Tracy Coyne s Christmas Tips and Tricks

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1 Tracy Coyne s Christmas Tips and Tricks Christmas Cakes Christmas Cakes need at least three weeks to mature in flavour so it s time to get cracking if you haven t already..! Soak your fruit for several hours, or overnight if possible, before starting your cake. Use brandy, sherry, rum, whiskey, fruit juices or even cold tea to get the fruit plump and juicy before baking. Christmas Cakes require a long baking time, line the tin with baking paper and then use double or triple layers of brown wrapping paper or even a brown paper bag cut along the seams to wrap the outside of the tin to protect the cake from becoming too dark and dry while the centre cooks leave the paper high on the tin as your cake will rise quite high, and also cut a circular lid for the cake at this stage to protect the top of the cake from becoming too dark

2 Remember the tip for keeping you cake light This is important even when making a densely packed fruit cake as it foundation for the finished product. When adding eggs to your cake batter, leave a full minute between each egg to ensure the batter doesn t split which will cause the cake to be dense and heavy. Add an egg then go and make yourself a cuppa, add an egg and put on a wash, add an egg and flick through your recipe book, add an egg and check your s or Facebook! Dust nuts and fruit with flour before adding to batter - this will prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cake. This is a good tip to remember for everyday baking as well and works brilliantly for blueberry muffins or loaf cakes with fresh berries. Baking pans should only be filled 2/3 full of batter, Oven Temperature Christmas Cakes need a long bake to make sure the bake all the way through to the middle so the temperature must be low enough to ensure the cake doesn t over brown follow your recipe using 140 as a benchmark temperature. Steamy Oven Place a pan of water in the bottom of the oven while baking which will prevent the cake from drying out during the long bake time. Once baked, cool the cake thoroughly on a wire rack, then remove from the tin and wrapped greaseproof paper. Store in a biscuit tin or box and remember to feed it a shot of liquor once a week until you ice.

3 Christmas Cakes are traditionally iced using a Royal Icing which dries to a stiff finish and is pipeable for different effects. If you prefer your icing to remain moist then add a teaspoon of glycerine to prevent it from hardening. Brush your cake with warm, strained apricot jam to help the marzipan stick to the cake and give you a smooth surface for icing. Using a palette knife, spread your Royal icing evenly on the top and sides of your cake, once covered, clean the palette knife and dipping it in hot water between smoothing strokes. If you feel it is holding the drag marks of your work, using a hairdryer on a gentle airflow you will be able to achieve a glossy finish. Plum Pudding Plum Pudding is a festive favourite making a Once a Year appearance so it s definitely worth having one on the Big Day! You can make a plum pudding right up to 3 or 4 days before Christmas, although it s worth getting that job out of the way early since you can make it long before the big day so really, why wouldn t you?! For a lighter pudding following the big Christmas dinner, try a lighter pudding by omitting the suet and creaming butter and sugar into a batter base instead this will also suit the more modern tastes and move towards healthier options which retaining all of the traditional flavours Taste your pudding mix and adjust the spices before steaming last chance to perfect that Christmas flavour..!

4 Steam your pudding in a large saucepan until the internal temperature is 78 degrees C, follow your recipe and top up the water regularly so the pan doesn t run dry use a small trivet if possible under the pudding bowl. On Christmas Day reheat the pudding by steaming it for about 90mins-2hrs depending on your recipe I start mine just as we sit down to eat knowing that it will be ready when we have let the main event settle! Warm some brandy in a soup ladle over a candle and light with a match before pouring over the pudding to Ooohs and Aaahhs from your family and friends Serve with Brandy Butter Butter, Icing Sugar, Brandy & Orange Zest and softly whipped cream My Puddings are all made and packed in beautiful Christmassy Red Organza ready for sale. They are available at the Christmas in Killarney Food Fair next Sunday and also available to order from my website and Facebook page The Main Event Christmas is about spending time with family and friends, not being worn out by the time you hit the bed on Christmas night so be clever and reduce your workload on the day, and get the whole family into the spirit of helping out get the kids to refresh and replace nightlights and candles ready for lighting the next day. A couple of ideas that might make it less frenetic; Hit the supermarket now and buy large disposable foil trays for the oven roasting to avoid a heavy washing up load on Christmas day it s a well spent tenner in the scheme of things. Remember to support the disposable trays on actual baking trays so that the weight of roasts and vegetables don t cause accidents. Bin the foil tray as you serve each element so that the debris is mostly gone by the time you sit to eat.

5 Set the table in the late afternoon on Christmas eve, this was you come down to a beautiful kitchen on Christmas morning and it s another job done that will allow you move a little less frantically on the day itself. Plan the Christmas breakfast ahead of time I m always so focused in the time when my family arrive for the Christmas dinner itself, that we have tended to end up eating nothing special on Christmas morning which is a shame, especially if it s been an early morning with Santa chaos..! Try this Breakfast Strata which is a little like cross between a savoury bread and butter pudding, and a well packed quiche, and it s easy to prepare and be ready to go in a pretimed oven from the evening before; 6 Eggs 480g Milk 200g Grated Cheddar Cheese 6-8 Rashers, Cooked and diced 4-6 Sausages, Cooked and sliced 4 Spring Onions, finely diced Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper 12 Slices Leftover Bread, buttered and cubed Butter a medium casserole dish. In a large bowl toss all of the dry ingredients including half of the grated cheese, the sale and the pepper and spread this evenly into the casserole dish.

6 Lightly beat the eggs and mix in the milk and salt & pepper. Pour over the bread mixture and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Place the dish in the oven and set your oven timer to come on in the morning at 180 degrees and bake for thirty minutes remember last week s tip on knowing how to set your oven s timer if you can t figure it out, then leave it in the fridge overnight and pop it in on Christmas morning knowing that you ll have only this one dish to wash and not the remnants of a full fry up! This dish suits substitutions and additions such as chorizo, ham, broccoli, peppers, cooked mushrooms and almost anything else you can think of adding. It s a real hit on Christmas morning when everyone s been up for hours and has worked up an appetite. f: Tracy s Kitchen e: Tracy@TracysKitchen.ie