Christmas Special recipes 

1. Plum Cake (Eggless)

Ingredients:

• All-purpose flour – 2 cups
• Raisins, cherries, dates, tutti-frutti, etc. mixed dried fruits -2 cups
• Orange juice -1 cup (soaking fruits)
• Brown sugar – 1 cup
• Butter – ½ cup
• Yogurt/curd – 1 cup
• Baking soda – 1 tsp
• Baking powder – 1½ tsp
• Cinnamon powder – ½ tsp
• Nutmeg powder – ¼ tsp
• Cloves powder – a pinch
• Vanilla essence – 1 tsp

Preparation:

1. Marinate fruits with orange juice overnight or at least 2hrs.
2. Prepare a cake tin by greasing and preheat the oven to 180 o C (350 f).
3. Melted Butter and brown sugar Whisk in a bowl until creamy.
4. Add curd and vanilla essence and stir.
5. Add sieve flour, baking powder, baking soda and spices to the mixture.
6. Softly add productive fruits fixed with juice and gently mix into the mixture.
7. Pour batter into the tin and fill in with a tap to take out the air bubbles.
8. Bake 45-55 minutes or until clean tooth pick is picked.
9. A whole is best sliced after being cooled.

2. Roasted Chicken and Vegetable Garlic Butter.

Ingredients:

• Whole chicken – 1 (1–1.2 kg)
• Butter (softened) – ¼ cup
• Garlic – 6 cloves minced
• Lemon – 1
• Rosemary & thyme – 1 tbsp each
• Salt – 1½ tsp
• Pepper – 1 tsp
• Carrots – 2 chopped
• Potatoes – 2 chopped
• Onion – 1 sliced
• Olive oil – 2 tbsp

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. Blend butter, herbs, pepper, salt, and garlic to a paste.
3. Lift the chicken skin and put butter mixture inside and outside chicken skin.
4. Stuff lemon halves into the chicken.
5. Put potatoes, carrots, onions into a tray and pour with olive oil.
6. Put chicken on top of veggies and bake 1 -1 1/2 hours, basting after every 20 minutes.
7. Check doneness: juices are to run clear when cut adjacent to thigh.
8. Allow a rest of 10 minutes prior to serving to be juicy.

3. Hot Chocolate and Marshmallows.

Ingredients:

• Milk – 2 cups
• Cocoa powder – 2 tbsp
• Dark chocolate grated – 50g
• Sugar – 2 tbsp
• Vanilla essence – ½ tsp
• Marshmallows – as needed

Preparation:

1. Heat milk in a saucepan until it becomes warm.
2. Mix cocoa powder, sugar and grated chocolate, whisk until no lumps occur.
3. Simmer 3–4 minutes until creamy.
4. Add a vanilla essence and stir.
5. Pour into mugs and garnish with marshmallows.

4. Gingerbread Cookies 

Ingredients:

• Flour – 2 ½ cups
• Butter – ½ cup
• Brown sugar – ¾ cup
• Egg – 1
• Ginger powder – 1 tbsp
• Cinnamon – ½ tsp
• Baking soda – 1 tsp
• Honey or molasses – ¼ cup
• Vanilla – 1 tsp

Preparation:

1. Add butter and sugar and beat till creamy. Add egg, honey & vanilla.
2. Mix flour, spices & baking soda.
3. Add the two and knead to form dough and refrigerate one hour.
4. Roll, cut forms, bake at 180 o C 8-10 mins.
5. Cool & decorate with icing.