Christmas cooking the fun way

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This year, why not impress family and friends with homemade biscuits and snacks, and as well as saving yourself some money, you can have festive fun too? We have several tried and tested recipes we love, and hope you will too!

Christmas tree cookies
These cute cookies look good, taste great, are easy to make and even the youngest members of the family can get involved and help you to decorate them!

For these winning treats, you will need:

470g of plain flour
1 level teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of table salt
225g of unsalted butter
300g of caster sugar
Two medium eggs
Two teaspoons of vanilla extract
A Christmas tree cuter
Colouring icing sugar pens
Silver balls

Sift together the baking powder, flour and salt. Cream together the butter and sugar until you have a light and fluffy mix, then beat in the eggs (one at a time) and finally stir in the vanilla. At this point you can then slowly add the flour mix, and when you have a ball of dough, wrap it in cling film and put it in the fridge for around an hour.

When you get the dough from the fridge, pre-heat your oven to 200 C / gas mark 6 /180C fan and line two baking trays with parchment paper – this means the cookies will slide off once cool and you won’t have any nasty pan scrubbing to do.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut out your cookies.

Bake for about eight minutes or until the edges are just turning light brown, and transfer from the baking trays to cooling racks.

Decorate with the icing pens when the cookies are completely cool and put on the little silver balls for an added touch, then either eat them (fast) or put them in pretty boxes with tissue paper and give them out as presents!

Cheese Stars

For the school party, or drinks with friends, these easy to make cheese stars are winners.

You will need:

A pack of pre-made puff pastry
One mug of grated cheese – a mild cheddar / mozzarella mix works well
Flour for dusting
2 table spoons of whole milk
A star cutter

It is best to make these on the day of eating, so when you are ready, preheat the oven to 200C / 180C fan / gas mark 6 and line two baking sheets with parchment paper, or grease them with a little butter.

Next roll out the sheet of pastry and put your grated cheese on half of it, fold it over and then on a floured surface, gently roll to around double the size. At this point just make sure no cheese is escaping from the sides as this can get messy in the oven! Next, cut out star shapes from the folded sheet and place on the baking sheets, brush with milk and cook for around ten minutes. You can add some herbs or salt to the tops of the stars if you like! They will last for a couple of days in a tin, but we don’t think they will be around that long!

Veggie Tree

For something super healthy for the party table, you can’t go wrong with savoury festive tree made with goodness and love.

For this you will need:

Lots of cherry tomatoes – cut in half
Green grapes – cut in half
A yellow pepper with a piece of the flesh cut into a star shape
Half a cucumber
Salsa
A large silver foil platter

Chop a 5cm piece of cucumber and place it at the bottom of the foil platter to make the tree trunk. Then you need to make a row of tomatoes and grapes to make the first part of the tree, and then add more layers, each one shorter than the last so you end up with a cute Christmas tree shape. At the top you can add your yellow pepper star, then serve with the salsa and the rest of the cucumber cut into sticks! This looks fun and jolly and also help to keep up your five a day!

Got a recipe you love, let us know about!

Team Pure Beauty

Stock up on strawberries this summer

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Go into any supermarket at the moment or drive through local villages and strawberries are the star of the show.

As well as tasting amazing, the humble strawberry is packed with packed with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals and they are sodium, cholesterol and fat free.

You can of course eat straight them from the box with cream and add to packed lunches, but you can also create a strawberry treat that will have your taste buds tingling.

Strawberry Smoothie

This smoothie is a great ‘on the go breakfast’ or as healthy afternoon treat that will keep you away from the chocolate.

For two large glasses, you will need:

1 ripe, sliced banana
1 cup of strawberries
1 cup of blueberries
1 red apple, peeled and cored
1/2 a cup of coconut water
3/4 of a cup of organic Greek yogurt
1/2 a teaspoon of honey (optional)
4 ice cubes

Place the banana, strawberries, blueberries, apple, and ice cubes into a blender and whizz for 30 seconds. Next pour in the coconut water, yogurt, and honey, puree until smooth then enjoy.

Strawberry Crumble

Bear with us on this because we know it sounds a bit odd but it tastes great. For one family sizes crumble, you will need:

350g of clean, halved strawberries
3 sticks of rhubarb, cleaned and chopped
85g of plain flour
50g caster sugar
25g ground almonds
50g unsalted butter, chopped into small cubes
¾ of a cup of pecans and hazelnuts, chopped
Grated zest of one small orange
Ground cinnamon

To make:
Heat your oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6.

Cook the strawberry and rhubarb mixture over medium for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently, until the chunky mixture is syrupy and place in a pie dish.

Mix the flour, sugar and ground almonds together then add the butter and rub together until you have rough crumbs. Stir in the orange zest which will offset the taste of the strawberries and rhubarb wonderfully.

Spread the crumble topping over the fruit, then sprinkle with the copped nuts and cinnamon.

Bake for 25 mins until golden and bubbly and once cooled serve with ice cream or custard.

Strawberry Jam

There is something so special about strawberry jam, especially when it is homemade. This great, easy to make recipe tastes amazing with everything from freshly buttered toast to warm scones but be patient as it is a fiddly job.

You will need:

1kg of washed, hulled strawberries
750g of jam sugar
The juice of one lemon
A jam pain
A pasty brush
A preserving or digital thermometer
A selection of jars and lids, wax discs, cellophane circles and rubber bands
Labels

Prepare the strawberries by wiping them with damp kitchen paper so the fruit won’t absorb lots of water. To hull the fruit simply cut a cone shape into the strawberry and remove the stem. If you have any large berries, cut these in half.

Place the strawberries in a bowl and gently toss them in the sugar. Leave then uncovered at room temperature for 12 hours, this is often best done overnight and by doing this, hopefully the fruit won’t disintegrate too much and will keep its bright, beautiful colour.

Tip the strawberry mixture into a preserving pan along with your lemon juice. Set the pan over a low heat and cook really, really gently.

If any sugar stays on the sides of the pan, dip a pastry brush in hot water and brush it into the liquid.

When the sugar has 100% dissolved, turn the heat up so the jam starts bubbling and bring it to the boil.

Boil for around 10 mins or until the jam has reached 105C (this is why you need the preserving or digital thermometer) and then turn the heat off.

Use a spoon to skim any residue from the surface of the jam.

Leave the jam to settle for 15 mins and meanwhile, sterilise your jars.

Gently ladle the jam into the jars, filling them just below the rim. Place a wax disc on top of the jam, this prevents mildew forming, then cover with a lid or cellophane circle and elastic band.

Label the jars, adding a date, and while you can store for up to one year, but we are sure your jam will be be eaten way before that.

Team Pure-Beauty

Celebrate World Chocolate Day

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World Chocolate Day, also known as International Chocolate Day, is here once again on 7th July and it is a great reason to ditch your healthy eating plan and enjoy the good stuff, guilt free.

With so many bars and brands out there, just where do you start when it comes to chocolate?

‘I love nothing more than a Double Decker and quite like Rolos too.”
Jane

“I love dark chocolate and have a couple of squares everyday.”
Danni

“For me it’s chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce.”
Vicky

“I wish I could stop at one chocolate but no, I can eat an entire tray of Thornton’s in one go.”
Annie

Whilst you can go out and buy a Mars Bar, Twix and family bag of Maltesers to enjoy on 7th July, why not make this amazing fool-proof chocolate cake that is bang on the cocoa money.

For one delicious cake you will need:
225g of plain flour
350g of caster sugar
85g of cocoa powder
2 teaspoons of good quality vanilla extract
1½ teaspoons of baking powder and the same of bicarbonate of soda
2 large free-range eggs
125 ml of vegetable oil
250 ml of full fat milk
250 ml of boiling water
For the top of the cake you will need
200g of good quality, dark chocolate
200 ml of double cream
1 large bag of Minstrels or similar

In preparation for baking, wash your hands then preheat your oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 then grease and line two 20cm sandwich tins.

To start making your cake, put all the ingredients, except the water, into a mixing bowl and beat the mixture until smooth and lump free. You can do this using a wooden spoon or an electric whisk.
Next add the boiling water a little at a time, until you have a smooth liquid – don’t worry this is how it is meant to be.

Divide the mix in two and pour into the sandwich tins and bake for around 30 minutes, or until the top of the cakes are firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

When ready, take the cakes out of the over and allow them to cool on a rack before you add the icing.

To make the icing, you will need to put the chocolate and cream in a pan and let them melt over a very low heat. Once they have melted, take away from the heat and whisk the mixture until it is smooth and thick then cover and let it rest for around an hour.

When ready, spread the icing onto the base of one cake, add the second cake then ice the top with the reminder of the mixture.

You can then get creative and add an extra chocolate hit with the Minstrels or sweets of your choice.

Serve as it comes or with ice cream and enjoy!

Team Pure Beauty

Soup, the winter smoothie

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Whilst there is nothing better in the summer than a chilled smoothie packed with berry goodness, in the cooler months you might want something that will warm you up as well as fill you with vitamins.

Maybe now is the time swap your blender for pots and pans and your smoothie for soup.

Soups are an age-old staple that nourishes body and soul and helps you use up the vegetables in the fridge that may have seen better days.

Whether you are a liquid lover of soups, stews or chowders, we have put together some super-ideas that are packed with nutritious goodness and fantastic flavour.

Lets start with the classic chicken soup. This feel good favourite can be enjoyed with friends for lunch, as an early supper with chunks of bread and you can keep some in the freezer for when colds strike.

To make one wholesome pan you will need:

5g of organic, salted butter
2 white onions, sliced and diced
2 sticks of finely sliced celery
2 large carrots, sliced and diced
1 yellow pepper, free of seeds and sliced
1.5 litres of chicken stock
450g of cooked chicken (ideally cubed or shredded)
25g of organic plain flour
1 tablespoon of chopped, fresh parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

With your ingredients ready, gently melt the butter in a large saucepan and once hot, fry the onions, celery and carrots until they start to soften. Stir in the flour and cook for around two more minutes.

Slowly add the stock to the pot and gently bring the mixture to the boil, stirring all the time.

Season the liquid with salt and pepper, then simmer for around 15 minutes so that the vegetables are soft, but not mushy.

Finally add the chicken and parsley and simmer for another 30 minutes.

Serve with bread and cheese and feel that goodness get to work.

Homemade vegetable soups are one of the tastiest, healthiest options out there and can be part of any family meal.

Whilst we love this easy to make soup, it is just a base and you can add in pretty much anything else you want to get a bowl that is right for you.

For a big pot you will need:

3 tablespoons of olive oil
3 chopped carrots chopped
2 chopped red onions
½ cabbage that has had the core and outer leaves taken off
1 chopped, trimmed leek
1 chopped courgette
One handful of chopped mushrooms
1 red pepper, sliced and free of seeds
1.5 litres of water
Vegetable stock cubes or powder
A handful of chopped basil leaves (ideally fresh)
A handful of chopped parsley, again fresh is best
1 crushed clove of garlic

Now, let’s get to work:

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and when hot, add the carrots, and onion and gently fry to remove the water content and create flavour.

Add the cauliflower, cabbage and then stir in the leeks and courgette.

Allow the vegetables to cook for 10 minutes and then add the water and stock before bringing to the boil

Simmer for 15 minutes then add the lovely basil and parsley and finally for the big hit of flavour, add the garlic.

If you can let the soup sit for at least half an hour before serving with bread, cheese and olives.

Got a favourite soup recipe, drop us a line and let us know what is is.

Team Pure-Beauty