Gingerbread Man Biscuits

We usually spend Christmas with my husband's parents, but we are not able to travel to the Barossa Valley and they can not travel to us in the Mountains this year.  Thus a request for my Gingerbread Man came from my mother in law.
She brings her traditional German touch to our Christmas celebration each year and we shall miss it this Christmas.

125g butter (salted)
100g brown sugar
125ml golden syrup
1 egg yolk
400ml plain flour
1 tbs ground ginger
1 tsp mixed spice

If the dough feels a little sticky, dust plenty of flour when rolling it out.
bake in 170 degrees celsius oven until golden brown.

Rocky Road

I meant to post this before we for Far North Queensland, things got rather hectic..
So, finally I am home in time for your to make it for Christmas.

Ingredients
200g  Dark Chocolate
100g Butter (I used cultured butter and added half a teaspoon of salt)
1 cup  Rice bubbles
Half to three quarter of a packet of Marshmallow
1 pannet Raspberries or a cup of pitted cherries or both
Nuts of your choice (almonds work well)

Melt chocolate and butter together.  You can put them in a bowl over a pan of simmering water or stick it in the microwave like I do.

Then put the rest of ingredients and give it a quick mix.
Pour over a prepared tray lined with baking paper or cling wrap.

Chill in the fridge until set.

Enjoy!

Moist Fruitcake

Today I was very proud to be asked for no less than 3 recipes at my Choir's Christmas lunch.

After abandoning this blog for a long time, I decided to resurrect it as a method of sharing my recipes  with my English speaking (reading) friends.

1. Moist fruitcake (this post)
2. Decadent rocky road (next post)
3. Chocolate cake (I realised that I have already posted this one.  It's the one before this post)


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I discovered this recipe over 10 years ago in my American Cake book.
As I do with most recipes, I make all kinds of alterations and by the time I am satisfied with it, it hardly resembles the original.

A
Mixed dried fruit 500g
Dried apricots  100g
Marmalade  100g
Water 300ml
Cultured butter 180g
Salt 1tsp
Raw sugar 300g

B
90ml brandy or rum
3 eggs

C
Plain flour 375g
Baking powder 1tsp

Nuts for decoration

Put all ingredients A in a medium sized saucepan and put on medium heat.
Once everything dissolves and it begins to boil, turn down to heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Put it aside and let it cool down a little.

In a large bowl, put B and half of A together and whisk.
Add C into the bowl and mix till smooth.  Add the rest of A and mix again.

Pour into a prepared cake tin and decorate with pecan nuts or walnuts.
I usually divide it into two or three smaller tins.

Bake at 170C until for approximately 40 minutes.
Depending on the size of your tins or your oven, the baking time differs.
Always check with a skewer to see if the cake is cooked through.


I wish you Blue Mountains ladies a nice cool baking day between now and Christmas.