thanksgiving & christmas

the perfect cranberry sauce

~ aplotzi ~ 1 Comment

Trust me on this one, this is one of the best recipes for cranberry sauce ever, shop bought cranberry sauce doesn’t even compare to it. I think it’s the star of the show on the Christmas dinner plate and is perfect with cold cuts and sandwiches after Christmas day. For me it kind of makes Christmas food far more delicious. A friend of mine and her children so look forward to my yearly Christmas batch, not only for their Christmas meal but they love it enough to even put it on their toast.
And jars of your own cranberry sauce tied with a red ribbon make great home made Christmas presents for loved ones.

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flourless orange and almond cake

~ aplotzi ~ 9 Comments

One of the first times I had this cake was in the restaurant Polpo in Beak Street, London. I was then given their cookbook as a Christmas present a few years ago and it’s one of the easiest cakes to make at home, after you have boiled the oranges the rest of it is done in a blender, so there’s no faffing about with creaming in or sifting. It’s gluten and dairy free, not that you’d notice, plus it’s so delicious I was proposed to by a friend’s husband when he ate a slice. It’s delicious with a dollop of mascarpone and a coffee, as it says in the book. My friends now cook this a lot.

Serves 12.

Ingredients:
2 oranges
100g golden brown sugar
400g caster sugar
6 medium eggs or 5 large
250g ground almonds
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
Zest and juice of an orange
A little bit of icing sugar for dusting

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frozen berries with hot white chocolate sauce

~ aplotzi ~ Leave a comment

I first had this pudding in The Ivy restaurant in London with my dad. My dad almost lived there and therefore could order food without even looking at the menu. It was one of his favourite places to eat and I loved the food so much too that he gave me the cookbook. This is one of the recipes in the book. It is not only easy as it only has three ingredients but its a great combo of hot and cold and sweet and tart which is a winner in the pudding department for me.

Serves 2 greedy people.

Ingredients:
1 box of raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries
100 g of quality white chocolate
125 g double cream

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