Mulled Wine Linzer Cookies / Spitzbuben mit Gluehweingelee

Linzer cookies based on traditional Austrian Linzertorte, are one of the common Christmas cookies in Germany. They are nutty, rich and SWEET. Traditionally they are filled with black currant jam, but any other fruit preserves can be used to fill the cookies. Rather than almonds, nuts such as hazelnuts, pecan, can be substituted to make Linzer dough.

Created in Linz, Austria in the 17th century, the Linzer torte is the world's oldest torte recipe. Tortes use nuts rather than flour as the main dough ingredient. The Linzer torte features an almond-based crust filled with black current preserves and topped with a lattice crust. In the 19th century, the Linzer torte was adapted into the present-day Linzer cookie.

Recipe adapted from Spitzbuben mit Gluehweingelee

Mulled Wine Jelly	Cookie Dough
1 Orange 100 ml Red wine 180 g Canning sugar (3:1) 2 Star anises 1 Cinnamon stick 3 Cloves	200 g Butter, cut into small pieces 100 g Sugar Pinch of salt 1 Egg yolk 150 g Ground almond 180 g Plain flour 1/2 tsp Spekulatius spice, optional Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

1. Cut the orange into halves, put the half of the orange face down on the juicer and rotate it to get the juice. Place orange juice, red wine, canning sugar, star anises, cinnamon stick, and cloves in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer for about 4 minutes. Strain the jelly through a sieve. Set aside.
   
2. Beat butter, sugar, pinch of salt and egg yolk until combined. Add in ground almond, spekulatius spice and flour. Mix all the ingredients together with your hands until you have smooth dough. Flatten the dough into a 5-inch disk. Wrap the disk in plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 1 hour.
   
3. Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Roll out the dough into a 4mm thick round between 2 sheets of wax paper. Cut 2-inch rounds with a plain or fluted cutter and place them on the prepared trays. With half of the rounds, cut a hole from the middle of each round with a heart or flower shaped cutter.
   
4. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Allow to cool to room temperature. Spread mulled wine jelly thinly on the flat side of each solid cookie. Dust the top of the cut-out cookies with confectioners' sugar and press the flat sides together. Fill the holes with little more jelly. Store them in your cookie box, separating the layers with waxed paper, and store for up to 2 weeks.

Christmas special #5: Tagine

Considering the geographical location of the Christmas story, I think there's a lot to be said for middle-eastern inspired eating at this time of year. There's an exoticism to Christmas that often gets overlooked in the rush to eat chocolate.

Sorry about the stupid photograph. There is something really wrong with my camera (I've had this confirmed by a photographer, it's not just me being a dick) and the only picture I managed to get of the tagine made it look so utterly revolting, when it was so absolutely delicious, that I couldn't bear to post the photo.

My husband made this Michel Roux Jnr lamb tagine the other day, the recipe was sourced from The Times Weekend and it was spectacular. Really, really great and I recommend it highly. And, as almost no swearing was coming from the kitchen, I think it was pretty easy, too.

The niceness of this depends largely on what kind of meat you get, because a lot of the richness comes from the fat on the meat. Giles boned a shoulder of lamb, diced the meat and cooked the whole lot, (chucked the bone and diced skin and everything), which definitely added to the richness and general yum of the thing.

You could do this with pre-diced lamb, but I fear it won't quite be fatty enough, so if you can, seek out a boned shoulder or a shoulder and then bone it yourself (not nearly as tricky as de-boning a duck).

Lamb tagine for 4 hungry people or 6 less hungry people

1 boned lamb shoulder - the total weight is about 800g - 1kg
veg oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3 small onions, chopped
2tsp turmeric
2tsp crushed coriander seeds
2tsp cumin seeds (or ground cumin)
The zest and juice of one lemon
(NB the original recipe said one whole lemon cut into wedges, but after much debate and soul-searching Giles decided that this made the whole thing too bitter, what with the inclusion of the pith, so has adjusted the instruction accordingly.)
1 tbsp honey - whatever you've got
300ml chicken/veg stock
50 whole blanched almonds or pine nuts, toasted
salt

1 Preheat oven to 140C and cut lamb into chunks. Heat the veg oil in a large casserole and brown the lamb. Add garlic, onion and spices and cook over a medium heat for 15 min.

2 Add the lemon, honey and stock and bring to a simmer. Cover with a lid and cook for 1hr 15 min. I know it doesn't seem like very long for a stew and we were both sceptical, but it works. Once it's out you will probably need to add a lot of salt - probably two or three really big pinches - but the precise amount is, as always, up to you.

3 Sprinkle over toasted nuts before serving.

We had this with couscous. I am a huge fan of "jewelled couscous", as it's starting to be referred to, which is couscous with a bit of chopped mint, salt and pomegranate seeds stirred in.

Christmas special #4: scented candles

I just love a smelly candle. I can't help myself. Spring, summer, autumn - whenever, but especially in winter and most of all at Christmas, I am a sucker.

I think it is a hyper-bourgeoise reaction against my upbringing. My parents learnt what was smart in the 60s and back then what was very smart was to be extremely posh. And the extremely posh (as opposed to the extremely rich) live in draughty houses with raggedy old carpets on the floor, dogs for central heating and generally tend not to give a shit about how clean things were.

My mother tried to re-create this in our house with the effect that I was always puzzled as to why we didn't have wall-to-wall carpet like other people's houses and why there were always so many cobwebs. And why it was so cold.

So naturally I grew up obsessed with soft furnishings, hand-towels, bath bridges, cashmere socks, fairy lights, performance toiletries, accent walls and smelly candles, which I think are technically known as "home fragrance".

But the hardy Protestant that lurks within me knows that to spend £18 a throw on candles from The White Company (in "Winter" or "Cassis") or £36 YIKES on candles from Diqtyque (in "Fig") is simply profligate and I will go to hell. So I buy them secretly and burn them sparingly, like a weird Scrooge bent over his tiny coal fire.

I always stop at any smelly candle display in any shop in any town and smell them all and look at all the prices, trying to winkle out smelly candles that don't cost quite so much. But they all have the after-nose of a cheap celebrity scent and they're none of them any good.

EXCEPT these Frankincense and Myrrh candles from Shearer (purchasable from WAITROSE!!!), which smell totally Christmassy - and not in a naff way - and are so reasonably-priced (£4 for a small one, I think and £8 for a really big one) that you can put one in every room and not feel even a little bit like a terrible, wankerish credulant.

Christmas Special #3: Devils on Horseback PLUS!!!! Giles Coren's pea and ham soup (see end)

That's prunes wrapped in bacon to you and me.

I really love these, I think they are both grotesque and fatally delicious. My husband says that they don't really go with any kind of drink he can think of, but after a bit of discussion we concluded that they would be okay with champagne or a glass of quite pissy white wine. Or a flat, dark ale he said. (Not really the thing for a cocktail party though...)

Anyway, they are quite a standard Christmas canape and here's how to make them.

You will need:

Prunes
Smoked streaky bacon
Cognac or armagnac - this is optional
Cocktail sticks

Preheat your oven to 170C

1 Soak your prunes in the booze for an hour or so, if using. I think this does make a difference and is worth doing if you can.

2 Cut the prunes in half, as an entire prune wrapped in bacon (as I've done here) is, on reflection, a tiny bit too much of a mouthful

3 Wrap the prune halves in the streaky bacon about one and a quarter times, cut off the slack and secure with a cocktail stick. Make sure the stick goes through both ends of the bacon or it will flop apart in the oven

4 Lightly grease a baking tray with veg oil and put on your prunes. Most recipes say bake at 200C for 12-15 minutes, but I am of the school that believes you ought to cook bacon long and low, not fast and hot. So what I do is put in the 170C oven for about 20-25 minutes and turn half-way through.

*****

In other news, my husband wanted me to take a picture of the pea and ham soup he made out of some ham stock left over from when I boiled a ham the other day.

So I said "Okay, shall we have a very rare picture of your face on the blog?"
And he said "Yeah okay. It'll be an even rarer one of me wearing my glasses."

And then my camera stopped working and the best picture I could get was this one:

The soup was really nice. Here's how he did it:

"i put about 200g of yellow split peas (well-rinsed) into about a litre of the ham stock with no seasonings at all, because the ham was very salty and had been cooked with plenty of herbs and parsley and bay and black pepper anyway. i put in a couple of medium sized onions though, roughly chopped. cooked the lot at a fast simmer for the length of time it said on the lentil packet, which i think was 25 minutes-ish, or until the peas squish easily against the pan wall with a spoon, which they did. then let it cool for ten minutes, flipping it between a couple of pans to speed it up (cos you don't want to be so hot that it takes a plasticcy smell off the blender) then poured it into the upright blender jug and frazzed it till it was smooth, thirty seconds or so. then i chopped up the old ham ends and bits and pieces quite small (a big fistful altogether) and chucked them into the saucepan, put the soup back in, brought back to a simmer for a couple of seconds and served. makes four big bowls. meant to garnish with parsley, forgot."

And here is how you boil a ham:

For a 3kg rolled smoked bacon joint (for 6) put in a large casserole pot and cover with water. Add 3 bay leaves, peppercorns, tied parsley stalks, celery and a small onion studded with cloves. Put on the hob, bring to the boil and skim off the scummy stuff.

Simmer gently for 2.5 hours. And, I swear to God, that's all there is to it.

Avocado Creamcheese Cookies

These nice soft avocado cookies with a mild tang of sweetness, subtle nutty flavour, and buttery richness are sure to liven up your holiday tea parties. They also make great gifts for the elderly relatives and neighbours.

Recipe adapted from Vegan Yum Yum

• 100 g Butter
  
• 1/2 Avocado, mashed
  
• 120 g 0.1% Cream cheese
  
• 120 g Sugar
  
• 2 tbsp Lemon juice
  
• 1 tbsp Poppy seeds
  
• 230 g All purpose flour
  
• 1/2 tsp Baking soda

1. Line 2-3 baking trays with paper. Cream butter, mashed avocado, cream cheese, and sugar together. Add lemon juice and poppy seeds, and beat until light and fluffy.
   
2. Add in flour, baking soda and mix until incorporated. Fill your piping bag fitted with a star tip half full with cookie batter and pipe out cookies onto the prepared trays. Alternatively you can use a cookie gun to press any desired patterned cookies.
   
3. Preheat oven to 190C/375F. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the cookies are lightly golden. Transfer them on the wire rack to cool.

Christmas special #2: The Kiddie Table

A Tweet alerted me to the fact that I didn't say anything in Festive post #1, Hosting the Day, about kiddie tables.

"It's like being in the monkey cage at a zoo," said the Tweeter. "What does everyone else do?"

Well, in amongst the hilarious suggestions of handcuffs and gaffer tape, emerged some pretty good advice.

So here goes:

1 Cover the kiddie table with white paper tablecloths, paper plates and cups and supply crayons. Encourage drawing on the tablecloth.

2 Purchase a lot of heavy-duty baby wipes

3 Supply breadsticks and small snacks to stifle howling and tantrums if lunch starts looking delayed. I'm told pink lemonade is also popular.

4 Offer a prize for the best Christmas-themed tabletop drawing.

5 Supply ketchup (although specify this is not to be used as a artistic medium).

6 Heavily bribe a teenager to sit at the kiddie table and keep reasonable order. £20 ought to do it. If there are no teens, take eldest child at the table aside and tell them that you are relying on them to be in charge. I'm assured that this works even if they are only 4 or usually behave like the antichrist.

7 When tempers are fraying and any food that's going to be consumed has been consumed and the rest is going on the floor, accept that no amount of threats are going to keep them still and quiet and that it's time to:

- Bribe same teenager or a different one to take children outside for 1 hour if there is a park nearby

- Or if putting shoes and coats etc on too much hassle, or there is no teenager available, announce a showing of a pre-selected Christmas film and add that there will be sweets supplied (tiny bratlings, I'm told, aren't interested in Christmas pudding).

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Cranberry Pistachio Pesto

Brussels sprouts, great food source of vitamin A, vitamin C, folic acid and dietary fibre, make the perfect holiday side dish. Simply season them with salt, pepper, garlic powder and tossed with olive oil, then roast until beautifully carmelized. And the leftover can be quickly turned into a delicious pasta for lunch!

Recipe adapted from Steamy Kitchen

For Brussels Sprouts	Cranberry Pistachio Pesto
750 g Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved 1/2 tsp Freshly ground black pepper 1/2 tsp Sea salt 1/2 tsp Dried garlic powder 3 tbsp Olive oil	60 g Shelled pistachios 60 g Dried cranberries 3 clove Roasted garlic 3 tbsp Flat parsley, chopped 100 ml Olive oil Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 200C/400F. To trim Brussels sprouts, first cut off the stem end and remove any loose or wilted leaves. Cut the Brussels sprouts in half, lengthwise. Place them in a bowl, and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Add the olive oil and toss until thoroughly coated.
   
2. Transfer to a shallow baking dish large enough to hold the sprouts in single layer. Roast until the sprouts are browned on the outside and tender on the inside, stirring occasionally, about 25 minutes.
   
3. Place the pistachios, cranberries, roasted garlic and flat parsley into a food processor and process until very finely chopped. While the food processor is running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. Serve the roasted Brussels sprouts with the cranberry pistachio pesto.