Dietary: Vegetarian

We’ve partnered with the wonderful Ravneet Gill to create this extraordinary Christmas cheesecake, here’s how it’s done.

  1. Start by making the base…
  2. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or in a food processor combine all of the dry ingredients and mix well, add in the cold cubed butter and breadcrumb.
  3. Add the golden syrup and mix until a very loose dough is formed.
  4. Spread this mixture out onto a large baking tray lined with parchment.
  5. Bake for 35-40 mins at 160 fan/180 oven, stirring every 15 minutes to evenly bake the dough.
  6. Allow to cool completely before blitzing to crumbs or breaking up with a rolling pin.
  7. Weigh out 250g of crumbs and stir with the melted butter.
  8. Press into a lined 8 inch springform cake tin going on the bottom and slightly up the sides.
  9. Place in the fridge whilst you make the filling

Make the topping:

  1. In a large bowl or in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese, caster sugar, mascarpone and half of the double cream.
  2. Mix until well combined but do not over mix.
  3. Add in the malt powder, salt and melted white chocolate with the second ½ of the cream.
  4. Mix slowly until combined, do not over mix.
  5. Spoon this mixture into the lined cake tin and smooth the top.
  6. Chill for 6 hours in the fridge or overnight before serving.

Make the chocolate sauce for serving (optional):

  1. In a saucepan combine the chocolate and the water, stir gently over a medium heat until a sauce forms. Serve the cheesecake with the sauce and extra cookie crumbs.

This take on a classic gin sour uses Pink Marmalade gin alongside the zesty and citrus flavours of Cointreau, lemon and Campari. When served in a beautiful couple glass with edible flavours it makes an elegant cocktail for entertaining guests.

  1. Add all the ingredients apart from the ice into a shaker and shake vigorously for a few minutes. Then add the ice and shake again for a few minutes.

2. Strain into a chilled coupe glass, making sure to tap out all the frothy egg white. Top the glass with a few drops of angostura bitters and garnish with edible flowers.

Let’s give the classic beef wellington a ‘vegetal’ twist this year with our delicious beetroot and chestnut filling!

The traditional beef wellington is a type of beef joint pasty, made out of fillet steak, coated with pate and duxelles and then wrapped in puff pastry before being baked. Many historians believed the dish is named after Arthur Wellesley, who was the 1st Duke of Wellington.

Beetroot is the main component for our wellington, giving it a deliciously sweet and earthy flavour. We pair the beetroot with a bundle of chestnut mushrooms, lentils and butternut squash to give a gloriously nutty undertone to the dish. Once combined and wrapped together with a beautiful crisp pastry, your wellington will be the perfect centrepiece for Christmas.

If you want to take out the beetroot component, we offer a wonderful Butternut and Mushroom Wellington, which both equally looks impressive in colour and flavour! We recommend serving either wellingtons with our mouthwateringly good hasselback potatoes and lemon & honey glazed carrots.

  1. Preheat oven to 180C / 356F / Gas Mark 4
  2. Begin with the butternut squash. Place the diced squash onto a baking tray and drizzle with some oil, Maldon salt and cracked black pepper. Place into the oven and roast for 20 minutes until soft and cooked through.
  3. Meanwhile, in a large frying pan heat 1 tbsp oil. Once the oil is hot, add the diced onion and fry gently for 5 minutes until softened. To the softened onions, add the crushed garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes. Next add the chopped chestnut mushrooms and continue to cook these for 5 – 8 minutes until the mushrooms have softened and beginning to caramelize.
  4. Once the mushrooms are cooked, add the chopped sage and thyme leaves, followed by the cooked puy lentils and double cream. Allow this to fry and cook for 3 minutes, mixing well so everything is well combined. Remove from the heat and add the crumbled cooked chestnuts, Maldon Salt, cracked black pepper and the cooked butternut squash. Set aside and allow to cool.
  5. Once the mixture has cooled, you are ready to assemble.
  6. On a lightly floured surface roll out the puff pastry block until it is a roughly 30 x 40cm rectangle and 1cm thick. At this stage you want to carefully lift the rolled pastry onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Next spoon on the cooled filling and spread out evenly, leaving a 1-inch boarder along the top and 1cm board round all the rest of the edges. Next take the cooked beetroot and make sure they are dry of any excess liquid. Choose beetroot that are similar in size and place them in a row down the middle.
  7. Take one of the long sides and lift it up and over the beetroot to enclose them. Pinch the pastry together at the seams and rest the whole wellington seam side down. Pinch the pastry at either end of the wellington also, and trim off any excess.
  8. Use the excess pastry to create long strips and decorate the top of the wellington with a lattice pattern (optional). And brush the entire thing with the beaten egg.
  9. Place the wellington into the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes (but the longer, the better) to cool.
  10. When ready to bake, take your chilled wellington from the fridge and place into the preheated oven. Bake for 40 – 45 minutes until the pastry is golden and crisp all over.
  11. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

How to avoid your wellington becoming soggy?

The pastry base of your wellington may become soggy from the juices of the beetroots and mushrooms dripping down to the base when cooking.

To avoid this from happening, make sure that the beetroots and chestnut mushrooms are cooked until all of the liquid has evaporated. You can do this by chopping the vegetables finely and fry until dry. Equally, you can blot the veg with kitchen paper to ensure any further water is taken out.

What sauce goes well with a wellington?

A red wine sauce goes beautifully well with a wellington! You should add a handful of minced shallots to a red wine, slowly cooking on low heat until it is reduced by two thirds. Once reduced to a desired consistency, you can strain and discard of the shallots, leaving a beautiful red wine sauce to be served.

This recipe takes the traditional trifle but gives it a Christmassy twist with additions of clementine’s, cardamom, amaretto and pistachio. Not only does it taste amazing, but it makes for a show stopping dessert at your Christmas table.

Begin by making your custard. In a large bowl whisk together the egg yolks with the golden caster sugar until pale and thickened. Then add the cornflour and mix again. In a saucepan, heat the 450ml whole milk, 250ml double cream, 6 based cardamom pods and the vanilla bean paste gently until it reaches scalding point. Then remove from the heat and pour gradually into the egg mixture through a sieve to catch the cardamom pods, whisking as you go until all the milk and cream is added and you have a smooth mixture. Clean out the saucepan and the pour the custard back in. Place it onto the heat once more and gently heat over a low flame, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon or spatula until the custard has thickened.

Remove the custard from the heat and pour into a bowl. Use clingfilm to close cover the surface of the custard – this will stop it from creating a skin – and place into the fridge to cool.

You will need a large trifle dish to assemble your dessert. Start with the clementine’s, peel them and cut into rounds roughly 1cm thick. Place the slices of clementine around the bottom of the trifle dish so they stand up against the sides. Next take the slices of madeira cake and place into the bottom of the dish (these can be used to help stand the clementine slices up) and keep layering up until you have used all the cake.

Next you want to drizzle the madeira cake layer with the 3 tbsp amaretto. The next layer is the custard. Remove the cooled custard from the fridge and pour this over the cake layer.

Finally add the 600ml double cream to a large bowl and add the icing sugar and a pinch of Maldon salt, then either using a balloon whisk or an electric whisk whip the cream until it starts to form soft peaks. Add the 60ml amaretto and whisk again – ensuring not to over whisk – you want medium peaks that aren’t too stiff.

Spoon the cream over the custard layer and use the back of your spoon to create soft peaks in the top. Decorate the top of the trifle with crushed amaretti biscuits, chopped pistachios, physalis fruit and gold leaf, if desired. Serve.

These sweet festive cookies are a wonderful treat to gift to friends and are great fun to make with children. They are spiced with the Christmas flavours of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves and then iced with pretty patterns to decorate. The cookies should last in an airtight container for 1 week.

Using an electric whisk or stand mixer, start by creaming together the butter and brown sugar (ensure your butter is softened to room temperature before you attempt to do this). Once the mixture is pale and fluffy add the molasses and vanilla extract and mix again.

 In a separate bowl mix together the dry ingredients; the plain flour, Maldon salt, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. Add the dry ingredients into the butter mixture in stages and then mix until it forms a soft dough. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 170C.

After the dough has chilled, remove it from the fridge and on a lightly floured surface roll out the dough until it is roughly ½ cm thick. Use any cutters you like to cut out shapes – gingerbread men, stars, Christmas trees, candy canes – have fun with it! Place the biscuits onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, keeping the biscuits a few cm’s apart (you may need to do this across a couple of trays). Put the trays into the preheated oven and bake for 14 – 15 minutes until the biscuits are slightly darker and baked through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before lifting onto a wire rack to cool fully.

To make the icing place the 500g icing sugar into a bowl and add 1 tbsp water, mix until it forms a paste. Keep adding a small amount of water at a time till you reach your desired consistency. You want the icing to still be thick enough to pipe and hold its shape. Once you have the correct consistency, pour the icing into a piping bag with a small nozzle attachment and decorate the cooled biscuits anyway you like.

Here is a classic Whiskey Sour recipe. A whiskey sour consists of malt whiskey, lemon juice, sugar syrup and egg white. Traditionally garnished with a glace cherry, this version uses a fresh cherry instead to nod towards Summer.

  1. In a cocktail shaker add the malt whiskey, lemon juice, Maldon Salt, sugar syrup and egg white.
  2. Fill the shaker with ice and shake well for 1 – 2 minutes. Fill a small rocks glass with ice and then strain the cocktail over.
  3. Garnish with a slice of orange and a fresh cherry on a cocktail stick.
  4. Finally add a couple of dashes of angostura bitters.

A salty dog is known to date back to the 1920s and consists of salt, gin and grapefruit juice – if you omit the salt rim then it is known as a Greyhound. It is refreshing, classic and simple.

Place the Maldon salt onto a small, flat plate. Run some of the fresh grapefruit around the rim of a tall highball glass. Turn the glass upside down into the salt and turn it so the salt sticks to the edge of the rim.

Carefully fill the glass with ice. Pour in the Tanqueray Gin and then fill the glass with the grapefruit juice, gently stir. Garnish with a slice of fresh pink grapefruit.

This risotto is a wonderful combination of earthy beetroot, salty blue cheese and nutty walnuts. The beetroot dyes the whole dish a beautiful pink colour making it a treat for the eyes as well as the tastebuds.

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Place each beetroot onto a piece of foil, drizzle with oil and wrap each individually. Then place them onto a baking tray and into the preheated oven, roast them for 30 minutes until soft and tender.

Whilst the beetroot is roasting you can start the risotto. In a large wide frying pan heat the olive oil and 30g of butter. When the butter is melted and foaming add the finely chopped onions along with a pinch of Maldon salt. Allow the onions to cook over a gently heat until soft and translucent. After they have softened, add the garlic and fry for an additional 2 minutes.

Next add the arborio rice and stir so all the grains are well coated in the onions. Fry for 2 minutes and then add the red wine, allowing the wine to bubble and be absorbed by the rice. Once the wine is absorbed begin adding the hot vegetable stock a ladle at a time, allowing each addition to be absorbed by the rice before adding the next. The rice should be tender but still with a little bite.

Once the beetroot has roasted, remove from the oven and unwrap the foil to allow them to cool slightly. Once cool enough to handle carefully peel away the skins (you might want to wear gloves for this as they can stain your hands). Once peeled, roughly chop 3 of the beetroot and place in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth and pureed. Chop the other two beetroot into a small dice.

Pour the pureed beetroot into the risotto and stir through, it will turn it a brilliant pink colour. Next add the diced beetroot and stir through. Check the seasoning of the risotto and add a generous pinch of Maldon salt and some cracked black pepper. Finally add the 10g butter at the end and melt through to give a creamy and glossy texture.

Divide the risotto among 4 plates and then top with the crumbled blue cheese, toasted walnuts and thyme leaves. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and a final sprinkle of Maldon salt.

A cheesecake which celebrates the beautiful fresh figs in season at this time of year. Using yoghurt in the filling makes it creamy but without being overly sweet too.

Start by making the base for the cheesecake. In a small pan, gently melt the 65g butter. Place the hobnobs and Maldon salt into a food processor and blitz until they resemble sand. Drizzle in the melted butter and blitz again until it resembles wet sand.

In a 20cm round cake tin tip the buttery biscuit crumb into the base and then press and pack it in firmly. Set this in the fridge for an hour until it hardens up.

In a large bowl, use electric beaters to mix together the yoghurt, cream cheese, icing sugar and lemon zest until smooth and creamy. Top this onto the chilled biscuit base and place back into the fridge for an additional hour to firm up.

When ready to serve, carefully remove the cheesecake from the tin and place on a serving plate. Top with the halved figs, some thyme sprigs and a drizzle of honey. Finally finish with a final small pinch of Maldon salt to cut through the sweet honey. Serve immediately.

A paloma consists of grapefruit juice, tequila and lime. This one has the addition of Rosemary Syrup which adds a beautiful freshness to the cocktail. It is so simple and quick to make and you can store the syrup in the fridge for 1 week.

Start by making the rosemary sugar syrup. In a small pan add the granulated sugar and water along with the 4 rosemary sprigs. Bring to the boil and allow it to gently bubble until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow to cool before storing in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to use.

To make the cocktails start with the salt rim. Pour the Maldon salt onto a small, flat plate. Take 2 tumbler glasses and run a lime wedge around the rim. One at a time, turn the glasses upside down in the salt and turn them so the salt sticks to the rim. Set aside.

In a cocktail shaker add the Villa Ascenti gin with the grapefruit juice, rosemary sugar syrup and lime juice. Fill the shaker with ice and shake well for 1 minute. Fill the glasses carefully with ice and then pour in the cocktail from the shaker. Top each glass up with sparkling water and then garnish with a final sprig of rosemary.