Jamie Oliver's Christmas Cookbo - Jamie Oliver

CHURROS

WARM, SPICED, FLUFFY MINI DOUGHNUTS

These are naughty and delicious. I don’t make them very often, and that’s partly why we all love them so much.
Dipped in melted or hot chocolate they’re just a dream to eat – grubby hands and fingers guaranteed (and that’s

just the adults).

MAKES 20–24 Pour 150ml of cold water into a medium pan and add the milk and
35 MINUTES PLUS butter. Bring just to the boil on a high heat, keeping a close eye on it,
COOLING then remove and stir in the flour, baking powder and a good pinch of sea
salt, until you get a nice, smooth dough. Cool for 10 minutes, then beat
100ml whole milk in the egg until well combined.
75g unsalted butter
200g self-raising flour Pour the vegetable oil into a large sturdy pan and place on a high heat.
1 teaspoon baking powder You want it to reach 180ºC, so your best bet is to use a thermometer,
1 large egg but, if you don’t have one, simply use a little piece of peeled potato as
1 litre vegetable oil your guide. Drop it into the oil and when it rises to the top and turns
4 tablespoons caster sugar golden, you’ll know the oil is hot enough. Now, add a spoonful of batter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and see how that reacts. Please make sure you are safe and pay
attention, and don’t have kids or pets running around.

You can either keep it simple and add little pieces of the batter, or you
can mould it with your hands into fun shapes (about 1cm thick). Working
in batches, very carefully and gently add the shapes to the hot oil to fry
for 3 to 4 minutes. Keep watching and turning them with a slotted spoon
until they’re golden and puffed up all over, then use the slotted spoon to
move them to a tray lined with kitchen paper to drain. Make sure the oil
is back up to temperature before adding more.

Place the sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl, and while they’re still
hot, toss in the drained churros until well coated. Best served warm
with a little glass or mug of my Hot chocolate (see here), but equally
delicious simply with melted quality dark chocolate (70%) for dunking.
These are finger-lickingly good.

SPICE IT UP

If you’ve made a batch of my Spiced Christmas sugar (see here), that would
be delicious used here in place of the cinnamon sugar.





CANNOLI BRANDY SNAPS

FILLED WITH SILKY SWEET RICOTTA, CHOCOLATE CHIPS &
FRUIT

This is an outrageously delicious treat, with a crispy, crunchy outside and a gorgeous sweet filling. They’re
easy to make, a little bit messy to put together – but boy will you have fun doing it – and, of course, they’re

super-tasty to eat.

MAKES 16 Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Lightly grease a baking sheet
1 HOUR and line it with greaseproof paper. To make the brandy snaps, dice the
butter and place in a small pan on a low heat with the soft light brown
BRANDY SNAPS sugar, golden syrup and a good pinch of sea salt to gently melt, until you
have a lovely golden caramel. Meanwhile, sift the flour and ground
75g unsalted butter, plus extra for ginger into a large mixing bowl. Finely grate in the orange zest, then
greasing make a well in the middle. Pour in the buttery caramel, add the brandy
80g soft light brown sugar and beat everything together until smooth.
60g golden syrup
75g plain flour Using a teaspoon, dollop 4 heaped spoonfuls of the brandy snap mixture
½ teaspoon ground ginger on to the lined tray, as far away from each other as possible – they
½ an orange spread out a lot as they cook. Bake for around 7 minutes, or until golden
1 tablespoon brandy brown – keep an eye on them. Leave to cool for exactly 1 minute on the
icing sugar, for dusting tray, then carefully prise the brandy snaps off the baking sheet and gently
bend each one around the handle of a wooden spoon to create a tube.
FILLING Leave to cool on the spoons – you should get two on each one. Keep
2 tablespoons runny honey going with the mixture, patiently cooking the brandy snaps in batches,
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste until all the mixture is used up.
250g ricotta cheese
100g quality dark chocolate To make the filling, beat the honey, vanilla and ricotta cheese in a food
(70%) processor until silky smooth, then very finely chop the chocolate,
50g dried sour cranberries cranberries and peel, and stir into the mixture. Spoon the filling into a
50g mixed peel piping bag, or a sandwich bag (then snip the corner off), and carefully
pipe into the brandy snaps from both ends. You will get a little bit
creeping through the holes but that all adds to the charm! Finish by
sifting a little icing sugar over the top, then serve.

GET AHEAD

Store the cooled brandy snaps in an airtight container and keep the filling in
the piping bag in the fridge, then simply assemble when you’re ready to
serve.