Party time!

Part and parcel of the festive season is of course the traditional buffet! I love a buffet! My friend Nicky from work is totally on my wave length here and agrees with me that there are few better meals than a buffet, and what buffet is complete without sausage rolls?! As a vegetarian, good vege sausage rolls are hard to find so I am a huge fan of my friend Dave's vege sausage rolls. They are super quick and easy to make and sooooo delicious. There are only 4 ingredients (including the eggwash) and can be in the oven in under ten minutes.

Dave's Vegetarian Sausage Rolls

1 sheet of ready made puff pastry (you could of course make your own but I have never attempted rough puff myself!),

1 pack of cauldron vegetarian sausages,

3 generous tbsp of red onion chutney/marmalade,

1 egg.

1. Preheat the oven to 180C fan/gas mark 4.

2. Cut the sausages into pieces and mash with a potato masher. Add the chutney and stir well. (It does NOT look attractive at the stage but trust me it will be yummy!)

3. Lay out the sheet of puff pastry and cut in half lengthways.

4. Put half the mixture down the middle of each of the sheets you have cut and roll up, giving the seam a bit of a squeeze to keep the mixture in.

5. Turn seam side down and cut each roll into 8 pieces, so you have 16 in total.

6. Break the egg into a cup and mix. Brush each sausage roll with the egg wash and then bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown on top.

A must for the festive season, and a great addition to your buffet for vege friends! Trust me, both meat eaters and veges will love these.

xxx

Snow is falling...

Now that advent is here it really feels like Christmas is soooooo near and that means Christmas baking! Our gorgeous little boy arrived 10 days early 4 weeks ago and time has flown by, but I've finally managed to get back in the kitchen and first on the agenda was a batch of mince pies. Last year was all about adding marzipan to my mince pies:

http://yummymummy2012.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/hidden-delights.html

but this year I have given Mr Hollywood's recipe a try, with added tangerine and apple and scrummy homemade pastry. Here is a link to the recipe I used:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/paul_hollywoods_mince_04604

I found it made enough pastry for 9 mince pies and enough filling for well over 12 (although the recipe says it makes 12 but only gives instructions to cut 6?!- Paul, I'll forgive you as they are so yummy!) so I have a box of frozen filling now for next time I make these. They are made in a muffin tin and are definitely 'mansize' (not that I'm complaining about that) but next time I would probably do them in a fairy cake tin so they aren't quite as big!

Merry baking!

xxx