Christmas stuff

Just before the Christmas holidays we had our usual gathering near Doncaster where Valentina, my autistic daughter, lives. We indulged in delicious Italian food at Trattoria Toscana: penne alla romana, pasta Vincenza, mozzarella fiorentina, pizza Quattro stagioni, filetto Toscana, pollo Sorrento and bolognese. Valentina loved it.

Valentina and I painted wooden decorations with glitter paint and hanged them in her room. We also built a Christmas tree and cut and glued together a paper nativity. She wore the party clothes we brought, a new hat, furry gloves and soft snood from my youngest son, and cuddled the new teddy

bear my eldest son and my daughter in law gave her. My other daughter skyped from Japan so we could feel as if she was with us. Valentina was so happy to have all of us there she didn’t want to let us go. But we had to go back to Surrey eventually and get ready to fly to Italy.

I managed to make a Christmas cake before leaving and some gorgeous biscuits with new biscuit cutters I bought for the occasion. I am going to wrap them in clear film or put them in boxes to give as a present. They look so enticing and mouth-watering.

Here are the recipes you can enjoy experimenting during Christmas time. Have a binge on them, it’s now or never.

Torta savoiarda (cake of Savoy, sponge cake)

This is a sponge cake that recalls savoiardi biscuits, sponge sweet biscuits usually used in tiramisu recipe. You can fill and cover the cake with cream or custard. I suggest two kinds of cream, one is a chocolate cream, the other one is Chantilly cream.

For the cake you need: six eggs, 200 g of white caster sugar, 90 g of flour, 90 g of potato flour, some vanilla drops, a pinch of salt, one tsp of baking powder, half a tsp of bicarbonate of soda.

For the chocolate cream you need: 250 g of milk, 100 g of sugar, 50 g of cocoa, 30 g of flour, a pinch of salt, 20 g of soft butter.

For Chantilly cream you need: 250 g of milk, 50 g of sugar, 2 yolks of eggs, 30 g of flour, a pinch of salt, 2 tbsp. of liquor. You also need 200 g of whipping cream and a tbsp. of sugar.

Separate the eggs. Beat the yolks with the sugar until you have a foamy and smooth mixture. Whip the whites until stiff and add it to the yolks. Add all the other ingredients and mix well. Pour it in a greased cake tin and bake at 180° C for 30-45 minutes.

For the chocolate cream, mix all the ingredients in a pan and cook on a hob until the mixture comes to boil and thickens.

For Chantilly cream, mix all the ingredients for the custard cream, cook it until it comes to boil and thickens, then let it cool. Whip the whipping cream plus sugar and finally mix the two creams together obtaining a smooth texture.

Cut the cake in half and damp the two parts with liquor mixed with sugared water, or with milk and sugared water if you don’t like liquor. Fill it with one of the creams and cover the top of the cake with it as well. You can also decorate the top as you wish with coloured fondant icing cut in patterns, berries, sprinkles, or chocolate chips. Be creative!

Here are some biscuits from traditional recipes I slightly tweaked. The result was brilliant and I loved decorating them with icing.

Gingerbread

You need: 350 g of flour, two eggs, five tbsp. of honey, two tsp of ground ginger, half a tsp of sweet cinnamon, a pinch of salt, half a tsp of nutmeg, half a tsp of ground cloves, half a tsp of baking powder and the tip of a tsp of bicarbonate of soda.

Mix all the ingredients starting with the flour and eggs and adding all the rest little by little. Knead the dough and let it rest for half an hour then roll it out and cut the shapes. Bake the biscuits on a greased oven tray at 180° C for 15 minutes.

Vanilla biscuits

You need: 300 g of flour, two eggs, 100 of white granulated sugar, 50 g of melted butter, some vanilla seeds, some drops of Madagascan vanilla extract, half a tsp of baking powder and the tip of a tsp of bicarbonate of soda.

Mix all the ingredients starting with the flour and eggs and adding all the rest little by little. Knead the dough and let it rest for half an hour then roll it out and cut the shapes. Bake the biscuits on a greased oven tray at 180° C for 15 minutes.

Almond biscuits

You need: 180 g of white flour, two eggs, 70 g of melted butter, the grated zest of a lemon, 100 g of golden caster sugar, 100 g of ground almonds.

Mix all the ingredients starting with the flour and eggs and adding all the rest little by little. Knead the dough and let it rest for half an hour then roll it out and cut the shapes. Bake the biscuits on a greased oven tray at 180° C for 15 minutes.

Chocolate biscuits

You need: 250 g of flour, 100 g of cocoa powder (100% cocoa), 80 g of melted butter, a pinch of salt, three eggs, a tbsp. of liquor, 100 g of muscovado sugar or dark brown soft cane sugar.

Mix all the ingredients starting with the flour and eggs and adding all the rest little by little. Knead the dough and let it rest for half an hour then roll it out and cut the shapes. Bake the biscuits on a greased oven tray at 180° C for 15 minutes.

Have a great Christmas time!🎄