Christmas Recipes From Doolin 2024
Are you looking for a special festive recipe for Christmas this year? Tired of the same old Brussel sprouts and stuffing? Maybe you want to create an impressive dessert or Christmas eve snack. Never fear, we have some amazing recipes from Doolin to inspire your inner chef!
Some of our local business members have kindly shared their family favourites which are served up on the dining table every year! Check out these scrumptious festive family recipes below and bring a taste of Doolin, Ireland to your table this year..
Recipe 1. -Blinis with Burren Smoked Irish Salmon and Pickled Beetroot from The Burren Smokehouse.
Recipe 2.- Helen’s famous Port-braised red cabbage by Helen at Doolin Cave
Recipe 3. – The Moloney Family Christmas Ham by Anthony at Doolin Inn
Recipe 4. – Apple Muffins with Cinnamon and Sultana by Niall at The Lodges at Sea View House
Recipe 5. – Clementine, Ginger & Almond Trifle by Hotel Doolin
Recipe 6. – Toblerone Mousse by Charles at Tunes from Doolin
Recipe 7. Mince Pies from scratch from Maeve at Churchfield House.
Recipe 8.- Creamy Burren Smoked Irish Salmon Gougères from The Burren Smokehouse.
Recipe 9.- Venison Wellington from Homestead Cottage Doolin
Recipe 1. -Blinis with Burren Smoked Irish Salmon and Pickled Beetroot
Ingredients:
Method
- For the quick pickled beetroot, combine all the ingredients for the pickled beetroot in a bowl and allow to sit in the fridge until you are ready to use it, at least 10 minutes.
- For the blinis, pour the milk into a small saucepan and heat until lukewarm. Whisk in the yeast and leave to stand for 6-8 minutes until the mixture becomes foamy.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and sugar with a generous pinch of salt and make a well in the centre.
- In a large pyrex jug, mix together the buttermilk, melted butter and egg yolks. Whisk in the foamy yeast mixture and pour into the dry ingredients. Mix until you have a smooth batter and then cover and leave to stand in a warm place for 30 minutes.
- Beat the egg whites in a clean and fat-free bowl until you have stiff peaks. Using a metal spoon fold this into the batter.
- When you are ready to fry the blinis, heat a large non-stick frying pan over a medium high heat and brush the pan with a little melted butter. Add teaspoonful amounts to the pan and fry until golden on each side.
- Allow to cool completely before topping with a generous dollop of crème fraîche, a slice of smoked salmon and some pickled beetroot.
Recipe 2. – Helen’s famous Port-braised red cabbage.
This dish is great to prepare ahead of Christmas Day so takes some of the stress away and is packed with vitamins A and C.
Ingredients:
800g red cabbage, cut thinly
175ml port
2 tablespoons of muscovado sugar
3 bay leaves
100g sultanas
juice 1 lemon
Method:
Put all the ingredients and 175ml of water in a large heavy base pot. Season and cook, loosely covered, on a low heat for 1 hour and 30 minutes to 2 hours. Stir occasionally, until tender.
Serve and enjoy!
Recipe 3: The Moloney Family Christmas Ham by Doolin Inn
Passed down from generation to generation, from father to son for more than a 100 years, this recipe is taken out every Christmas by the Moloney family at Doolin Inn. The Christmas Ham has been a tradition throughout the years and its signature smell in the Moloney household is a sign that Christmas has arrived.
We always cooked it on the 23rd of December to let the flavours infuse so it would be prefect for the Christmas dinner of Turkey and Ham with all the trimmings. But the best was always the Christmas Eve late night snack of a thick ham slice between two slices of freshly baked bread accompanied by a generous licking of butter and mustard – Anthony Moloney, Doolin Inn
Ingredients:
1 x Smoked leg of ham on the bone, skin on.
2 x litres of dry strong cider
1 x onion
2 x carrots
3 x Bay leaf
Cloves
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Honey
Bread Crumbs
Toothpicks
1/2 cup of Colman’s mustard (preferably made from the powder)
2 x tins of pineapple rings (or fresh if you prefer but the sweetness of the tinned pineapple absorb the ham’s flavours better and are a real treat.)
A good glass of whiskey – we always used Paddy (guess it goes with the family name down the generations – Anthony Patrick / Patrick Anthony / Anthony Patrick as the generations go!)
Instructions:
1) In a large stock pot, place ham in cold water and set for two days, changing the water every 12 -18 hours. This helps remove a lot of saltiness from the ham.
2) Drain water and fill with 2 litres of cider, add onion (skin off and whole), add 6-8 cloves to the ham (studded), 2 carrots, and bay leaves. Fill the stock pot with water to cover the ham by an inch.
3) Bring to the boil and let simmer (skim off any impurities that rise to the top) (20 mins a pound or until the small bone in the knuckle twists without effort, normally 5-6hours).
4) Remove ham from liquor and let cool slightly (20 minutes).
5) Remove skin exposing lovely white fatty flesh – if any excess fat, trim a little but do leave a coating of fat on the meat.
6) When it cools a little more, drizzle over whiskey, and butter ham with mustard, and drizzle with honey.
7) Coat the ham with breadcrumbs and decorate with pineapple rings studded with 4-6 cloves each, using the toothpicks to fix to ham.
8) Gently drizzle more whiskey over the ham, especially the pineapple rings.
9) Sprinkle with brown sugar, this will give a little crust and a lovely browning to the crust.
10) Place in a moderately heated oven at 160 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove and let cool.
Tip! To reheat, slice, place on a tray with a splash of cold water and cover with tin foil and gently bring back to temperature in a warm oven.
Recipe 4. – Apple Muffins with Cinnamon and Sultana by The Lodges at Sea View House
We bake these muffins for breakfast and they are a big hit. I discovered the batter for this recipe in Rachel Allen’s book, Bake. This batter keeps in the fridge for at least two weeks so it handy to make a double batch and then use it as needed.
Ingredients:
Batter Mixture
3 eggs
125 g dark brown sugar
100g castor sugar
500 ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
125 ml sunflower oil
300 g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
25g wheat or oat bran
165g wholemeal flour
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Filling
2 cooking apples peeled and diced
110 g sultanas
2-3 tsp cinnamon
Instructions:
To Make the Batter:
Whisk the eggs and sugar together, and pour in the milk and vanilla. Stir well.
Add the sunflower oil. Sieve the flour with the bicarbonate of soda and salt, and add to the mixture with the bran. Mix again and cover tightly until needed – this mixture will keep in the fridge for up to 30 days (during which time the bran will swell).
To make the Muffins:
Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4.
Add the diced apples to a bowel and coat with ground cinnamon.
Add the sultanas.
Stir the batter and add enough to just coat the filling.
Fill muffin cases in a muffin tin until three quarters full.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until firm to the touch and golden.
Cool on a wire rack and dust with icing sugar before serving.
Recipe 5. – Clementine, Ginger & Almond Trifle by Hotel Doolin
A delicious traditional Christmas dessert for the table, with a modern twist – this trifle is everything.
Clementine, Ginger & Almond Trifle, Clementine Ice Cream
Ingredients:
Amaretto cream:
1lt cream
200g sieved icing sugar
100ml amaretto
Whisk all ingredients until stiff.
Ginger cake:
700g plain flour
4 level tbsp. ground ginger
4 level tbsp. ground cinnamon
1 tbsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp bread soda
8 tbsp milk
300g treacle
300g golden syrup
300g brown sugar
300g butter
4 eggs beaten
Mix dry ingredients, combine milk and soda and set aside, warm treacle, golden syrup, sugar and butter with 300g of water until fully melted, DO NOT LET BOIL. Combine the wet mixture gradually with dry until combined, mix in the eggs and add the milk/soda mixture./
Pour into lined bread tin bake at 170 degrees with no fan.
Crème patisserie:
4 egg yolks
60g caster sugar
25g plain flour
2 tsp cornflour
280ml milk
Beat the egg yolks and sugar for a few minutes until pale and slightly thickened. Whisk in the flours. Heat the milk in a saucepan until stating to boil. Whisk the milk into the egg mix. Put the whole lot back into the pan, stirring all the time until thick and boiling. Take the pan off the heat – cover with cling-film to prevent a skin from forming.
Clementine jelly:
200ml clementine juice
2 ½ gelatine leaves
50ml amaretto liquor
50 g caster sugar
Bloom the gelatine in cold water until soft and pliable. Bring the juice, sugar and amaretto to the boil and remove from the heat, add the gelatine and stir until dissolved
Assembly:
Dice the ginger bread to 1cm cubed and place in a glass of your choice, a martini glass may be suitable if you have one. Peel and dice the clementine segments 1cm also. Cover the bottom of the glass with one layer of ginger cake and clementine pieces, pour over the clementine jelly just so it covers the ginger cake and place in fridge to set. Once set, put a layer of crème patisserie on the jelly layer and finally finish with a layer of amaretto cream. Garnish the top of the trifle with crushed amaretto biscuits and chopped almonds.
Recipe 6. – Toblerone Mousse by Tunes from Doolin
Toblerone Mousse (serves 4)
Ingredients:
300g Toblerone
5dl fresh cream
2 fresh eggs
Instructions:
- Whip the cream until thick in a large bowl
- Melt the Toblerone using a small metal bowl over a pot with hot water (simmering, not boiling). Stir gently and constantly to make sure the chocolotate doesn’t stick to the bottom and burn. Let it cool for 4-5 minutes.
- Stir in the egg yolks (save the egg whites for later) into the melted chocolate and mix well (make sure the chocolate is not too hot otherwise the eggs will cook, but don’t let the chocolate solidify either).
- Gently combine the chocolate mixture with the whipped cream, until you cannot see any white cream.
- Whisk up the egg whites to firm peaks. Gently fold the egg whites in the chocolate & cream mixture.
- Scoop the mousse into serving bowls or glasses, and decorate with your favourite topping (toblerone crumbs/grated, fresh berries, coconut, etc.).
- Refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours before serving to get a good, mousse texture.
Recipe 7. Mince pies from scratch- as per Maeve
Ingredients:
For the Christmas Mince meat:
200g raisins
200g currants
200g sultanas
200g mixed peel
400g flaked almonds
zest & juice of 1 orange
zest & juice of 1 lemon
1tsp mixed spice
2 apples finely chopped
200g grated veg suet or butter
140g brown sugar
60ml brandy
Method:
Put all into a slow cooker for 1 hour on high & mix up
Ingredients:
Pastry for Mince pies
16oz flour
10oz butter
5oz sugar
1 egg
Method:
Sieve the flour & rub in the butter and sugar.
Beat the egg and add into the flour mix.
Mix until it forms a stiff dough.
Add a spoon of water if necessary to get it to form together.
Cut out the circles for the base and the top of your mince pies.
Place the base in your pie tray, fill with your mince pie mixture and place the smaller dough circle on top. Place in a pre heated oven at 200c for 15-20 minutes. Leave to cool and enjoy!
Recipe 8- Creamy Burren Smoked Irish Salmon Gougères
Ingredients
Method
- In a bowl, combine the smoked salmon, cream cheese, Greek yoghurt, lemon juice, chives and a generous crack of black pepper. Taste and add salt if necessary. Set aside.
- Combine the flour, parmesan, salt and pepper in a bowl. Place in the fridge to chill for 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 170 ̊C/150 ̊C fan/ gas mark 3. Line two baking trays with parchment paper and set aside.
- Combine the flour, parmesan and salt in a bowl.
- Place the butter and milk in a medium pan over a low heat and allow the butter to melt. Once melted, increase the heat and bring to the boil.
- As soon as it boils, remove the pan from the heat and add the flour mixture to it. Beat with a wooden spoon until the mixture starts to leave the sides of the pan.
- Transfer back into the bowl and set aside for a few minutes until cool to touch.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating vigorously after each addition until the mixture is smooth.
- Drop or pipe tablespoons of the mixture onto the prepared baking trays, spaced at least 2 cm apart.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until the buns are dry, golden brown and crisp.
- Remove from the oven and immediately use a skewer to pierce the side or bottom of each gougère; this will ensure they don’t collapse as they cool.
- Allow to cool completely, then gently slice the gougères open and fill each one with around one teaspoon of the smoked salmon cream cheese mixture.
Recipe 9: Venison Wellington from Homestead Cottage
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1kg thick venison loin
- 150g chopped venison liver
- 2 tbsp English mustard
- 300g mixed wild mushroom, trimmed and cleaned
- 6 slices prosciutto
- 2-4 thin herb pancakes, see method, below
- 500g pack all-butter puff pastry
- 3 egg yolks, beaten
For the herb pancakes
- 100g plain flour
- 1 egg
- 250ml milk
- snipped chives
- handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley
- a drop of oil
Method:
Heat half the oil in a frying pan and quickly seal the venison for about 2 mins on each side until browned. Remove the meat from the pan, brush all over with the mustard and leave to cool.
Mince the mushrooms in a food processor. Place the pan back on the heat with the rest of the oil and add the mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper and fry over a high heat for 5 mins until the excess moisture has evaporated and you have a thick paste add the liver fry for 1 minute then add cream reduce. Season, transfer the mushrooms mix to a bowl and leave to cool.
Lay 2-3 large sheets of cling film overlapping each other on a clean surface. Lay the slices of prosciutto overlapping lengthways in 2 rows of 3.then spread the mushroom mix. Place the venison loin on top and roll tightly in to a sausage and leave to chill in the fridge.
Lay out another couple of pieces of cling film. Trim the pancakes into squares and lay them overlapping on the cling film. Remove the cling film from the prosciutto wrapped meat and place the meat on top of the pancakes. Roll up tightly again in cling film, then place in the fridge to hold its shape.
Roll the pastry out to a large rectangle big enough to easily wrap the meat in, then brush all over with egg yolk. Unwrap the cling film from the pancake-wrapped venison and roll to completely encase in the pastry. Tuck the ends in and trim any excess. Lay out more cling film and finally roll into a tight package to get an evenly thick log. Tie the ends of cling film to keep the package tight and leave in the fridge overnight or in the freezer for an hour. Can be made to this point up to a day in advance.
When ready to cook, heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Remove the cling film and brush the Wellington all over with egg yolk. Sit it on a baking tray lined with baking paper and lightly score in a feathered fashion. Bake for 50 mins for medium rare, or prob to 48°c dropping to 200C/180C fan/ gas 7 if the pastry becomes too brown. Remove from the oven to rest for 20 mins. If you prefer the meat well done, turn oven off after 40 mins and leave to rest inside. Trim the end of the pastry, carefully carve in slices about 3-4cm thick and serve.
To make the pancakes for the Wellingtons, tip 100g plain flour into a bowl. Beat 1 egg with 250ml milk and gradually whisk into the flour until smooth. Stir in some snipped chives and a handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley just before cooking, then heat a drop of oil in a large non-stick frying pan and swirl around some of the batter to make a thin pancake. When the pancake is done, make another 3 and set aside. The pancakes can be made 2 days in advance.
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