Season’s cheatings: baking easy party pieces

Preparing a festive spread can really take the merry out of merrymaking – dodge the stress with celebratory bakes that are easy to prepare but impressive enough to place before guests

Perfect party food without the pressure: a clementine and pine nut couronne (left) and cheese and chive scone bites. Photograph: Jill Mead/Guardian

It’s in party season that our pride most swells and suffers: the anticipation of great spreads of salads and trays laden with canapes served with superlative hosting skills collapses when the souffles sink and the soup goes cold.

My flatmates and I hosted a party a couple of weeks ago where, for the first hour of the gathering, and with our guests in limbo in the front room, we were still scrambling to piece together a spread. The result wasn’t the “rustic Iranian feast” we’d envisaged but a duo of wilted salads and two bowls of crisps, and guests trickled in to the smell of burning and spilt wine. It’s a cautionary tale. Don’t bite off more than you can chew this festive season. Here are a couple of simple bakes: easy to prepare, no fuss to serve, but impressive nonetheless.

Clementine and pine nut couronne

This fragrant, orange-glazed crown is a fine centrepiece for a celebration, and despite its intricate layering, not too difficult to make and shape. Just have a pair of helping hands join in when it comes to the delicate plaiting stage and you’ll have no problems.

Makes one large couronne, serving 8–10
320g strong white flour
7g instant dried yeast
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp soft light-brown sugar

 

 

200ml whole milk, lukewarm
1 tsp vanilla extract
Zest of 2 clementines
30g unsalted butter, softened

For the filling
60g unsalted butter, softened
75g soft light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Zest of 3 clementines
A pinch of salt
75g pine nuts, toasted in the oven at 180C/350F/gas mark 4 for 5-7 minutes, until darkened a shade

To glaze
100g icing sugar
1-2 tbsp clementine juice

1 Combine the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Whisk the milk, vanilla extract and zest together then add this mixture to the dry ingredients along with the butter. Mix well then tip the dough on to a clean surface and knead lightly for a couple of minutes – just until it’s slightly smoother and less sticky. It’s best not to knead this dough too much as this makes it harder to roll it out later. Return the dough to the mixing bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to rise at room temperature until doubled in size – about 1–1½ hours.

2 Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Beat the butter with the sugar, vanilla extract, zest and salt until spreadable and perfectly smooth.

3 Roll the risen dough out to a rectangle about 45x20cm on a floured work surface. The dough might shrink back as you roll it, but just persevere until it stays at the right size. Spread the filling mixture thinly over the dough then scatter with the toasted pine nuts. Roll up tightly from long edge to long edge, to create a roll of dough about 45cm long.

A (moving) picture is worth a thousand words: step 4.

4 It can be helpful to have an extra pair of helping hands ready at this tricky stage. First transfer the roll of dough to a large baking tray. Using a sharp knife, cut right through the dough along the length of the roll, almost completely halving it but stopping just before one end, to leave the two halves barely attached. Now, keeping the cut sides of the dough strands facing upwards at all times to keep the filling inside as it bakes, cross the strands alternately over one another, starting at the end where they join. Repeat until the two strands are plaited along their entire length, with the cut sides facing upwards throughout. Curve this plait round into a circle shape. Don’t worry if the strands splay open a little as you work – just press them back into shape. Cut through the final piece of dough where the two strands were still joined and attach to the other end of the loop, pressing gently to secure the dough into a continuous circle.

5 Leave the dough to prove at room temperature for 45–60 minutes, or until around 1½ times its original size. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4 while you wait. Bake the risen couronne for 30 minutes in the preheated oven until golden and fragrant. Leave to cool completely on its tray.

6 Whisk the icing sugar with enough clementine juice to give an icing just thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle all over the cooled couronne.

Cheese and chive scone bites

These are smaller than normal scones, and so rich with molten cheese that there’s no need to split them or bother with the hassle of providing knives, butter and condiments. Just serve them as they are, still warm from the oven and enjoy in a couple of quick, greedy bites.

Makes 24-30
40g butter
300g plain flour
4 tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
150g cheddar, coarsely grated
50g parmesan, finely grated
25g chives, finely chopped
150ml milk
2 tsp dijon mustard
1 egg, lightly beaten, to glaze

1 Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Rub the butter into the flour until no visible chunks of butter remain. Stir in the baking powder, salt, cheeses and chives. In a separate bowl, whisk the milk and mustard together then add this to the dry ingredients. Mix gently together – you want to avoid kneading the dough or working it any more than is necessary, otherwise the dough will toughen and the resulting scones will be heavy.

2 As soon as the ingredients come together to form a shaggy, slightly sticky dough, stop mixing. Tip the dough out on to a well-floured work surface and pat it gently to 2cm thick. Use a small round pastry cutter – no bigger than 4cm diameter – to cut circles out. Dust the pastry cutter with flour ifyou find it sticking to the dough. Gather offcuts, lightly pat together and repeat.

3 Arrange the dough circles over a couple of baking trays. Brush the tops of the scones with a little egg wash, taking care not to let the glaze run down the sides. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. When done, the scones should be well-risen, golden and firm to the touch. Leave to cool and firm for 10 minutes or so. Best eaten while still slightly warm from the oven.