Clare Lavin – mum to seven-year-old Oscar and two-year old Darcy – has always been passionate about cooking. The Dubai-based mother-of-two made it to the quarter finals of Junior Masterchef and then later appeared on the cookery show, Masterchef Goes Large. Having passed on her love of whipping up fun, innovative meals to Oscar, she now encourages him to help her in the kitchen teaching him new skills and encouraging his creative flair. Her specialities are cooking quick and easy dishes that the whole family can enjoy. For more family-friendly recipes, follow Clare on Instagram @claresfamilykitchen.
Christmas pudding ice cream
Ingredients
500ml tub vanilla ice cream
2 tbs orange juice
200g Christmas cake or Christmas pudding, cut into very small cubes
25g glacé cherries, halved
Method
Step 1: Slightly soften a tub of ginger or vanilla ice cream, tip into a large bowl and beat with a wooden spoon, until smooth.
Step 2: Fold in the orange juice, Christmas cake (or pudding) and glacé cherries.
Step 3: Transfer to a small freezer-proof container and freeze until solid.
TIP: Serve with some gingerbread for added zing.
Mincemeat filo tarts
Ingredients
450g mincemeat (homemade or shop bought)
4 sheets of filo pastry
Sunflower oil for brushing
Tablespoon brown sugar
Method
Step 1: Pre-heat oven at 180 degrees Celsius. Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.
Step 2: Lay the filo pastry sheets on top of each other and cut into three long strips with four long strips in each pile, making a total of 12 long strips.
Step 3: Work quickly to brush the three top strips of filo with oil. Place a tablespoon of mincemeat in the bottom left corner of each strip of filo.
Step 4: Fold the bottom corner across to the right and then up, and then across to the left and then up again and repeat until the mincemeat is enclosed inside a little triangular case of filo pastry. Repeat for all 12 tarts.
Step 5: Brush each filo tart with a little more oil and sprinkle each with a little brown sugar. Transfer to the baking sheet and bake for
20-25 minutes until golden brown.
TIP: Drizzle with some double cream, delicious!
Toffee nut Swiss roll
Ingredients
5 egg whites, large
2 tsps cornflour
225g light muscovado sugar
40g pecans, chopped
250ml double cream
½ tin of Carnation Caramel
Icing sugar to dust.
Method
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius.
Step 2: For the meringue, put the egg whites in a very clean bowl and add the cornflour. Whisk the egg whites until they start to look foamy. Then, whilst continually whisking, add the brown sugar one spoonful at a time until it’s all worked in. Keep whisking until the meringue is very firm, and hold the pattern of the whisk.
Step 3: Chop the pecans, fairly finely and add them to the meringue. Fold them in gently until they are just worked through. Transfer to a shallow lined tray and spread it out gently using a spatula reaching all corners and even throughout. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
Transfer out of the tray and leave to cool.
Step 4: Whip the double cream into soft peaks.
Step 5: Once the meringue is cool, spread with caramel first then the cream.
Step 6: roll very slowly and very carefully along the longest edge, tucking in tight as you go. Transfer to a plate and dust with icing sugar.
TIP: Serve as dessert after Christmas lunch for the kids who may not be fans of Christmas pudding.
Christmas spiced buns
Ingredients (For the dough)
75g butter
220ml milk
50g caster sugar
1tsp sea salt
500g strong white bread flour
2 sachets fast action dried yeast (14g)
2 eggs (1 for the dough and 1 for glazing)
(For the filling)
75g dried cranberries, roughly chopped
50g sultanas, roughly chopped
Zest and juice 2 oranges
125g butter, softened
125g dark brown soft sugar
1tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp ground ginger
½ tsp mixed spice
Method
Step 1: Start off by making the dough. Put the butter and milk into a saucepan heat gently and set aside. Stir together the sugar, salt, yeast and flour in a large bowl then make a well and add in the lukewarm milk/butter and one of the eggs. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry, first using a wooden spoon to bring everything together, then using your hands to form a soft dough.
Step 2: Once you have a soft dough, turn it out onto a very lightly floured surface and knead for about ten minutes so it is smooth, stretchy and elastic. Leave to prove for about an hour until doubled in size.
Step 3: For the bun filling, place the cranberries, sultanas, orange zest and orange juice in a bowl and leave to soak for half an hour. Beat together the butter, sugar, cinnamon, ginger and mixed spice
until smooth.
Step 4: Tip dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a rectangle, about 5mm thick. Spread the cinnamon butter mixture across the surface of the rectangle in an even layer, ensuring that you go all the way to the edges. Drain away the orange juice from the dried fruits and sprinkle over the dough.
Step 5: From the longest side roll into a long roulade and cut into 10 pieces, gently flatten but only slightly. Arrange swirl side up on a baking tray with parchment and leave to prove again for about 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Step 6: Glaze the tops of the buns with egg wash. Bake for 40-45 minutes until golden brown and leave to cool.
TIP: We reckon Father Christmas would like to find these on Christmas Eve.
