrowroot biscuits, sieved cocoa powder and coconut. Mix well.
2. Add condensed milk and rum. Stir well until to combine all ingredients.
3. Sit bowl in fridge for 30 minutes so that the biscuit mixture soaks up the liquid and firms.
4. Take tablespoons of mixture and roll into balls. It helps to have a bowl of water and wet hands.
5. Coat the balls in extra coconut and store in the refrigerator in an air-tight container.

Repeat recipe as required during the festive season. Give as a treat to dinner guests and work colleagues, or simply enjoy one or two after dinner with a glass of milk!