500g Caster sugar for coating
200g Good quality Dark chocolate
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1-½ teaspoon Grand Marnier liqueur
Place half the sugar into a small tray so the base is covered but not flat. Temper the dark chocolate by melting it in a plastic bowl on high for 30 seconds at a time until you have half liquid chocolate and half solid chocolate. Stir vigorously without additional heat until all the chocolate is melted. If you have some stubborn pieces of unmelted chocolate, gently melt them for a few seconds with a hair dryer. Add in the cinnamon and whilst stirring add in the Grand Marnier liqueur which will thicken the chocolate slightly. Place the prepared chocolate in a zip lock bag and cut the corner to pipe it onto the sugar. While the chocolate is still wet, cover with additional sugar.
Gingerbread Biscuits
Makes 15 biscuits
290g Plain Flour
85g Caster Sugar
10g Gingerbread Spice
135g Honey
20g Unsalted Butter, softened
5g Bicarbonate of Soda
45g Hot water
In a bowl with the paddle attachment add in the flour, caster sugar, gingerbread spice, honey and butter. Mix with the paddle attachment.
Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the hot water and add it to the mixture, continuing to mix until all of the ingredients are incorporated and it comes together as dough.
Roll out the dough to approximately 4mm thickness on a surface lightly dusted with flour. Cut the gingerbread shapes with a hole for ribbon and place them on a lined tray.
Bake at 170°C for 7-8 minutes. Cool before decorating with Royal icing.
Royal Icing
50g Egg white
150g Pure icing sugar, sieved
Place the egg whites in a bowl and mix through the sieved icing sugar. If needed adjust the icing by adding more egg white or icing sugar until you have a firm piping consistency.
Royal icing sets very hard very quickly, so keep it covered and in the fridge when you are not using it. Place the icing in a piping bag with a small round tip. Pipe the prepared Royal icing onto the biscuits and set aside to set. Thread with ribbon and tie with a bow.
Granola
375g Rolled oats
140g Slivered almonds
170g Cashews
85g Shredded coconut
150g Dark muscovado sugar
180g Honey
65g Oil
5g Sea salt
100g Golden raisins
100g Raisins
100g Cranberries
In a large bowl mix the oats, almonds, cashews, coconut and sugar until combined. Warm the honey with the oil and salt in a saucepan and pour over the oat mixture. Spread mixture out onto a lined tray and bake for 60-70 minutes at 120°c turning every 15 minutes to ensure an even bake. Remove from the oven and stir through the dried fruits once cool. Package in individual containers.
Tropical fruit mince pies
Yield: 18
Preparation Time: 30 minutes + 2 hours cooking
Shortbread
450g Flour
250g Butter
150g Sugar
52g Egg
25ml Water
Combine sifted flour and butter to form a crumb. It is important that you do not over mix at this stage. Combine sugar, water and egg and add to the crumb mixture combine until smooth dough is formed without excessive mixing. Allow to rest in the fridge and roll out once the dough has firmed up again.
Tropical Fruit Filling
435g Brown Sugar
58ml Orange Juice
174g Mango, diced
130g Banana, diced
420g Pineapple, diced
2.5g Gingerbread spice
116g Dried Apricots
58g Candied Orange Peel or dried orange peel
14g Vinegar
35g Sultanas
Dice the fresh and dried fruit to approximately 8mm. Melt brown sugar in a pan with the orange juice. Add in the diced mango and pineapple and then add in the gingerbread spice. Cook on a high flame and add banana and the dried fruits.
Add the vinegar and reduce until you achieve a chutney consistency. Place the prepared chutney into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap and cool.
Assembly
Roll the prepared shortbread pastry to a thickness of 3mm and cut 30 x 80mm discs for the base. Line individual tart moulds diameter 60mm, height 23mm, with the pastry and fill with the cooled fruit mince. Roll the remaining pastry to 3mm thickness and cut tops for the tart with a 60mm round cutter. Place the cut pastry disc directly on top of the fruit mince and press the edges to remove the excess pastry. With a small knife puncture a small hole in the top of the pastry. Roll additional pastry or keep your offcuts flat and roll out to a 2mm thickness, and with a holly cutter cut three holly leaves per tart. Using a brush place a small amount of water on top of the tart to adhere each holly leaf. Create three small holly berries per tart with the left over pastry and place in the middle of the tart. Bake at 200°c for approximately 8 minutes. Remove from the mould while they are still warm. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
