Le Creuset Christmas Recipes

Ingredients

2kg leg of lamb

100g butter, softened

8 cloves of garlic, minced

20g rosemary, picked and chopped

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

25ml olive oil

100g butter, softened

Salt

Pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C/190°C fan.  

Remove the lamb from its packaging and pat dry with paper towel. Place in a Le Creuset 29cm Signature Oval Casserole. Leave for an hour to come up to room temperature.

With a sharp knife, poke holes into the skin of the lamb, about 1 to 1 ½ cm deep. This will allow the marinade to penetrate the lamb. 

Place the softened butter into a bowl with the garlic, rosemary, lemon juice and zest, olive oil, salt and pepper and stir well to combine. Spread all over the lamb.

Place the lamb in the oven and cook for 1 hour, after 1 hour remove the lid and allow the lamb to brown for 30 minutes.

When the lamb is cooked, remove, and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes.

Carve the lamb and serve with your choice of sides.

Ingredients

For the Pastry:

500g flour

10ml salt

300g butter

2 egg yolks

14g icing sugar

30ml water

For the Filling:

1,5kg – 2kg apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

250g soft light brown sugar

10ml cinnamon

Juice of 1 lemon

60ml water

For the Crumble:

130g flour

250g butter

120g granulated sugar

150g coconut flakes

Method

For the Pastry:

Sift the flour and salt. Add the butter in and rub with your fingertips to form breadcrumbs. Add in the egg yolk and water. Gently bring together to form a dough, being careful not to overwork the pastry. Shape the pastry into a flat disk, wrap it in cling film, and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 220°C (210°C fan). Once chilled, thinly roll the pastry out between two pieces of floured baking paper and chill again in the fridge for 15 minutes. Line the Le Creuset Ovenware 33x26cm Large Rectangular Roaster.

For the Filling:

Preheat the oven to 220°C (210°C fan). Mix the apples, sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice and water. Place on top of the lined pastry in the roaster.

For the Crumble:

Rub in the flour, sugar, and butter to form crumbs, stir in the coconut flakes to create a crumble. Sprinkle the crumble on top of the apples.

Place in the oven and bake at 220°C for 30 minutes, turn the oven down to 180°C and bake for a further 45 minutes, until golden brown and the apples are cooked through.

Ingredients

For the Dough:

600g plain flour

10ml salt

55g castor sugar

15ml mixed spice

15ml cinnamon

60g butter

15ml dried yeast

375ml warm milk

Zest of 1 orange

1 egg

120g sultanas

For the white paste:

100ml cake flour

1 pinch of salt

1 pinch of baking powder

5ml sunflower oil

50ml milk

For the sugar glaze:

65ml granulated sugar

30ml lemon juice

30ml orange juice

Peel of 1 orange

Peel of 1 lemon

Method

For the dough: In the bowl of a stand-up mixer, fitted with a dough hook, sift the flour, salt, sugar and spices and rub in the butter. Add the dried yeast and mix in well. Warm the milk with the orange zest, beat in the egg. Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix on medium speed to form a sticky dough, adding more liquid if necessary. Knead until the dough has come away from the edges of the bowl and a soft, sticky dough has formed.

Place in a greased bowl and cover with a damp tea towel until doubled in size. Grease a Le Creuset 3-ply Stainless Steel 35cm Rectangular Roaster. Knockback the dough and roll out on a floured surface to form a rectangle, sprinkle over the fruit and roll up like a Swiss roll. Weigh out the dough into 20 equal pieces of approximately 60g each. Roll into evenly shaped buns. Place the buns into the roaster, cover with a damp tea towel, and prove until doubled in size. Preheat an oven to 220°C (200°C fan).

To make the white paste:

Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Rub in the oil and add enough milk to form a pipping consistency. Place into the piping bag and snip off the end to pipe the crosses onto the buns.

To bake the buns:

Place the hot cross buns on the centre shelf, then turn the temperature down to 200°C (190°fan). After 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 180°C (170° fan) and continue baking until cooked through (15-20 minutes longer). The buns must be well browned and sound hollow when tapped underneath.

For the syrup:

Dissolve the sugar and the water completely in a casserole, add the citrus peel and boil rapidly for 3 minutes to form a syrup.

For the glaze:

Glaze the buns generously with the syrup immediately after coming out of the oven. Allow to cool for ten minutes and turn out of the roaster. Serve hot with butter.