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.
