Gingerbread Almond Wreath

Granola Bar

Preheat oven to 160°C.

1. Grease and line an 18cm x 28cm slice pan with baking paper.
2. Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. Mix melted butter and honey together and stir into dry ingredients
4. Press mixture firmly into tin using the back of a spoon. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool in the tin before slicing into bars.

Eggnog Bundt Cakes

1. For eggnog, combine milk, cream, spices and vanilla in a small saucepan. Heat gently. Meanwhile whisk together the yolk and sugar. Gradually add warmed milk mixture to egg until all combined. Return to saucepan and continue cooking over a low heat until hot and slightly thickened. Remove, stir in rum and set aside to cool. Reserve 1 tablespoon for icing.
2. Pre-heat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Lightly grease 6 x 1 cup capacity bundt tins and place onto a flat baking tray.
3. Combine currants and rum. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until creamy and pale. Add eggs one at a time until well combined. Add dry ingredients and eggnog alternately until well combined and mixture is smooth. Spoon between prepared pans and bake for 25 minutes until golden and cooked through. Turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
4. Mix together the icing sugar, reserved eggnog, water and some additional nutmeg if you prefer. Drizzle over cooled bundt cakes and finish with fresh cherries.

Decadent Fruit Mince

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl till combined.

Place into sterilised jars and store in a cool dark dry place to macerate for as long as you can before using.

This fruit mix made ahead can be used for so many great Sunbeam Recipes!

Walnut Cheese Log

Cheese to room temp.

In a bowl, mix cheese & alcohol in a processor with salt and pepper until smooth.

Mix chilli with herbs and nuts, then sprinkle on a 30cm piece of plastic wrap, leaving a 2cm border.

Spoon cheese along one end of herbs. Lift wrap and roll cheese away from you into a log, pressing gently to coat well in herbs, shape the mixture into a log, then wrap and refrigerate for about an hour, until the mixture is firm.

Serve with crackers

Aussie Ice-cream Pudding

Preheat oven to 180ºC.

1. Brush a 2 litre pudding basin with vegetable oil, then line with plastic wrap, trying to keep wrap smooth without wrinkles. Place in the freezer to chill.
2. In a bowl combine sultanas, raisins, cranberries, apricots, macadamias and orange liqueur. Leave to soak for 30 minutes.
3. Place softened ice cream in a large bowl stir in soaked fruit. Fold in whipped cream and pour mixture into prepared pudding basin. Place in the freezer and freeze for 4 hours or overnight.
4. To prepare orange cake, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in almond meal, orange juice and rind. Pour into a greased and paper lined 20cm cake tin and bake for 1 hour. Allow too cool in the tin, before turning out onto a board.
5. To finish pudding, ease ice-cream pudding from basin and place on top of cake. Trim the cake edges if required and serve cut into thick slices.

Roast Pork with Pistachio Stuffing

Pat the pork belly dry with a paper towel, then score the rind at 1cm intervals.  

To make the Pistachio Stuffing, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over low-medium heat. Add the shallot, lemongrass, garlic, ginger and chilli flakes. Cook, stirring for 3-4 minutes until softened. Then add the remaining ingredients. And cook, stirring, until pistachios are lightly golden. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Then stir in the lemon zest and parsley leaves.  

Butterfly the pork belly, leaving one edge intact. Spoon the Pistachio Cranberry Stuffing inside the pork and then roll up. Secure the pork with kitchen twine. Place pork into the fridge overnight (or for 12 hours) to allow the skin to dry up and the pork meat to take on the stuffing flavour.   

Preheat the oven to 180℃ fan force.  

Place pork onto a wire rack and into a roasting tin. Rub the oil over the pork belly skin and sprinkle over salt. Place into the middle of the oven and roast for 30 minutes. Turn heat down to 160℃ and continue to cook for 2 hours to slowly cook the pork meat. Then, to finish, turn the oven up to the highest grill setting and continue cooking for 2-4 minutes until skin has turned to crackling – you may need to use tongs to rotate the pork a few times to brown all sides evenly. 

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes, before carving.