FOOD + DRINK
MAKE AHEAD CHRISTMAS TREATS CONT .
Cheesy Watercress Stars Recipe by www . watercress . co . uk
Makes : 20 Prep time : 10 minutes Cooking time : 10 minutes
These tasty little stars are a great way of getting the kids into the kitchen at Christmas time , plus you can arrange them in any way you like to make a beautiful party food display .
Ingredients :
• 320g ready rolled puff pastry
• 80g grated cheddar
• 40g watercress , finely chopped
• Flour for dusting
Method
1 . Pre-heat the oven to 180 ° C . Unroll the pastry and sprinkle most of the cheese over one half as well as most of the watercress . Fold the bare side of the pastry over the cheesy half and press down around the edges to seal in the cheese and watercress .
2 . Lightly flour the work surface and place the pastry on top . Roll out the pastry to about double the size . Sprinkle the rolledout pastry with the rest of the cheese and chopped watercress , spreading as evenly as possible . Try to keep a little bit of cheese and watercress back so that you can re-roll any trim once the stars have been cut out .
3 . Line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper , then take a star shaped cookie cutter and cut the pastry into as many stars as possible . You could use any shaped cutter you like for this ! Once you have cut out as many as you can , squash the leftover pastry into a ball and then roll out again , sprinkling with a little more cheese and watercress and cutting out the remaining stars .
4 . Bake in the pre-heated oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden on top . Once removed from the oven the stars can be served immediately or kept in an airtight container for up to three days .
Celebration Chocolate Brownie Recipe by www . dovesfarm . co . uk
Cook time : 30-35 minutes Makes : 12-15 Brownies
3 . Put the sugar into a mixing bowl , add the eggs and beat well with electric beaters .
Ingredients :
• 100g prunes
• 50g dried cranberries
• 3 tbsp amaretto or fruit juice
• 250g sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 75g double cream
• 150g Doves Farm Organic White Spelt Flour
• 200g plain chocolate
• 75g macadamia nuts , halved
• 75g pecan nuts
• Icing sugar ( optional )
Method :
1 . Line a 20x30cm / 8x12 " baking tray with parchment paper .
2 . Cut the prunes into quarters and put them into a bowl , add the cranberries and amaretto or juice , cover and leave for a couple of hours or overnight .
4 . Beat in the cream .
5 . Sieve the flour into the bowl and stir to combine . Preheat the oven to 180 ° C , Fan 160 ° C , 350 ° F , Gas 4 ..
6 . Gently melt the chocolate , add it to the bowl and beat well .
7 . Stir in the soaking fruit , macadamia and pecan nuts .
8 . Tip the mixture into the prepared baking tray , spreading it out to the edges .
9 . Bake for 30-35 minutes .
10 . Leave the brownie in the tray to cool then cut into squares or rectangles .
11 . Sieve a little icing sugar over the brownies if you wish .
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