Sweet New Years Bubbles

Add some pizzazz to your New Years bubbly by placing a Huletts Sugar Cube 

soaked in a few drops of bitters at the base of a champagne glass. 

Top with your favourite Champagne or MCC and garnish

with pomegranate rubies - cheers!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Festive recipe: Steamed Christmas Cake

Steamed Christmas Cake
Makes one cake, serves 8 - 10

Ingredients
125 g dried cranberries
150 g chopped dried figs
75 g mixed citrus peel
60 ml Brandy
125 g (1/2 cup) soft butter
60 g (6 Tbls) Canderel Crunch with Sucralose
2 XL eggs
Rind of one lemon
1 T fresh lemon juice
125 g (1 cup) fresh bread crumbs
75 g self raising flour
3 t mixed spice powder
50 g diced almonds
¼ cup apricot jam to glaze
Vanilla ice cream or custard to serve.

How to make it
Combine the cranberries, figs, citrus peel and Brandy, marinate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Chop the marinated fruit (with the brandy sauce) into tiny pieces.
Beat together the butter and Canderel Crunch until light and fluffy.
Before adding the eggs, add 1 teaspoon of the self raising flour to the butter and sugar mixture and beat well to avoid curdling.
Add one egg at a time, beating well.
In a large bowl, combine the butter mixture, marinated fruit, lemon rind, lemon juice, bread crumbs, flour, mixed spice and almonds. Mix well.
Trace the outline and inside circle of a bunt cake tin onto wax paper. Cut out the rounds.
Grease the bunt tin very well and scoop in the cake mix. Gently flattening the mixture.
Cover the cake mix with the wax paper and flatten it down onto the cake surface.
Cover the entire tin with extra strong tinfoil, tucking overlapping foil underneath. Tie baking string around the lip of the tin to secure the foil and create a kind of steam oven.
Place the bunt tin in a large pot. Add water to the pot until it reaches half way up the cake tin.
Bring to the boil and gently simmer for 2 hours, checking every half hour that there is still enough water, and if not, add boiling water.
After two hours carefully remove the cake from the boiling water and partially remove the foil to insert a skewer to check if the cake is ready. If it is cooked through, replace the foil cover and return the cake to the water (turning off the heat) and allow to cool in the water bath for a few hours.
Once cooled, store it in your refrigerator (in the cake tin) for up to 2 months.
When you are ready to serve, steam the cake in the same manner as above for half an hour to heat through.
Melt the apricot jam in the microwave for a few seconds and brush over the hot cake.

Serve with vanilla ice cream or custard.

Festive recipe: Spiced Butter with Sweet Potatoes

Spiced Butter with Sweet Potatoes
Serves 4

Ingredients

For the sweet potatoes:
1 kg orange flesh sweet potatoes

Spiced butter:
8 T (120ml) salted butter
2 t Canderel Crunch with Sucralose
2 t nutmeg powder
1 t cinnamon powder
1 t chilli powder

How to make it

For the sweet potatoes:
Bake or boil the sweet potatoes until soft.

Spiced butter:
Melt the butter in a pan.
Add the Canderel and spices, mix well and cook for a few minutes for flavours to infuse.

To serve: Cut or tear the hot sweet potatoes open and drizzle with hot melted spiced butter. Serve immediately.

Festive recipe: Spiced Dukkah with Duck Fat Potatoes

Spiced Dukkah with Duck Fat Potatoes
Serves 8 as a side (makes 1 ½ cups Dukkah)

Ingredients

For the Dukkah:
½ cup almonds, chopped
½ cup mixed seeds (sunflower, sesame, pumpkin and flax work well)
½ T coriander seeds
½ T black pepper corns
½ T cumin seeds
½ t Canderel Crunch with Sucralose
1 t Salt
½ t chilli flakes

For the potatoes:
2 kg large roasting potatoes
2 T corn flour
¾ cup duck fat
Salt

How to make it

For the Dukkah:
In a hot pan, toast the almonds till golden. Set aside to cool.
In the same pan, toast the seeds until they start to pop and become golden. Set aside to cool.
Toast the coriander, black pepper and cumin until fragrant. Set aside to cool.
TIP: It is very important that all the ingredients are cool, otherwise the moisture will cause it to become a paste instead of a dukkah.
In a pestle and mortar, roughly crush the coriander, pepper and cumin mix.
In a food processor, combine the almonds and seeds and blend until roughly chopped (only a few seconds).
Add the coriander mix, Canderel, salt and chilli flakes and blend for another few seconds until it reaches the desired consistency.
Store in an airtight container until needed.

For the potatoes:
Peel the potatoes and cut them into large chunks.
Boil the potatoes in salted water until just soft.
Drain and allow to cool slightly and dry completely.
Place potatoes in a large container with a lid and add the corn flour. Cover the container and shake the potatoes around to cover with corn flour and break slightly (the more torn edges, the crispier they will fry.)
Pre-heat oven to 200°C.
Scoop the duck fat into a large baking tray and heat in the oven for 20 minutes (before adding the potatoes).
Once the fat is extremely hot, carefully scoop in the potato pieces and toss around to cover with fat – be very careful, as the fat is very hot.
Bake for 20 – 30 minutes, tossing every now and then, until golden and crispy.
Drain on paper towels and season with salt.

Serve hot with the spiced dukkah.

Festive recipe: Champagne Jellies

It’s celebration time!

This time of year (albeit insanely busy for us) is addictively festive. These little Champagne Jellies are an impressive (and dead easy) skinny dessert you can make a day or two in advance.

Champagne Jellies
Serves 4

Ingredients
4 leaves gelatin
360 ml Champagne, Method Cap Classique or Dry Sparkling Wine
2 t Canderel Crunch with Stevia
Fresh berries (blue berries and raspberries work well) and pomegranate rubies

How to make it
Soak the gelatin leaves in cold water for about 5 minutes until soft.
Over a water bath of simmering water, gently heat 180ml of the Champagne and the Canderel.
Squeeze the water from the gelatin leaves and add to the Champagne mix. Stir until dissolved and remove from the heat.
Add the remaining 180ml Champagne.
Add some berries to 4 Champagne glasses (about a tablespoon per glass).
Divide the Champagne mix between the glasses, allowing the berries to settle.
Refrigerate overnight to set.
Remove from the fridge about 20 minutes before serving.

Enjoy with friends and family ;)