Festive Recipes From Doolin Locals
Have you volunteered to cook the ever so challenging Christmas Dinner this year? Need some inspiration to spruce it up a little, to make an extra special Christmas?
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. – Stonecutters Mulled Wine by Karen (Doolin Pantry)
Recipe 2. – The Moloney Family Christmas Ham by Anthony at Doolin Inn
Recipe 3. – Apple Muffins with Cinnamon and Sultana by Niall at The Lodges at Sea View House
Recipe 4. – Clementine, Ginger & Almond Trifle by Hotel Doolin
Recipe 5. – Toblerone Mousse by Charles at Tunes from Doolin
Recipe 6. – Christmas Gingerbread by Viki (Submitted by Karen & Myles Stonecutters Kitchen)
Recipe 1: Doolin Pantry Mulled Wine Syrup by Stonecutters Kitchen
For a lovely festive mulled wine without the powdery flavour often found with bought powder mixes. This recipe makes enough for 2 bottles of wine.
Ingredients:
The Syrup:
6oz/170grams granulated white sugar
6 x Cinnamon Sticks
2 x Oranges and 1 lemon roughly sliced with the skin on
10 x Whole Cloves
2 large pinches of All Spice
2 Mugs of water, about a ½ litre
Brandy
Instructions:
1) Gently simmer everything except the brandy in a saucepan for about 30-40 minutes until the mixture has reduced and become more concentrated into a syrup.
2) Strain mixture through a sieve into an airtight container or bottle.
3) When you want to serve your mulled wine, put one bottle of red wine into a saucepan and add half the syrup on a gentle heat and bring up to just before a simmering point.
4) Add a dash of brandy and some extra sugar to taste. Do not allow this to boil.
5) Serve in a glass with a slice of orange and lemon with 2 or 3 cloves stuck into them and a generous measure of Christmas cheer.
Sláinte!!
Recipe 2: 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 3. – 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 4. – 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 5. – 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 6. – Christmas Gingerbread by Viki
Viki’s Christmas Ginger Bread
1kg plain flour
500g honey
4 egg yolks
200g icing sugar
100g butter
1 tablespoon mixed spice
1 tablespoon bread soda
Pinch of salt
100 mil milk
Method:
Mix the dry ingredients together.
Rub in the butter.
Heat up the honey to luke warm and add to the mixture together with the milk and the egg yolks, mix with your hands until the mixture comes together into a dough that can be rolled out easily but is not wet and sticky. 5 mm thick.
Cut into your desired shapes. If you want a shiny finish brush with an egg wash.
Place in a preheated oven at 160 degrees centigrade until golden brown, usually about 7 to 10 minutes but this is very dependent on your own oven and the tray may need to be swivelled during cooking to ensure an even colour.
For icing:
Whisk one egg white with a spoon or fork and add approx. 250g icing sugar to this until the mixture is thick enough to hold its shape and can be piped onto the gingerbread.
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