christmas cooking

[Emmagee]

Anyone got a recipe for Salt Dough to make tree decorations?

[Mooma]

Emmagee - here's Star's recipe for Salt Dough from the 'Christmas Fair' thread. We used it at our Fair and the decorations sold really well.

225g(8oz/2 cups) plain flour
100g ( 4oz/ 1/2 cup ) salt
2 teaspoons cooking oil

Mix flour and salt together then add oil and 100ml(4fl oz 1/2 cup ) of water. Stir the water and oil in to the mixture. Start to bind ingredients together to form a dough with your hands. Add more water with your fingertips until you have the right consistency. It should be firm enough not to stick to your hands but not so dry that it is crumbly. kneed the dough on a flat surface for at least 10 mins.Until it is smooth, pliable and slightly warm. Slightly flour your surface if you like. Then it's ready to shape.
When you have finished doing say a heart the best thing to use for a hanging hook is hair pins , shove it in the top as far down as you think. I've succesfully used paper clips too as hooks. Then bake in the oven , times differ with the size of things. for a heart you should bake about 140degrees (290 degrees f gas 1 1/2) for about an hour. When cool you can paint with poster paints or water colours are best as they come out stronger. Then when dry you must varnish it in ordinary oil based polyurethane varnish from a diy store. Don't use water based as it will smudge the paint. And that is it. Kids do love doing them too.

[Emmagee]

thankyou

Oh and if anyone is in Stoke Newington, we have our playgroup fair on Saturday 15th December 3-5, St Mary's Church Hall, Defoe Road. Santa, raffle etc!

[KMG]

Help! Anyone got a good recipe for biscuits, which taste good, but don't spread in the oven. i.e. we can get a good result using our lovely cutters which make imprint patterns on the biscuit. So any suggestions for a recipe which holds its shape would be very welcome.

[Crunchie]

KMG I have a great one form Nigella's How to be a DOmestic Goddess, once I have the kids in bed, I'll post it. It tastes great, is easy peasy to do and doesn't spread in the oven. My 2 yr old has great fun with this one.

[IDismyname]

I'll second that recipe, crunchie... ds loves making biscuits with that dough. It seems to withstand a reasonable amount of manhandling, too, and theresults are yummy!

[KMG]

Crunchie - I do have a copy of her book somewhere - which recipe is it? - what page no.? That will save you typing it out. Thanks.

[Crunchie]

It's the Domestic Goddess Book and the first recipe in the children section. The one with the picture of 'number' biscuits. You don't need to ice it to make it yummy.

I also love the banana muffins (again childrens section) a two year old can really make them as she says!

[Janus]

If it's not too much of a pain can someone post the recipe for the biscuits as I'm trying to get my 17 month old in to 'baking' where it doesn't matter if she eats some of the ingredients!!!
Thanks.

[Crunchie]

I will do it tonight!

[KMG]

Janus - I definitely would NOT recommend the Nigella recipe for such a young toddler. The dough is fairly sticky, and is quite tricky to handle. If you add lots of flour it stops being sticky but starts being very dry, and doesn't taste at all nice.

Try a basic gingerbread recipe - that's stands up to handling much better. If you can't find one in a book, I may get chance to post later in the week.

The easiest thing to bake with little children is MUFFINS. Get yourself kitted out - muffin trays and papers, and Susan Reimer's 'Marvellous Muffins' recipe book (only costs about £3.50). Lakeland Limited carry stock of all the above.

They are dead easy to make (even with little helpers), pretty foolproof, taste fantastic, and are much healthier than cakes or biscuits too. They are great for lunchboxes too.

[SueW]

Baking has come up on another list I'm on. We're all looking for holiday activities and pressies for grandparents.

Peppermint creams (with pasteurised egg white - either dried or from the chiller cabinet). Or no-cook fudge.

[IDismyname]

I've found a site for recipes called allrecipes.com. It's an american site, but you can convert any recipe you like into metric and alter the serving size (ie for 4 people or 10), and print them out. Some of the stuff is very "american" and the ideas are a bit wacky by english standards, but its fun looking!

[candy]

Ikea stock boxes of ready shaped and cooked gingerbread for houses. All you have to do is glue it together with icing and decorate it. My 2 loved it.

[Ems]

Star, put blinis on search, as I'm sure blinis have been discussed somewhere before.

Whatever you decide, make sure it is something light and simple, as you dont want to spoil the main meal.

A light soup, or salmon is always a good one. Have you checked deliaonline, LOADS of ideas.

[addle]

Nigella Lawson's How to Eat has blini recipes, I'm pretty sure and they're quite easy and freeze well. Worth knowing because you don't necessarily want to be frying stuff in a nice frock on christmas day.

[Ems]

Star, I've been racking brains trying to remember what I did last year, it's come back to me..... Good Housekeepings Roast Tomato Soup with Soured Cream. It was luvverly. Nice and bright and Christmasy, with a nice oomph to it (alcohol!) and slight 'poshness' to it by the black lumpfish roe/caviar on top.

(for children, put some aside before adding vodka)

Serves 8, makes about 2 litres. You can cool after step 3, freeze for up to 3 months, thaw overnight and then continue the recipe.

2kg tomatoes on the vine, quartered
700g red onions, peeled and cut into thick wedges
8 garlic cloves
6 rosemary sprigs, bruised (you bash them - not shop!)
4 red peppers, quartered and deseeded
8 tbsp olive oil
1 pint hot vegetable stock
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
4 dashed tabasco
8 dashes worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp vodka

to serve: 142ml carton soured cream and 8 level tsp black lumpfish roe or caviar.

1. Preheat oven to 220, fan 200, Gas 7
   
2. Put toms, onions, garlic, rosemary and peppers in a large roasting tin, toss with olive oil and season well. Roast for 1hr 30 mins.
   
3. Put roasted veg in a food processor and whiz for 2 min. Sieve veg to extract the pureed juice.
   
   FREEZE AT THIS POINT IF YOU WANT
   
   
4. Pour into a pan, add stock, vinegar, tabasco and worcestershire sauce and heat gently. Add the vodka. Serve with dollop of cream and roe.
   
   It really is yummy, and quick and easy.

[IDismyname]

Jamie O did a good sm. salmon recipe last night.
Draped sm salmon over large plate, peeled long cucumber with veg peeler and draped over salmon, mixed creme fraiche with lemon juice and rind, and drizzled that over the top. Also chucked on chopped chives true Jamie style.
Dead simple, but looked so pretty. Sorry no exact amounts to hand, but easy to put together if you're a "gung ho" cook like me...

[Ems]

I like the Jamie roast potato ad that is on at the mo, for Sainsburys.

Chuck in: olive oil, garlic cloves, rind of oranges in long strips, crushed sage and then your parboiled potatoes and then roast. Looked yum.

[Janus]

I've done a similar Jamie tomato soup which was delicious and not too much effort after you've peeled and chopped the 15 tomatoes! If you want the recipe I'll gladly add it later. I also saw Jamie's salmon and cucumber salad thingy and it did look so fantastic and sooo easy. Looks like you could throw it together in 5 minutes so would definitely recommend that.
Good luck anyway, whatever you cook.

[Ems]

Go girl!!