Lorna at Vicenza

I've been asked by Chloe's teachers if I'd like to make a traditional English dessert/ treat for Christmas creative week - which will happen at the end of November.
Apparently they are sick of snowmen shaped plain Italian biscuits.
They have asked other foreign mummies to participate as well but nobody has volunteered and none of the Italians have voluteered anything different to the usual.

I don't mind making an easy Yule Log but has anybody got any other ideas?
I'm not sure I can be bothered to make my own mincemeat for mince pies but at a push I will do - and it will have to be a quick one and not one that needs to be stewed for ages.

I thought about brandy snaps but all my recipes include Golden Syrup and I can't get it -and there's no way I'm taking a sloppy trifle into school.

If only OH was getting sent to England instead of Russia he could go shopping for me. Sod's law !

Any ideas?

indiebird

Hmmmmm I made some spicy, peppery biscuits last year for our language school dinner. More german in origin really but noone seemed to notice that. I would have told them otherwise anyway (no germans at the school so I was safe...) the recipe is simple and you can mess with spices depending on what you have... it is made in a food processor too so it is really easy. Basically the method is:

put 300g plain flour, pinch of salt, 1tsp baking powder, 1tsp mixed ground spice (last year I used a mix of nutmeg, mace, some ground cloves and cinnamon cos i didn't have mixed spice here), 1-2tsps of ground black pepper (I reckon 1 to be safe for italian kids but my own kids like them more peppery- probably they are strange) into the food processor, then put on the lid and start the motor running. Then add 100g softish butter down the tube, 100g of muscovado sugar and then slowly add 2eggs beaten with 4tbsps of runny honey but you might not need all this liquid, you just need the dough to come together but you don't want it too sticky otherwise it won't roll out. Make the dough into two disks, wrap in cling film and put in the fridge, for at least half an hour but a day or two won't matter. Then just roll out with a bit of flour to about, hmmmmm 1/2cm and then use biscuit cutters to cut out. We have xmassy ones like stars and angels but IKEA have some fabby forest animal ones this year and these might be good. Put on a greased baking tray and cook at 170c/ gas 3 or 4 for 20minutes. They are quite dark and come out soft but harden once they cool down. I then ice them with glace icing.

Hope this might be helpful.... will try and think if there is anything else...

TestaRossa

Yule log. I would have said trifle but can see why not! Christmas cake??! Tinned fruit with UHT cream? Was very trad in our house!!

Nu-Shooz

Too much like hard work i'd say...i'll send you an Xmas pud over, you can pretend you made it

casalottian

Jelly! I saw some in a delicatessen and realised that they don't have it in Italy, or at least I've never seen it. I bought three different coloured packets, did the first and added some fruit salad, waited for it to solidfy, then added the second and then the third. Looked fantastic and the kids loved it.

Lorna at Vicenza

Do you think this would work with more ginger rather than black pepper ?

Well if you're sending me a pud you can send some mince pies too and can you add some of those nice little Cadbury's chocolate rolls as well please .

Never seen jelly here. Bought some in the UK once and then made jelly and ice cream for my kids here. They were not impressed with jelly and I ended up finishing it .... but then, I grew up with jelly at birthday tea parties and they grew up with nutella on bread at birthday parties - yurrghh.

Don't you have to make Christmas cake ages before though ?

I think what the school is looking for is something that be picked off a plate or out of a tin and eaten with hands so fruit and cream is perhaps not such a good idea - like the trifle.

TR - was it you that found golden syrup or treacle here ?

indiebird

Don't see why not, but I would add a bit of black pepper... think warming spiciness rather than pepperiness.... make sure you add at least a tsp of dried ginger then as you really want the gingeriness to come through and sometimes in things like this which have sugar and honey and then iced can be quite sickly, even for kids...

Patty

make some sticky krispy cakes and just decorate each one with something xmassy ??

TestaRossa

There are fruit cakes that don't need seasoning! My mum made hers around now and then fed it brandy once a week up til Xmas! But you could do a Dundee or a pound cake. Yes I can get syrup or could. Not seen it for a while. I get tate&lyle maple flavoured now. I think I've seen their molasses too.

davehornet6

not sure if you can get cranberry sauce out there (or even reduced cranberries and sugar ?)
after xmas when we have far too much turkey left we make a turkey and cranberry sauce quiche, and sometimes vol-au-vents. not really desserts but nice, and easy to serve.

37100

Yes, we can get cranberry sauce in Esselunga. Our's one doesn't stock golden syrup anymore, but I got some at the British shop in Sona.
Word of warning about jelly. Don't make it for a summer children's party. You end up with friut squash unless you can store it in the fridge until the very last minute

LivingHere

I often use honey instead of golden syrup. You could experiment to get the sweetness right.

Lorna at Vicenza

Found some panna fresca da montare this morning.

I thought I'd see how well it whips up and use it to fill my brandy snaps (OH brought me some golden syrup home from the store room at work - said there is a 25 Kg vat of the stuff in there).

Here are my brandy snaps

Here goes for the second attempt - but with a lower oven this time - and I followed the recipe to the letter as well

Lorna at Vicenza

photo

indiebird

hmmmm, are you multi-tasking (i.e reading the forum whilst you should be looking through the window of your oven)!!??