RECIPES FROM THE BAY

Christmas tree cookies
Ingredients
200g butter                
100g sugar                
1 egg 
½ g ginger powder            
300g flour
Method
Beat butter and sugar together. Add egg slowly to the mixer. Now add flour and ginger powder to the mixer and make dough. Keep the dough in a refrigerator. After half an hour take out the dough from the refrigerator and roll out using rolling pin. Cut the cookies with Christmas tree cutter and keep them on a baking tray. Bake them in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for 12-15 minutes. After baking, take out the cookies from the oven and enjoy.

Christmas cake
Ingredients
315g butter
315g sugar            
400g egg            
30g molasses            
450g flour            
80g almond powder        
5g baking powder        
315g raisins            
235g black raisins        
5g cinnamon powder        
Zest of 2 lemons 
Zest of 2 oranges
Method
Mix butter, sugar and eggs together using an egg beater at first. After melting the sugar, add other ingredients to the mixer and mix it by hand. Pre-heat the oven at 175 degrees. Pour the mix into the mould and bake it in the oven for 45-50 minutes. When the cake is baked, keep it to cool. When the cake is cooled, keep it on a board and decorate it with royal icing and various sweet balls, gems chocolates or other edible decoration balls. Royal icing is prepared with icing sugar, egg white and a little amount of lemon juice which are mixed together using a beater.

Hazelnut cookies
Ingredients
300g butter            
430g icing sugar            
150g egg white            
¼ tsp baking powder        
350g hazelnut powder        
560g flour                
Method
At first, beat butter and icing sugar together using a hand whisk. Add egg white slowly while beating until the mixer becomes foamy. Add baking powder, hazelnut powder and flour together in the mixer and make the cookie dough. Wrap the dough with clear film and keep it in the refrigerator for ½ an hour. After time, take out the dough from the refrigerator and peel off the clear film. Roll out the dough and cut cookies with round dice from the dough sheet.  Now, put one cookie on another, brush egg white in the middle, and then cut a circle in the middle. Now, spread natural or strawberry jelly in the circle. Follow the same way with the other cookies and bake them in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees,  for 20-25 minutes. 
Enjoy the cookies when they are cool.

Mince pie
Ingredients
200g butter            
120g sugar            
1 egg    
350g flour            
2-3 drops edible vanilla essence
100g apple pie filling            
Method 
Beat butter using an egg beater. Add egg, flour and vanilla essence to butter and keep it in the refrigerator. After an hour, take that out of the refrigerator and spread it into moulds. Add apple pie filling on top and cover with butter dough. Bake them into a pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes at 170 degree until they change the coluor into brown. Spread icing sugar on them and enjoy the pies.

Photo courtesy: Radisson Blu Chittagong Bay View