Christmas recipes
With the festive season upon us what better way to have some fun with your flatmates than getting creative in the kitchen? Whether you’ll have a flat Christmas bake-off or just fancy treating yourself, we’ve collated some traditional seasonal goodies that we see this time of year in the UK. And better yet, they won’t break the bank or take too much time away from your studies!
Christmas sugar cookies:
Let's kick things off with a classic—Christmas Cookies! Channel your inner baking wizard and whip up a batch of these yummy sugar cookies. Express your creativity with icing and sprinkles and see who can ice the best Santa or snowman!
You will need:
100g unsalted butter
100 g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
300g plain flour
30g cornflour
Method:
1. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Whisk sieved plain flour and cornflour until a dough forms. Roll on a floured surface into a disk of about 6mm thickness, wrap in cling film and refrigerate.
2. Heat the oven to 180C fan. Cut out cookies using your chosen cutter shape (use a glass for a circle cutter if you don’t have one). Place on a baking sheet and bake for 7-10 minutes.
3. Once cooled it’s time to decorate! You can use premade icing from the shop, icing pens or a mix of icing sugar and water, let the creativity go wild!
Here in the UK, you can’t have Christmas without having a mince pie! They have been widely accepted as a Christmas tradition and you will often find supermarkets stocked full of them this time of year. 225g cold butter
350g plain flour
100g caster sugar
280g mincemeat
1 egg
Icing sugar (to dust)
Method:
1. Make the pastry: rub the flour into the butter (as if you were making breadcrumbs), then mix in the sugar. Combine the mix into a ball (don’t add extra liquid) and knead together.
2. Heat the oven to 180C fan. Divide the dough in half and roll it out. Using a cookie cutter or a glass cut out 18 circles to line a cupcake tray. Spoon the mincemeat into the pies and, using the other half of the dough, cut out some lids and cover each pie, seal by pressing the edges gently together.
3. Brush the top of each pie with the beaten egg and bake for 20 minutes. Dust with icing sugar once cool and enjoy!
Find the full method here: Unbelievably easy mince pies recipe | BBC Good Food
Gingerbread House:
Fancy something a bit more challenging? Have a flat bake-off and see who can successfully build a gingerbread house. It’s harder than it looks!
You will need:
375g unsalted butter
300g dark muscovado sugar
150g golden syrup
900g plain flour
1 tbsp bicarbonate soda
2 tbsp ground ginger
Icing:
3 egg whites
675g icing sugar
3 tsp lemon juice
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C fan
2. Melt butter, sugar and syrup in a pan. Sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground ginger into a bowl and pour the melted mix into the middle. Stir together and knead into a dough once cool enough.
3. Divide the mix into 5 pieces (cut one of these pieces into 2 so you have 6 total). Roll out each piece and cut out the house shapes using the template. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes (check the recipe if you want to make glazed windows with sweets). Leave to cool completely.
4. Whisk egg whites until frothy and add in the icing sugar slowly. Add in the lemon juice and whisk until stiff peaks form.
5. Using a piping bag (or a spoon!) use the icing to glue each gingerbread section together. Make sure to leave time for the icing to harden and decorate how you like.
Whether you need a last-minute homemade gift or fancy a boozy twist that will also curb your Christmas sweet tooth, these fudge treats can be brought together in a matter of minutes and left to chill overnight.
You will need:
50ml Baileys Irish Cream Liqueur
200g dark chocolate (chopped)
20g unsalted butter
100g sweetened condensed milk
50g unsalted pistachios (chopped)
75g shortbread (crushed)
200g mini marshmallows
150g white chocolate (chopped)
Method:
1. Place Baileys, dark chocolate, butter and milk in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water and allow to melt, stirring until smooth. Stir in nuts, biscuits, marshmallows, and 100g white chocolate.
2. Spread mix into an 8cm x 20cm lined tray and chill for 2-3 hours.
3. Melt the remaining 50g white chocolate and drizzle over fudge before cutting into squares and enjoy.
Everyone loves brownies, so why not get a bit creative and make them festive! These “trees” can be decorated however you see fit, check out what fun sprinkles you can find at the shops to mimic traditional tree decorations and have some fun!
You will need:
195g butter
195g dark chocolate
4 eggs
275g sugar
90g plain flour
35g cocoa powder
100g milk chocolate chips
100g white chocolate chips
To decorate:
10 candy canes
100g butter
200g icing sugar
Green food colouring
Sprinkles
sweets
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 160C fan and line a 9inch square baking tray
2. Melt butter and dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of boiling water and leave to cool.
3. Whisk eggs and sugar until pale and double in size. Pour over the cooled chocolate mix and fold in, taking care to keep the air in the mix.
4. Sift the cocoa powder and plain flour and fold again. Once combined fold through the chocolate chips and pour the mix into the tin and bake for 25-30 minutes.
5. Once cooled, cut into triangles and insert a candy cane into the base of each brownie
6. Mix together the butter and icing sugar into a buttercream and stir through the green food colouring. Put the mix into a piping bag or use a spoon to decorate each brownie. Add some sprinkles or whatever you fancy to decorate your tree.