SEASONAL LEFTOVERS: RECIPES & TIPS : CHRISTMAS 2018

Few households will starve after Christmas Day

(Courtesy of Pinterest  and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence) 

If your household is like most, there will be a mountain of food left over from Christmas Dinner.  

In fact, in some households, the Special Feast is planned that way.  Certainly, there must be no or little cooking on Boxing Day, though warming up dishes is ok.

We've all got our favourites recipes for turkey but what about other ingredients which often get thrown out because no one can think what to do with them?

Here are a few tips, ideas and recipes. 

Alcohol
    The obvious...but also flavouring coffees, icings (for adults), cheesecakes (for adults), homemade truffles

Bread/Buns

• Sandwiches: See Christmas Sandwich Free for All, Hoisin Chicken/Turkey Baguette, Devilled Tuna Open Faced Sarnie, Fancy Make-Ahead Sandwiches 

• Ultra Easy Double Dipped French Toast: frugal; so easy kids can make it 

• Bread & Butter Puddings: various on NavBar: Recipes I/Baked Goods, including special occasion ambrosial Chocolate Mint Bread & Butter Pudding and frugal Boozy Orange Bread & Butter Pudding 

• Fresh Breadcrumbs: process coarsely; freezable

Cheese

• Canapes: grate cheese ends; mix with a little cream and a touch of smoked paprika; pile onto toasted baguette slices & grill till melted OR spread over half a rolled out puff or shortcrust pastry, sprinkle with spice of choice,  top with the rest of the pasty and press down with a rolling pin, cut into strips and twist into cheese straws; bake at a moderate temperature until golden brown, about 10-15 min.  OR instead of adding spice, layer with leftover salami or sausage, cover with rest of pastry, crimp edges, brush with egg; bake and cut s into squares

• Hard cheeses can be frozen but wrap them first in grease-proof paper and then in cling film  

Double Cream

• beat to a soft peak with vanilla and a bit of icing sugar for a superior topping for Irish Coffee & thick hot chocolate

• transforms into butter when beaten continuously with electric beaters until the cream mix splits into butter and whey; discard whey

Eggs

Raw: 

• frittatas & quiches will also use up cold or raw vegetables, cheese & shards of protein
•  Tortilla Espagnol: Cheat's Version
•   Tortilla Espagnol: Glamour Mode, also uses up cooked & raw veg 

Raw Egg Whites (fresh or pre-frozen and defrosted):

• Exquisite Emergency Almond Biscuits: delicious & delicate; gluten & dairy-free; fast & easy     
• Lower-Sugar Mini Pavlovas with Spicy fruit: deliciously crumbly, redolent with Christmas spices
• Anything that will look good with a cloud of meringue, such as Lemon Meringue Surprise Pie or Chocolate Meringue Pie or Baked Alaska

Raw Egg Yolks (can be frozen):
     Easier Fruit Curds: lemon or orange or a combination of citrus fruits

Hard Boiled:

• Carnival Potato Salad, also uses up any raw peppers
• Skinnier Scotch Eggs, low-fat, high flavour, wallet-friendly; uses up sausage meat, too
• Avocado & Ham Devilled Eggs, frugal and fabulous

    
Mixed Fresh Fruit

• Fruit salads: replace sugar syrup with unsweetened fruit juice, fresh or from a carton; flavour with mint or ginger syrup or alcohol; top up with tinned fruit if necessary

• Trifles (See Recipes 1: Baking)

• Crumbles (as above)

• Incorporate into waffles or pancakes

• Baked with fruit juice & flavouring of choice; process to a sauce; strain if necessary; pour over ice cream

Ham

• shred and use as an accent in soups, salads or pasta

• breakfast croissants: stuff with ham & cheese; toast till cheese is melted OR stuff with ham, scrambled egg and chopped parsley

• Celeriac, Ham & Mustard salad or sandwich filling

Lemons

• Sprinkle juice & zest over lightly steamed or boiled veg & scatter over toasted sunflower seeds

• Lemon curd for spreading on toast or mixing with yoghurt OR added to  whipped cream in Luscious Lemon Pudding

• Reduced fat Lemon Cheesecake: a complete knock-out dessert

Nuts

• Save for January and roast lightly for No-bake Granola Flapjacks: vegan, low sugar, high energy & protein

• Process and transform into lower-sugar Nut Chocolate Spread for Chocolatella Brownies in canapé sizes for  New Year treats

Oranges

• Orange & Cointreau No-bake Cheesecake: Sensational, easy

• Sunshine Salad, also uses up cooked poultry, ham & apples

Potatoes

• Leftover Roasties:  Replace chip shop chips with chopped roast potatoes in Tortilla Espagnol: Cheat's Version 

• Leftover Mash: super easy Spiced Potato Cigarillos (Indian-style 'chip butty' canapes) or Easy-Peasy Smashed Potato Salad

• Raw Potatoes: Skinnier Stuffed Potato Skins (also uses up bacon & cheese) PLUS plenty of recipes for potato salads in Recipes II/Salads 

Salmon

• Salmon & Rice Leftover Salad: '...fresh bright taste; loved the chilli, the crisp yellow pepper and the lightness of the rice.' 

Turkey

• Frontier Turkey in low-fat Creamy Sauce on buttermilk biscuits; 'the biscuit didn't turn soggy' 'Super creamy yet light and full of flavour.'

• Sliced turkey in hot yorkshire puddings with cranberry sauce & gravy

• Turkey in Curry Sauce

• An accent in soups, stir fries, noodles

• Spicy Singapore Noodles with Turkey, Ham & Prawns: quick & feisty

• Almost Instant Crispy Noodles with turkey, chilli, broccoli & gravy: divine taste & textures 

• Don't forget: turkey carcass makes fabulous stock.  Toss in a slow cooker with a couple of onions, carrots & sticks of celery, some peppercorns & a bay leaf.  Cook on low overnight or for 8 hours.  Strain, throw out veg but strip meat from the bones.  Refrigerate overnight; remove fat

Vegetables

• Raw: Cook up an attractive, appealing and delicious low-carb vegetarian platter Stir-fry of Low-Carb Vegetables OR make quick & easy simple pickled vegetables

• uncooked sprouts: try Christmas Season Slaw: Sprout, Pear, Walnut & Cranberries

• Cooked: frittatas and quiches; also vegetarian sandwiches

• Salad Ingredients: Stocks and Fried Rice

Also: Making a Meal of a Few Ingredients

Don't forget your favourite homeless person:
Freeze some:

• sandwiches/rolls with nice fillings

• robust treats/desserts

And when the shops re-open, add a handful of fresh fruit, bag up and leave with a cup of hot coffee.

Please leave a Comment in the box below

This information has been compiled by B M Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises using recipes and tips from 67goingon50.  It may not be reproduced without the author's written permission. 

GROWN-UP GINGERBREAD COOKIES, lower fat & carb, easy, make-ahead

Adult-friendly gingerbread cookies with more than a hint of sophistication...

Grown-up Gingerbread Cookies
'The ginger flavour goes to every corner of my mouth.''The proportion of sweet to spicy is just right.' Tasters

These lovely Christmassy biscuits*  are a delight for adults looking for something more cosmopolitan than the usual sweet gingerbread.

They are in the mould of 67's intensely spicy (in a good way) American Ginger Cookies, posted in 2016 and perennially popular with guys - sorry to be gender-ist! - who normally aren't keen on biscuits.

These cookies are more Swedish in style, and are rolled out to a dough rather than formed in balls.  But they are just as complex in flavour, sensationally delicious and appealing.  And they are ever so easy to put together. 

The men in your household will adore you when presented with a plate of these.

The amount of sugar in the biscuit dough was reduced to take into account the icing; to get the best of the flavour and texture, they really need a sweet top.  If you prefer lower sugar, replace the icing with (more expensive) melted bakers' white chocolate.

67 reduced cholesterol by replacing some butter with sunflower oil.   As an experiment, half the cookies were rolled to about 1/4inch/1/2cm (the thickness of a £1 coin) while the other half were rolled to abut 3/10in/3/4cm thickness. See comments below for the result.

Cost:  £2.50
Makes: 3-4 dozen

Ingreds:

120gm/2.1oz unsalted butter
3 x 15ml tablespoons sunflower oil
60gm/6.3oz soft brown sugar  
76ml/2 1/2 fluid oz treacle/molasses

65gm/2.3oz finely diced firm pear
handful chopped fresh, or dried & reconstituted, cranberries

min 250-max 275gm/min 8.8-max 9.7oz wholemeal spelt flour
100gm/3.5oz plain spelt flour  
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp fresh peeled ginger, grated or 1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cardomom 
1/4 tsp cloves 
1/4 tsp 5-spice powder or allspice 
pinch of salt

Icing 
  2/3 cup sifted icing sugar
  1 tbsp milk or water

  Garnish: 5-6 pieces candied ginger finely diced 

Method

1. Line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper or silicone mat
2. If pears are ripe & wet, spread them out on a paper towel to reduce dampness 
3. Melt butter with treacle and sugar; stir until blended; take off heat
4. Stir in pears & cranberries
5. Add minimum amount of flour, spices & salt; if more flour is needed, add some of the extra until the mix comes together to form a soft dough
6. Wrap in cling film; refrigerate for a couple of hours or freeze.
7. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 180c/160fan/350f/gas 4
8. Roll out half the dough between 2 sheets greaseproof paper to 1/4inch/1/2cm - the thickness of a pound coin
9. Roll the other half to 3/10in/3/4cm thick
10. Cut out shapes; use a fish slice to transport from the cutting board to the cookie sheet
11. Bake 10-12 mins; check at the half-way point -- if one side of the pan is browning faster than the other, turn the pan
12. Re-roll & cut leftover dough 

Icing:

1. Mix icing sugar & liquid until it forms a thick-ish but pourable icing.
2. Pour into a sealable sandwich bag and push the icing toward one of the corners.
3. Cut a tiny bit off the corner of the bag and pipe the icing around the edges, if outlining the biscuits 
4. Cut a little more off the corner for filling in the edges or creating decorative flourishes
5. Scatter over bits of candied ginger

Comments:

• 'That is good gingerbread!  The ginger flavour goes to every corner of my mouth.  Love the thin ones; they're so crispy.'   Political Agent
• 'Gingerbread should not be sweet; in these, the proportion of sweet to spicy is just right.  The icing sugar with candied ginger is a good combination. I like the thick ones; they're nice and crumbly.' Dedicated cookie-muncher & Campaign Manager

*inspired by Rachel Khoo

                                                                     More on NavBar: Recipes 1/Cookies

Please leave a Comment in the box below

This recipe has  been adapted by B M Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises.  It may not be reproduced without the author's written permission. 

HOT CHOCOLATELLA BROWNIE PUDDING

Glorious Hot Brownie Chocolatella Pudding: indulgence, not healthy

Updated 2023; first postedDec 2018

'Fabulous! Sticky and chewy; great crispy-soft texture with layers of different chocolate flavours.' Tasters 

 

A lovely chocolatey dessert is worth its weight in gold, whatever the time of year.  This one is unbelievably good and incorporates the home-made Lower Sugar 'Nutella'.

And, unfortunately, not very healthy.    

But it's an indulgence and perfect for a special occasion.  There's enough leftover for freezing. Or, should you wish to avoid temptation, the recipe can be halved.2023; first posted    

The batter can be prepared the night before. 

Though the pudding is best served hot it is also great at room temperature.

Cost: £5.50'ish (3/2026) + cost of purchased or home-made Chocolate Hazelnut Spread
Serves: 6

Ingred:
   4oz/100g dark chocolate at least 75% cocoa solids (M&S is good value)
   4oz/100g unsalted dairy or plant butter (67 uses Timor)

   1/2 tbsp instant coffee

   2 med eggs at room temperature
   6oz/200g sugar

   2oz/50g self raising white flour (67 used spelt; wheat is fine)
   1oz/25g wholemeal flour

   1/2 tsp vanilla

  Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread at room temperature

  Garnish: melted plain dark chocolate

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400f/200c/180fan/gas6
2. Line a 9in/ cm pie plate or equiv. with greaseproof paper
3. Melt chocolate & fat in heatproof bowl over but not touching simmering water; when melted, stir in coffee, cool 
4. Beat eggs & sugar until thick, foamy & light coloured; it' ll take a few mins
5. Add vanilla; stir
6. Add 1/3 cooled chocolate mix to eggs; beat just until blended
7. Add half the flour; beat just till blended
8. Add 1/3 chocolate; beat
9. Add rest of flour; beat 
10. Add rest of chocolate; beat just till all is evenly distributed
11. Pour into pie dish; drop spoonfuls of chocolate hazelnut spread over the surface, leaving space between each spoonful; drag a toothpick through to create swirls
12. Bake 25 mins; rest on a cooling rack 10 mins
13. Carefully remove greaseproof paper from pie & place on serving dish
14. Drizzle with melted chocolate
15. If cooking the next day, cover the batter with cling film, pressing it down so there are no air pockets; refrigerate; allow to come to room temperature before cooking, at least half an hour.   Follow steps 11-14

Comments

"Fabulous! Sticky and chewy; tastes of everything a chocolate pudding should be.' 'Great crispy-soft textures with layers of different flavours of chocolate.' Local political volunteers.'[ Tasters

'Nice and chewy, not too sweet or dry.  If they could make cookies like this, I would be in heaven.  I ended up with an entire pudding and it was so good, I ate it in one day.  Loved the chocolate-hazelnut aspect.' Middle aged political agent.

'It's great -- sweeter than most of your stuff but not too sweet.' 20+ designer & fund raiser
'Oh. My. Goodness!  A chocoholic's dream. Gimme, gimme, gimme.' Female  journalist.

                                                                        More Indulgences on Nav Bar: Recipes II/Desserts

Please leave a Comment in the box below 

This recipe has been developed by B M Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises.  It may not be reproduced without the author's written permission.

CHRISTMAS SWIRL FREEZER COOKIES, seasonal kid/ult indulgence

So pretty they could stand in for baubles on a tree...

A hint of peppermint, a pretty swirl, sparkly bits - kid/ults will love these
'If they came in a packet, I would eat the entire lot in one go'.'Very delicious. Great texture; not dry or hard.'

Crumbly and crunchy, breaking easily for dunking, this is another of the very handy American-style freezer cookies which sit nicely frozen until you're ready to bake them in the quantities required.  

The dough is made in advance, popped into the freezer, then sliced and decorated when needed.  And, yes, the swirly bit takes a teensy bit more work than a standard freezer cookie but the dough itself is so easy-peasy, older kids could handle it.  

And it is Christmas.  And the kids will love them -- both rolling the biscuits in icing and coloured bits.  And the eating of them!

The blog is not a fan of artificial food colouring but, thankfully, Waitrose sells several basic colours without 'E' numbers.  However, the colour is not as intense; 67's dough needed a good 2 teaspoons of W/R red colouring before it took on a pink colour; even then the finished product didn't show pink at all...

Cost: £4 without decorative flourishes
Makes: 40-50 (2 good-size freezer rolls)

Ingreds: make this dough twice, one plain; one pink (see batches below)

   75gm/2.6oz unsalted butter that's not too cold or too warm; in cubes

   150gm/5.2oz white common flour  
     75gm/2.6oz granulated sugar
     pinch salt

     flavouring - see Batches below

     1 med egg
     1 well-cooked cooked egg yolk (left in boiled water at least 10 mins)

     Batch 1: 1/2 tsp vanilla
     Batch 2: 1/2 tsp essence of peppermint 
                  2-2.5 tsp red food colouring (or until dough takes on pink colour)

Icing:
   1/4 cup powdered sugar
   1 tbsp cherry brandy (adults) or water or milk plus 1/2 tsp water

   coloured sugar or other decorative bits: stars, coloured balls, hundreds & thousands (opt)*

Method:

1. Mix flour, sugar & salt
2. Add butter; process or rub between fingers until mix is the size of peas 
3. Add egg, flavouring & well mashed egg yolk; work in with processor or hand mixer until well combined and coming together
4. Wrap in cling film; refrigerate 30 mins
5. Repeat with second batch of dough, colouring it pink 
6. When ready, turn white dough out onto lightly floured large piece of cling film; cover with similar sized cling film
7. Roll out to a thickness of 1/3inch/3mm to an 11x8inch/28x20cm rectangle  - this is your base; set aside
8. Repeat with pink dough; cut away 1/4inch on all four edges; centre pink layer on top of white 
9. Roll up tightly along the long edge; wrap in cling film, twisting the ends to help the cookies take on a circular shape OR shape into a square or triangle & wrap in cling film
10. Bake within 3 days or freeze until ready to use
11. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 200c/180fan/375f
12. Cut in 1/4 inch/1cm slices using a sharp serrated knife (the dough can be sliced from frozen)
13. Place on baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper or a silicone mat, leaving just a bit of space in between
14. Bake 10 mins, turning tray from back to front if one side browns quicker than the other
15. Cool on a baking rack

When completely cold:

1. Mix icing 
2. Sprinkle coloured sugar on flat plate
3. Take each cookie; roll the edges only in the icing, then in coloured sugar
4. Place on cooling rack until icing has set

*Waitrose, M&S, Morrisons

Comments:

• 'If these came in a packet, I would eat the entire lot in one go.  Good and crunchy, and cute to look at as well.  I like the sparkly things.' Political Agent
• 'Very delicious.  Really good nice sweet biscuit with the sparkly bits adding a contrasting flavour.  Great texture; not dry and hard; breaks easily.' Campaign manager.

Tips:

• 67 used white common wheat flour & granulated sugar to keep the colours 'clean' but anyone concerned about sugar highs could substitute 75% white flour and 25% wholemeal and use light brown sugar.  The cookies  would also work with spelt flour.
• sadly neither of my guinea pigs could taste the peppermint but the un-iced ones at home had a noticeable peppermint flavour
• small households could make just one batch and divide it into two.

More on NavBar: Recipes I/Cookies

                              Please leave a Comment in the box below 

This recipe has been developed by B  Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises and may not be reproduced, in any form, without the author's written permission.