BAKING THE BISCUITS
This is all pretty straight forward.
I took charge of loading up the scales while Poppy, my six-yearold, yelped ‘Stop!’ when the measurements read the right amount. She also enjoyed spooning in all the spices. So far, so easy.
When the dough comes together, it is pretty heavy, so an adult will need to retrieve it from the bowl. But then it’s over to the small folk to roll it into a giant sausage and wrap it in cling film.
Then it needs to rest in the fridge overnight. Prepare them for this. If your kids are anything like mine, the main joy of baking lies in the eating, so when they discover none of that is going to happen until the next day, there might be some tantrums.
You can, however, bribe them back to happiness by giving them a hunk of the cookie dough to eat raw. Works every time.
THE next day, heat your oven at 200˚C and line baking sheets with parchment – a boring job,
through. Main course? Yes. Cheese? Definitely.
I’m now waving a Christmas glass of Zalze Shiraz Mourvedre Viognier, right, (RRP £8.79, Waitrose, Morrisons and Asda) and thinking it’s a good match for a plate of all the Christmas dinner goodies. Shiraz takes centre stage in this blend, which has notes of brambly hedgerow fruits and cherry.
If a Spanish Rioja is more to your festive liking, then Marques De Caceres Gran Reserva 2009 (RRP £18.99, majestic.co.uk) will be a good choice. It has been aged for over two years in oak, which leaves a signature with vanilla, coffee, spice and bold red fruits. A powerpack of a red wine and the flavours keep on giving. but something the kids can help with. Then set up a nice floury worktop, break off a chunk of the dough (there’s loads), let the little ones roll it out to around 2mm thick and cut out an array of Christmas-shaped biscuits.
Rosie, my nine-year-old, went first. Sometimes the rolling out got a teeny bit thin, but generally they found this pretty easy, and enjoyed taking it in turns to break off another hunk and make some more biscuits.
You can get a bit of a conveyorbelt system going as well.
This recipe makes so many biscuits that it’s good to get each baking tray in the oven as soon as it fills up. You can also do that easily because they cook to perfection in just six minutes.
Once they’re out of the oven, leave for a few minutes before popping on to a cooling rack. Pleasingly, they also cool down quickly, so the kids can crack on with decorating.
We did try to make
Clos de los Siete (RRP £17, Sainsbury) hails from Argentina. The country’s signature wine grape, malbec, takes the lead in a five-grape blend including merlot, cabernet sauvignon and syrah.
Flavours of red fruits, plums and spices dance a tango in your mouth, then linger temptingly. Sip and watch the Christmas episode of Strictly for the full effect.
A final choice is Co-op Irresistible Chilean Carménère 2017, right, (£7) which is a new wine in store and was two years in the planning between the Co-op team and winemaker Diego Covarrubias. You’ll enjoy an easy-drinking, any-day kind of wine, full of black cherries. More than anything, you’ll love the label.
■ Also in my glass…
Glen Marnoch Speyside Single Malt Whisky (£17.49, Aldi) might just suit. With notes of toast and marmalade, this would make an excellent breakfast whisky, should there be such a thing. For a Scottish single malt, it’s surprisingly easy drinking, light, but at the same time rich and fruity. It could easily hold its own in a blind test, and you could pay twice as much for an inferior dram.
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