BONUS RECIPE: Christmas 75 cocktail!

As I hosted a bake-off screening with some friends this year (naturally I’m obsessed) I decided to do cocktails. Whilst seeking inspiration online I found a recipe for a French 75.

At its most basic level, a French 75 contains gin, lemon juice and sugar or sugar syrup, topped up with something fizzy. However, recipes vary, and some contain Cointreau, an orange liqueur.

When my friends and I tasted the budget student version which I threw together (Cointreau, bog standard gin, a spoonful of sugar and tonic water) we were delighted! It was sweet but drinkable, and felt a bit fancier than what we were used to.

Recently we got a bottle of spiced clementine gin into the house. I was worried that it would be a bit naff, an overly-sweet Christmas gimmick. But I was pleasantly surprised at the fresh taste of the clementine and the subtle spices. It wasn’t long before I got the idea to add it to my new favourite cocktail.

This is the result! I call it a Christmas 75. It’s indulgent and fun, though Prosecco purists won’t be happy. Mind how you go with these, they’re powerful (and if you’d like to experiment with the Cointreau, why not try my winter spice cake with Cointreau icing?).

Christmas 75:

Spiced clementine gin

Cointreau

Fizz (I used prosecco, tonic water works well for a lighter drink with a bitter edge)

Candied peel and chocolate coins to garnish (optional)

I’m not one to measure exactly I’m afraid, so this isn’t much of a recipe. I added two teaspoons of candied, chopped mixed peel to a champagne flute and poured enough gin to cover.
Then I added a splash of Cointreau (roughly two parts gin to one part Cointreau).
Then I topped up with Prosecco.
The chocolate coin garnish is tricky, but not impossible (I would not recommend it if you’re hosting a massive party). Unwrap your choice of chocolate coin (not too small) and place it on a chopping board.
You then have to heat a small knife. I tried a few different methods; soaking the knife in hot water and holding it over a toaster worked the best, as matches can produce a sort of sooty residue.
After a few seconds of heating, place the knife on the coin. You are attempting to melt a slit into the coin so that you may slot it over the side of the glass. The coins are prone to shattering so make sure you do not try to make the slit too long, it should not quite reach the centre of the coin.
Repeat the process, heating the knife and gently slicing through the coin. Eventually you should have a slit which will fit onto the side of a glass. By that time you will need a drink. Cheers!

Winter spice cake with Cointreau icing

Like a lot of people I’m not a bit fan of traditional British Christmas cake, pudding, and mince pies. They’re just not really to my taste, so a few years ago I made a lightly spiced sponge cake in a bundt tin, and iced it with a drizzle of white water icing and some shiny gold sprinkles. It was simple but festive, a nice antidote to the sickly stickiness of the dried fruit which dominates at this time of year. Great for children and adults, I decided that I would definitely make this cake again for future Christmases.

It’s the perfect cake to have when people drop by; it’s light and festive, and can be customised as you please. Although it’s gluten free this cake doesn’t crumble to dust on impact, but remains lovely and spongey. The warm spices gently unfurl as you’re eating the cake, and the toppings provide crunch and chew. I think that any decoration on a bake should be pleasant both to look at and to eat. Dried rose petals, for instance, look divine but become pot pourri in the mouth.

This time I decided to add Cointreau (an orange liqueur) to the icing. I feel like Cointreau is one of those old-school drinks which comes out at Christmastime, and I wanted to provide some inspiration of what to do with it if you stumble upon a bottle (you can also make my Christmas 75 cocktail, recipe on the blog!). If you’re making this cake for children or non-drinkers then feel free to replace the Cointreau with fresh orange juice or orange extract and water.

Winter Spice cake with Cointreau Icing:

175g gluten-free self-raising flour

175g butter

115g caster sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1tsp almond extract (optional)

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground nutmeg

100g icing sugar

Cointreau or orange juice or orange extract

Toppings of your choice (dried fruit, nuts, sprinkles etc)

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and butter a bundt tin.
Cream the butter with the sugar until pale and fluffy.
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix together well.
When the mixture is well combined place it in the bundt tin evenly and smooth the top. Try to ensure that the mixture looks level all around.
Bake for about twenty minutes until the cake is golden and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool.
Once the cake is cool place a plate or board on top and flip the plate/board and cake tin upside down. Your cake might not come out straight away; I went around the edge of mine with a dinner knife a few times first.
Once the cake is out you can prepare your icing. Pour the icing sugar into the bowl and gradually add your liquid (Cointreau, juice, water) bit by bit, stirring well, until you have a thick, opaque icing which drips easily from the spoon. If you’re using Cointreau you may think the icing tastes strong, but once it’s on the cake it tastes fine.
Decorate your cake as you please. Enjoy!

Stollen macarons

As a gluten-free girl, I don’t have many opportunities to eat stollen. I’ve never even tried the authentic, bready German stuff. The closest I’ve come is a squidgy, decadent, cakey variety which I buy from WholeFoods (very boujee) if I get the opportunity.

I love the combination of sweet marzipan with sharp cranberries. Those sugar-dusted squares are expensive, and addictive. Over the past few days I’ve been thinking about stollen, dreaming of other ways to present it. Then I hit upon macarons.

I started making macarons back when they became trendy a few years ago. I bought a book with my mother (by Hisako Ogita, I still use it) and we pored over it. I still take it as gospel, and I get consistent results.

Macarons are so versatile that it seems natural to infuse them with flavours and textures from other puddings. The result is a crispy, chewy macaron with a luscious filling, a bitesized version of whatever you want. It’s almost a bit wonka-esque. And this time it’s stollen.

This particular macaron boils down to three elements: the macaron itself, which I flavoured with cinnamon and vanilla, an almond buttercream filling, and some tasty little bits which I rolled the assembled macarons in, to give a sort of…belt? I don’t really know what to call it. These little specks of dried cranberry and pistachio, or candied mixed peel, stick to the buttercream which peeks out from the macaron and provide extra colour and flavour.

I’m sure this won’t be the last macaron recipe which I post to this blog, but I’ll try to space them out a bit. Until next time, enjoy this recipe if you make it. They’re rich but not too sweet, and would work nicely as canapes or presents.

Stollen Macarons

Makes about 32 macaron biscuits, 16 when assembled. Should keep in the fridge for about a week.

For the Macarons:

85g ground almonds

150g icing sugar

3 egg whites, at room temperature

5 tablespoons/65g caster sugar

2 tsps cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the Almond Buttercream:

150g butter (I use slightly salted)

100g icing sugar

1 tsp almond extract

The Extras:

Mixed candied peel

Pistachios

Dried cranberries

First, measure your baking paper to your trays and draw circles all over the paper in pencil. Use anything small and circular. You can draw them quite close as the macaron batter won’t spread too much. Remember to flip the paper over so that the macarons are not directly on top of your pencil marking: graphite is not the secret ingredient in this particular bake.
Mix the ground almonds, cinnamon, and icing sugar together in a small bowl and set aside (just kidding. Use whatever size of bowl you like. Who am I, the bowl police?).
The next step involves making a French meringue (or as it’s otherwise known, a meringue). If you know how to make meringue, feel free to zone out for the next step.
For the rest of you, here it is. Beat your egg whites. When they are foamy, begin to gradually add the caster sugar, whisking all the time. Eventually you will end up with stiff, glossy egg whites. Then you add the vanilla extract (briefest meringue explanation ever? Now feeling paranoid that it is too brief. For goodness sake, please go to youtube and watch somebody more experienced than me if you have never made meringue before).
Now, as the spice girls said, two will become one. Add half of your dry mixture to the meringue and fold it in gently, then add the rest and continue to fold it in until you have a lovely mixture.
Now you have to do ‘Macaronnage’ with your lovely mixture. Hold the bowl at angle. Spread the mixture along the sides of the bowl then scoop it all back in. Do this fifteen times exactly or your macarons will be cursed.
Place your lovely mixture into a piping bag with a circular tip and pipe onto your prepared trays (hint: put your tray in another tray to shield the delicate macarons from too much heat or they will be cursed).
Pick up the baking tray which your macarons are on and drop it on a flat surface. It will make a horrid clatter but it is an essential step in helping to form the pied (the little frill at the bottom of a macaron).
Leave your macarons alone in a room until the top is no longer sticky to touch (usually about half an hour). But don’t abandon them for too long (bla bla curse bla bla).
Cook them at 180 degrees for about sixteen minutes. The outside should feel crisp and dry and they should lift easily off the baking paper.
Now blitz the butter with the almond extract and sugar to make the buttercream filling, which you can then pipe or spread onto your macarons. Be generous, you need a good rim of buttercream for your extras to stick to.
Speaking of your extras, finely chop them and roll your filled macarons on them. Little fragments of peel, pistachio and cranberry should stick to the exposed buttercream.