Christmas baking

Gingerbread biscuits

Prep: 20 minutes

Cook: 12 minutes

Serves: 15-20 biscuits, depending on the shape of your cutter

Allergens: Nuts & Dairy (optional)

Tasty Tip: Make sure to pop them straight into tupperware once cooked, otherwise they go a bit too crunchy!

Did you know...

Ginger is one of the best immune strengthening foods around! Gingerol (the active ingredient) can stop bacteria from growing inside your body and is a powerful anti-inflammatory

Ingredients you’ll need:

• 40g butter (or coconut oil if you prefer no dairy)
• 50g honey
• 120g buckwheat flour
• 70g dates
• 50g tapioca flour
• 40g ground almonds
• 2 teaspoons ginger
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• ½ teaspoon Himalayan salt

Implements:

• Food processor
• Spatula
• Tupperware
• Measuring scales
• Rolling pin
• Biscuit cutter – any shape you like!

Cooking instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 160c (170/180c if not fan assisted)

2. Place the dates in a bowl and cover with boiling water for 5 minutes to soften them

3. Drain the dates and add them to a food processor together with all the dry ingredients in your box

4. Whizz together for 1-2 minutes and then add the honey and butter, and whizz for another 2-3 minutes until the mix is dough like (see pic). If it seems too crumbly, add a little more honey and whizz again

5. Carefully remove blade from the food processor and then shape the mixture into a big ball with your hands

6. Place the ball on a piece of parchment paper and roll to about 5mm thick – if the mixture sticks to the rolling pin you can put your other piece of parchment paper on top of the dough and roll

7. Use a biscuit cutter to cut your dough and place the biscuits onto a baking tray with parchment paper on

8. Keep re-rolling the dough until you have used it up!

9. Bake for 12 minutes – don’t worry if they don’t look golden, any longer and they will be too hard! Store in Tupperware for 5 days

Mince pies

Prep: 30-40 minutes

Cook: 12-15 minutes

Serves: 12 mince pies

Allergens: Nuts & Dairy (optional)

Tasty Tip: These are delicious served warm, and with a dollop of cream!

Cooking tips...

-Peel and chop the apples before you start cooking as its quite-time consuming

-If the dough sticks when you roll it, ass a little flour to it (ideally almond but any will do!)

-Don’t worry if the pies don’t look golden after 7 minutes in the oven – if they brown too much they don’t taste as nice!

Ingredients you’ll need:

• 3 apples – peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces
• Juice of 1 orange
• 1 egg
• 1 dessert spoon of honey
• 140g almonds
• 60g walnuts
• 90g raisins
• 90g dried cranberries
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• ½ teaspoon salt

Implements:

• Food processor
• Chopping board & knife
• Spatula & wooden spoon
• Saucepan & lid
• Cupcake tray
• Rolling pin
• Pastry cutters

Cooking instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 160c (170c if not fan assisted)

2. Place the almonds and walnuts in your food processor and blitz until ground – check every 30 seconds

3. Add the egg, honey, salt and bicarbonate of soda and then blitz again until a dough forms (around 1 minute)

4. Carefully remove the blade and shape the dough into a ball (use a spatula to scrape the mix off the sides if needed) and pop in the fridge while you start making the filling

5. Heat the butter, chopped apple, raisins, cranberries, cinnamon, ginger and juice of 1 orange on a low heat with the lid on for around 15 minutes. Stir regularly – if it starts to stick, add a little water

6. Whilst the filling is cooking take 2/3 of the dough and roll it between 2 pieces of parchment paper to about 2mm thick

7. Use a circular cutter to cut 12 pie bases and pop them in a greased cupcake tray – bake for 5 minutes

8. Once baked, fill each base with a heaped teaspoon of the filling

9. Roll the remaining dough and cut into 12 smaller circles or stars and place on top of each mince pie. Bake for 7 more minutes and allow to cool before gobbling!

Christmas Fruit Cake

Prep: 20 minutes

Cook: 50 minutes

Serves: One Christmas Cake

Allergens: Egg & Dairy (optional)

Tasty Tip: No licking the bowl with this recipe unfortunately! Gram flour needs to be cooked to taste yummy

Did you know...

This cake is sweetened with dried fruit. Dried fruit is made by taking the water out of fresh fruit so it looks smaller and more shriveled! But what is left is still full of minerals and fibre which are really important for keeping us healthy

Ingredients you’ll need:

• 3 medium/large oranges
• 2 eggs or vegan equivalent
• 80g butter or coconut oil
• 180g gram flour
• 100g pitted dates
• 55g raisins
• 35g chopped apricots
• 30g chia seeds
• 1 teaspoon Ceylon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Implements:

• Chopping board and knife
• Mixing bowl, 2 x small bowls
• Measuring scales
• Small saucepan
• Wooden spoon
• Whisk or fork
• 20cm/8” cake tin
• Sieve
• Grater

Cooking instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 150c (160c if not fan assisted)

2. Grate the zest (skin) of one of the oranges on the smallest setting

3. Cut all of the oranges in half and squeeze the juice out of them into a bowl until you have 200ml of juice – you can use your hands or a juicer

4. Pour the juice and the zest into a large mixing bowl and stir in the chia seeds

5. Carefully chop the dates into small pieces and then stir the dates, raisins and apricots into the orange and chia mix, and let it sit for a few minutes

6. Line your cake tin with parchment paper and grease the paper (this will stop the cake from sticking)

7. Gently melt the butter/coconut oil in a saucepan and pour it into the cake mix

8. Next, whisk the eggs in a small bowl and add them to the mix and then sieve the gram flour, spices and baking soda in, and stir everything thoroughly

9. Pour the mixture into your cake tin and bake for 50 minutes – keep an eye on it from 45 minutes to make sure it isn’t going too brown. It is ready when you can put a knife in it and it comes out clean!

10. Leave to cool and then peel the parchment off and decorate it! Store in an airtight container for up to a week

Gingerbread muffins

Prep: 20 minutes

Cook: 15-20 minutes

Serves: 12 muffins

Allergens: Egg & Dairy (optional)

Tasty Tip: Store in Tupperware straight after cooking to keep them fresh! They will last 4-5 days

Ingredients you’ll need:

• 80g butter or coconut oil
• 100g honey
• 130g Greek yoghurt (or diary free alternative)
• 1 egg
• 100ml hot water
• 80g pitted dates
• 80g oat flour
• 80g teff flour
• 80g gram flour
• 3 tsp ginger
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• Gingerbread men rice paper

Implements:

• 12 hole muffin tray
• Food processor/blender
• Mixing bowl and small bowl
• Wooden spoon
• Tablespoon
• Whisk/fork
• Sieve

Cooking instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 170c (180c if not fan assisted)

2. Soak the dates in100ml of hot water in a small bowl for a few minutes
3. Measure out 80g of butter or coconut oil and add it to a blender/food processor with the dates and hot water. Blitz until smooth

4. Crack an egg into a large mixing bowl and whisk it with a fork or whisk

5. Add the date mixture (which you made step 3), yoghurt and honey. Mix thoroughly

6. Sieve all of the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl (oat flour, teff flour, gram flour and spices with the bicarbonate of soda) and stir until fully combined

7. Lightly grease your muffin tray and then spoon the batter equally into each hole with a tablespoon

8. Carefully cut our your edible rice paper gingerbread men and then either place them on top of your muffins before cooking or wait until the muffins are cooked, and make a small incision to stand them in

9. Pop in the oven for 20 minutes but check after 15 minutes to make sure they aren’t going too brown (some ovens are hotter than others!)

All recipes provided by Little Cooks Co