Happy New Year to all!
Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and a fantastic start to 2012. December is a very busy period with shopping, xmas lunches and dinners, parties and what not. Every year I spend a lot of time thinking about gift ideas for near and dear ones.
This year was no different…I was wondering what to give D’s (my son) teachers, my colleagues and family friends as gifts as I didn’t want to give those candles or store bought chocolates again. As I was driving to work, I had this light bulb moment…homemade edible Christmas gifts! I personally don’t celebrate Christmas but I do love the idea of sharing during this time of the year :).
Now that I’ve decided its homemade gifts I had to finalise what I’d make / bake. I zeroed in on Jam Drop cookies which featured in the programme 4 Ingredients by Rachael Bermingham and Kim McCosker. As the name of the programme suggests, it’s a very simple recipe with just 4 ingredients and yet the end product, a very delicious one. I wanted to make something chocolaty as well and remembered Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Pistachio Fudge. It’s a bit rich but hey, it’s Christmas after all :) Now to the recipes…
Ingredients for Jam Drop cookies:
Plain flour – 2 cups
Caster Sugar – 1 cup
Unsalted Butter - ½ cup
Jam of your choice
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
2. Cream butter and sugar till fluffy.
3. Fold in the flour and make small balls and flatten them on a lined baking tray
4. Make an indent either with a back of a wooden spoon or with your finger and fill it with jam of your choice. I alternate with Strawberry and Raspberry jam.
5. Makes around 25-30 depending on the size of the cookie
You could add vanilla extract to it. Next time I make a batch of this I’m going to add some spice mix. I’ll let you know how it turned out.
Chocolate Pistachio Fudge
Dark cooking Chocolate – 350g
Condensed Milk – 395g
Pistachios – 150g
Butter – 30 g
Salt – a pinch
Method:
1. Place the dark chocolate, condensed milk, butter and salt in a heavy based pan and stir to melt
2. Roast the pistachios lightly and roughly chop them.
3. Add the nuts to the melted mixture. I also added some cranberries at this stage.
4. Spread the mixture on to a tray and smooth the top. I used a rectangular tray lined with a baking sheet.
5. Let the fudge cool and refrigerate it until set.
6. Cut into little squares and enjoy!
