1 more sleep before Christmas. How are you all doing? I’ve had the most amazing weekend with my family. Apart from a lovely Christmas party hosted by the Day Care centre that my boys go to, we did a bit of touring around the city. We came back really late on Saturday night after watching the fireworks display around Cockle Bay, Darling Harbour which was transformed into the most amazing Christmas wonderland I’ve ever seen. The kids loved the 21 large inflatable Santas bobbing about in the waters. I was not surprised to see the number of people gathered around the foreshores, hours ahead in time with family and food. What else would you need sitting by the waters, amidst twinkling fairy lights, carols in the background, watching the sun set in the horizon..? Your camera of course! I could see a lot of people placing themselves with tripods at vantage points, none of which was possible at my end with two impatient little boys.

The first round of fireworks took off exactly at 9 pm. It was beautiful, though I had seen better…during the International Fleet review that took place this year. I heaved a huge sigh of relief that this year no one was scared and they rather enjoyed the colourful display above. We got up immediately after the first round and walked over to Martin’s Place, another iconic location in Sydney to see the mammoth ‘Tree of Brightness’. Though tired and hungry the boys didn’t mind the walk at all. The streets looked so dressed up and totally festive. The highlight of this Christmas tree, other than it’s size and decoration was it’s interactive nature. Send a festive text to the tree and you will see your message travel up the branches of the tree for everyone to see. That was fun!

On Friday afternoon, I made these beignets to take a break from sweets. Sweets only. Not calories! They have cheese in them and taste so so good. These beignets are pretty easy to put together and the batter can be made a few hours in advance. Fry them when you want to eat them. I served them with a sweet chilli dipping sauce. I thought they tasted great with a slightly sweet-hot accompaniment. Another reason I’ve been wanting to make them was to use chives from my chives plant, a recent addition to my herb garden. You could substitute with finely chopped parsley or mint.

The batter as you can see is choux pastry. I love using this batter in both sweet and savory dishes. It is really a versatile batter. And results in crispy, light, puffed up fritters. This makes for a delicious bite-sized canapé made up of regular pantry ingredients. No elaborate shopping required.

Merry Christmas to all my lovely readers and their families! With part of my baking and cooking equipment packed away in boxes, I doubt if I will get to post anything again this week. But I hope to catch you before the New Year.

 

Cheddar and Chive Beignets (adapted with variation from Great British Chefs)
Serves 6

50 g butter
150 ml water
1 tsp sugar
2/3 cup plain flour
50g of mature cheddar, finely grated
a handful of chives, finely chopped
2 eggs, beaten
sunflower oil, for deep-frying
salt and pepper to taste

Place the butter, water and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and add the flour, beating well until you have a smooth ball of paste that has left the sides of the saucepan. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheddar and finely chopped chives, followed by the eggs, one at a time, beating all the time until you have a smooth paste. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
Fill another heavy-based pan one-third full with sunflower oil and place over a moderate heat.

Using two spoons, add spoonfuls of the pastry to the pan – take care not to overcrowd the pan. Fry for about 5 minutes or until they are nicely browned and have risen to the surface of the oil. Remove the beignets with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper and keep warm while you fry the rest of the pastry. Grate more cheese over the beignets while they are still warm. Serve with sweet chilli sauce or tomato ketchup.