Sugar Spice

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Easy Mince Pies

Double chocolate fairy cakes

Issue 412 November 2011£3.30

Every recipe

tried and tested

three times!

It’s Time to Celebrate!

Inside this week...

12 Low Fat Chicken Madras

25 Tomato and Garlic Pasta Bake

34 Double Chocolate Fairy Cakes

46 Sticky Syrup Sponge

52 Winter Warming Lamb Stew

67 Caramel and Pecan Crunch

72 Super-quick stuffed peppers

14 Herby Oatmeal Stuffing

22 Turkey and Cranberry Pies

36 Extra Fruity Mincemeat

39 Gingerbread People

40 Mincemeat Pies

68 Chocolate Truffles

4 Christmas Gift Guide

17 Our Featured Chef- Aldo Zilli

31 Tried and Tested- Mincemeat Pies

53 Reader Christmas Competition

85 Cookery Book Corner

Everyday Cooking Seasonal Specials Read Me...

Full Contents List can be

found on page 90.

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the recipes featured in this

and every other issue at

www.sugarandspice.co.uk

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46 Sticky Syrup Sponge 40 Mincemeat Pies 31 Tried and Tested

34 Double Chocolate Fairy Cakes

Tried and TestedWe tried and tested four different brands of mince pie to find out which you should buy this Christmas. The results may surprise you...

Marks and Spencer £1.99 for 6 pies or £2.20 for 12 pies§The mincemeat was the best out of the four, the pies were well filled and the flavour was excellent. They lost marks for appearance and also for the pasty which was too crumbly. Overall Score 10/15

Lidl £1.99 for 12 piesThese pies scored very highly for both appearance and pastry. The let down was the mincemeat which was of a very low quality and lacked in whole fruit.Overall Score 9/15

ASDA “Extra Special” £2.00 for 6 piesThe pies were quite attractive but sadly looked better than they tasted! Although the mincemeat had an interesting fla-vour, the pastry was too thick and as a result there wasn’t enough filling.Overall Score 7/15

We marked the pies out of five for appearance, pastry and mincemeat and added up our scores to get the results out of fifteen.

Co-operative “Truly Irrisistible” £1.50 for 6. As with the Lidl pies, these scored very highly for appearance but the taste was a let down. The pastry appeared under cooked and was too thick. The

mincemeat lacked in flavour and there just wasn’t enough of it!Overall Score 8/15

The best value for money prize goes to Lidl. At just £1.99 for twelve they are by far the cheapest out of our five. They also came out second in the taste test so if you’re doing Christmas on a budget this year you don’t need to lose out on flavour!

If you’d rather make your own mince pies this Christmas, find our recipe on p40 as well as our recipe for homemade mincemeat on p36.

Ultimate Christmas Recipes!

These classic recipes are foolproof ways to create amazing Christmas goodies.

Gingerbread PeopleThis a very easy recipe, great for making and decorating with the kids. It will make approximately 20 gingerbread men, depending on the size of your cutters.Ingredients:300g butter125g caster sugar125g soft dark brown sugar225g golden syrup or treacle725g plain flour2 tsp bicarbonate of soda3 tsp ground ginger1 tsp ground cinnamonFor the icing:175g icing sugar1-2 tbsp boiling water

Gingerbread man cutter, or any shape of cutter you’d like.

A piping bag and nozzle

Sugar balls or sweets to decorate

Set oven to 180°C (400°F)Method1.In a large saucepan, melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup or treacle.Sift the flour, bicarbonate soda, ginger and cinnamon in a large bowl.2.Add the melted mixture and mix together.Knead the mixture for a few seconds until combined, adding a teaspoon of water if necessary but without allowing it to get too wet.3.Flatten the dough slightly into a round about 2cm thick, wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.4.Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out on a floured surface to around 5mm thick.6.Use the cutters to make your shapes and place on a greased oven tray and bake for around 12 minutes or until they are firm and slightly darker.

7.Allow to cool for a few minutes before placing on a cooling rack.8.Once completely cool, combine the icing sugar and water and use the piping bag to decorate. Add sweets or use coloured icing if desired.

When working with pastry and dough it is important to be gentle and to have cold hands. This will stop the mixture from sticking to everything and from going tough and stringy.Both the gingerbread dough and the sweet pastry will keep in the fridge for up to three days, perfect if you want to make a couple of batches!

Mince PiesThese are always a favourite at Christmas time, especially warmed up and served with ice cream or custard!Ingredients:For the pastry:225g Plain Flour1 tsp salt150g Fat (mixture of butter and lard)25g Caster sugar1 egg yolk1-2 tblspn water

1 jar of mincemeat or alternatively make your own, see recipe on p36!1 egg, beaten.

2 12 hole fairy cake tinsFluted cookie cuttersShaped cutters if desired

Set oven to 200°C (400°F)Method1.Sieve flour and salt together. Rub in fat to form fine breadcrumbs. Add caster sugar, egg yolk and water andbind to form a stiff dough.2.Cut the dough in half and set one piece to the sideRoll out half of the pastry to around 3mm thickness and use a fluted cutter to create 24 circles for the bases of your pies.3.Set these into the tins and place a teaspoon of mincemeat onto each of them. Use the other half of the pastry to make lids for the pies. Roll out to a similar thickness to the bases and use a smaller cutter or a star cutter to make lids.Re-roll the trimmings if needed.

4.Place the lids on top of the mincemeat and brush with a beaten egg.Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden.

5.Cool for 5 minutes before removing

from tins and placing on cooling rack.Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Gingerbread People and Mince Pies make excellent Christmas presents. Turn to p68 to find out how to make chocolate truffles to add to your tasty gift!