Easy Christmas recipes away from home

NOT everyone gets to spend some time with their loved ones on Christmas, and local chef Karyn Smith has shared some quick and easy bakes to keep that home cooked smell going.

She also shared recipe for a tomato breedie, a traditional South African meal to make for your guests from overseas.

Custard creams:
She said this basic recipe can be adjusted to make vanilla creams, chocolate creams, caramel creams.

Ingredients

1 x500gm block of butter
2 cups castor sugar

Method

Cream these ingredients together until white and fluffy. Add a cup of flour at a time, three cups in total.
If your mixture feels too wet add a dash more flour.
It’s all dependent on weather and how soft your butter is.
Add 3 heaped tablespoons custard powder.
Roll mixture into small balls and press gently with a fork.
Bake at 180°c for 15-20 mins until slightly golden.
Cool on a baking rack until completely cool.
To sandwich them together use a mixture of icing sugar with a dash of water. Mixture must be fairly thick.
Use a butter knife and sandwich your cookies together.
Stack on their side to keep in place until they have set.
Then enjoy!
For chocolate replace the custard powder with two tablespoons of cocoa powder.
For vanilla replace custard powder with a tap of vanilla essence.
For caramel replace custard powder with a tap of caramel essence.

Croissant and lindt bread and butter pudding:
Eight butter croissants baked.
Slice the croissants into small slithers.
Place in a baking dish with chopped up Lindor balls evenly distributed among the croissants.
Separate bowl, beat six eggs and two cartons for cream together.
Add 1/4 cup of sugar, a half a tap of cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg.
Spout mixture over the croissants and lindt.
Bake in a preheated oven for 15-20 mins and until croissants are golden.
Serve with ice cream.

Quick and easy cranberry and camembert cheese:
Use a ready made bread dough from your local baker.
Roll your dough into a circle shape (you can do all kinds of fancy shapes but this is super quick and easy)
Paste your cranberry jelly in the middle of your rolled dough, place your cheese in the middle and roll pastry up until you have a ball shape.
Egg wash your bread and bake in a preheated oven for 25-30 mins or until skewer comes out clean.

Tomato Bredie:–

Prep a leg of lamb roast (around 1.5 kg) with course salt and pepper. Add a small amount of water to the roasting pan.
Roast with lid on for two hours until meat is falling off the bone.
Strip the leg meat off the bone, and allow it to cool.
Fry one chopped onion in a few tablespoons of butter
Add 1 kg of chopped tomato and simmer until soft.
Once tomato is soft add 3 tablespoons of flour and make into a paste.
Add meat
And 1 litre of beef stock, 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 tablespoons vinegar, 2 bay leaves and salt and pepper to taste.
Add 3 tablespoons tomato paste and stir well.
Serve with mash or basmati rice.

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