Star baker Flora Shedden has sent a special Christmas message to Courier readers!
With December 25 just round the corner, it’s a busy time for the 2015 Bake Off semi-finalist, but she’s taken time out to chat to us, as well as sharing some of her favourite festive recipes.
We visited Flora, 20, in Dunkeld, as she rustled up dozens of mince pies and nutmeg cookies and wished all our lovely readers a very merry Christmas, as you can see in the video.
“I absolutely love Christmas,” she beamed. “It’s my favourite time of year. And if it snows for Christmas, all my dreams will come true.”
We watched as Flora cooked up a storm, and begged her to share her scrummy recipes. We were over-the-moon when she gladly obliged.
Check them out below…
Fig Mince Pies
175g plain flour
100g butter
50g icing sugar
1 egg yolk
300g good quality shop bought mince pie filling
100g dried figs
100g hazelnuts
zest of 1 orange
60ml sherry (optional)
Preheat the oven to 180C. In a food processor, blitz the butter, flour, sugar and egg yolk together until a smooth dough forms. Cover in cling film and chill for 15 minutes in the fridge. For the filling roughly chop the dried figs and hazelnuts. Mix together with the mince meat, orange zest and sherry if using. Lightly flour your work surface and roll out the pastry. Cut out discs and use to line a fairy cake tin. Spoon the mince pie filling into each case. Re-roll the pastry scraps to cut our stars; they should be slightly smaller than pies themselves. Place on top of the filling. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes of until golden brown and baked through. Allow to cool before dusting with icing sugar and serving. Very good with clotted cream or brandy butter.
Nutmeg Cookies
125g butter
100g light brown sugar
50g golden syrup
300g plain flour
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
150g icing sugar
whole milk
sprinkles, pistachio slivers, gold discs, chopped hazelnuts, silver balls….
Preheat the oven to 180C. Melt the butter, sugar and syrup together. Take off the heat then stir in the flour, nutmeg and bicarb. Once the mixture forms a dough, lightly dust your work top with flour and roll out the dough. Using a star cutter (or any one you fancy) cut out the cookies. Place on a baking tray, well placed and cook for seven to 10 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool for five minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Repeat with any excess dough. Once full cooled mix the icing sugar with a little drop of milk. Add more milk drop by drop to loosen. Once you have a fairly thick but pipe-able consistency decorate though cookies creating snowflake patterns or simply outlining them. Decorate with whatever sprinkle you fancy.
