Christmas Recipes

This year has been different in many ways, and this Christmas is going to be different for most of us too. Maybe we don’t travel. Maybe we don’t get together with as many loved ones as usual. Maybe we’re going to miss things. But maybe it’s also going to be a calmer and more intimate Christmas, with more time to do stuff, to cook and bake and take our time. We offer you some ideas and inspiration for a sweet celebration.

BUTTER CUTOUT COOKIES

300g flour
200g cold butter cut into cubes
80g icing sugar
1 egg yolk
20ml cold water
1 pinch of salt
Vanilla

Put the flour, sugar, salt, and vanilla in a bowl (or your food processor) together with the butter cubes. If you use a processor, mix using short pulses, if you do it by hand, mix the ingredients quickly with your fingertips until you get the consistency of wet sand. Add the water and yolk and mix until you get a dough. Shape a disc and wrap it in cling film. Let it rest in the fridge for a couple of hours at least.
Heat the oven to 190C, take the dough out and roll it out on a lightly floured surface. Cut out the shapes you like and bake them on trays covered with baking paper. Rotate the trays after 8 minutes and watch the color of the cookies. They will be ready when they start to brown around the edges. Let them cool on a rack.

FESTIVE LAYER CAKE

Make your favourite sponge recipe in a round 23 cm pan; ours is a lemon olive oil sponge. Let it cool completely and cut horizontally into two or three layers. Cook a curd with your favourite citrus fruits, we used pink pomelo and lemon (3 eggs, the fruits’ zest, 120 ml juice, 80 g sugar, and 85 g butter).
Whip up a nice filling/frosting; we used 500g mascarpone, 100g cream, and 100g white chocolate (cream and chocolate melted together and cooled), plus some vanilla and lemon zest. Pipe some of the fillings onto the surface of the first layer, fill the center with curd, top with another layer, and repeat.
Frost the outside of the cake and decorate with rosemary sprigs, pomegranate seeds, or whatever suits your mood.

PECAN MARZIPAN

High quality marzipan paste (min. 50% almonds)
Pecan nuts to decorate

This is more of an idea than a recipe. These little cookies are very easy to make but soo delicious! Preheat your oven to 170C, shape little balls, flatten them and decorate each one with a nut. Bake on a lined baking sheet for about 10 minutes until golden. Leave to cool on a rack.