4 festive recipes for connecting with others this Christmas

At Feros Care, we are big believers in people coming together at Christmas time – and we all know that food brings people together like nothing else.

What better way to celebrate Christmas than to make recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation?

Rather than googling festive recipes or traditions, we’ve gone back to our roots and decided to make the recipes our grandparents used to make.

Here are some of our favourite recipes handed down to us to enjoy – why not make them and share with neighbours or loved ones to connect this Christmas.

Juliet’s mince pies

“This recipe has been passed down through generations in my family and we have brought the recipe all the way to Australia from England. There aren’t even ingredients written down because my mum knows them off by heart! I love making these and bringing them to Christmas events.”

Method:

• Rub fat into flour until it resembles fine bread crumbs. Add sugar.
• Add egg and lemon juice and fold in to mixture to form a dough
• Wrap dough in cling film and chill in fridge (8hrs)
• Once chilled, roll out with rolling pin and use circular cut outs to create shape of mince pie, bigger circle for bottom and smaller for top
• Put spoonful of mince meat in middle and add pastry top. (Use shop-bought mince meat – Woolworths do English mince meat!)
• Prick tops with a fork and cook at 180 degrees celcius for 15-20 mins
• Once cooked, sprinkle with icing sugar.

Bianca’s boiled fruitcake

“I make this homemade boiled fruitcake which is my great grandmother’s recipe, and drop them off to the neighbours. Homemade gifts are more meaningful and I love hearing that people love my cakes. It makes me happy to see others happy.”

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 1 cup plain flour
• ½ cup chopped pecans
• 3 cups mixed, dried fruit
• 1 tsp nutmeg or mixed spice
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 200 g butter
• 2 eggs, beaten

Method:

• Preheat oven to 200C.
• Place sugar, water, fruit, nutmeg, soda and butter into a large saucepan over low heat and stir until boiling.
• Allow to cool for 5 minutes.
• Add beaten eggs. Sift the flours and add to the mix and stir well with a wooden spoon.
• Put ingredients in a greased and lined 20 cm round cake tin. Bake for 1-1¼ hours or until skewer comes out clean.

Fruzsi’s gingerbread cookies

“Gingerbread cookies are a staple of Christmas in Hungary – and while everyone has their own secret, tried-and-tested recipe, our family recipe has been perfected through generations. I might be biased, but it’s definitely the best! You’re best off making these a couple of weeks ahead of Christmas, as the combination of honey and spices means they need some time to ‘come together’.”

Ingredients:

• 700g flour
• 360g caster sugar
• 360 g honey
• 4g bicarb soda
• 1 egg
• 30ml water
• 4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 4 tsp ground allspice
• 4 tsp ground ginger

Toppings:

• 1 egg (to brush cookies)
• Almonds/walnuts/raisins/cranberries/anything else you might want to put on top

Method:

• Mix all cookie ingredients in a bowl and knead until it’s dough consistency.
• Wrap ball of dough in cling wrap and leave in the fridge overnight or put into the freezer for an hour.
• Preheat oven to 180 Celsius. Line baking trays (two works fine because you can keep swapping them) with baking paper.
• Once it’s chilled, unwrap dough, and roll out the dough bit by bit, until it’s around half a cm thick.
• Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes and line them up on the tray.
• Beat one egg and use it as egg wash to brush the cookies.
• Add anything you want on top – nuts, seeds, dried fruit, etc.
• Put each tray in the oven for 8 minutes.

Nicole’s Dutch Christmas Stol

“I love making Kerst Stol for my family as my partner is Dutch. It is my thing I make for friends too at Christmas. It has sweet almond paste in the middle. I admit, I do cheat and buy a bread mix.”

Ingredients:

• 1 package white bread mix
• 3 tbsp luke warm water
• 25 g butter, melted
• flour

For the filling:

• 300 g currants and raisins
• 300 almond paste (in baking section of supermarket)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 egg yolk
• 150 mixed, chopped, unsalted nuts
• icing sugar

Method:

For the filling: Soak the currants and raisins 30 minutes in warm water.

For the dough: Put the lukewarm water in a bowl and stir in the bread mix. Add the butter and knead into an elastic dough. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and let rise in a warm spot approx. 10 minutes. Knead the dough and let rise again, covered, 15 minutes.

Mix almond paste with lemon juice and egg yolk and form into a roll. Drain the currants and raisins and dry with paper towels. Knead currants, raisins and nuts into the dough.

Dust the counter with flour, place the dough on it and form into an oval shape. Place the almond paste in the center and fold the dough over so that the top is slightly shorter than the bottom. Place on a wax paper-covered baking tray, put a damp towel over it, and cover it with cling film. Let rise approx. 35 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200°C and bake the Christmas stol 45 minutes in the centre of the oven till brown and done. Remove from the oven, cool on a rack and sift over icing sugar.