White Christmas

Method

Pistachio Praline Method

1. Lightly roast pistachios in 150?C oven for 7 minutes, leave in oven with door slightly open to keep warm.
2. Make a dry caramel by adding around a third of your sugar to a cool pan and turning it to a medium heat. As the sugar begins to caramelise, continuously stir and very slowly add all of your sugar until you create a dark, smooth caramel. Add the warm pistachios, stirring quickly to ensure they are coated.
3. Once coated, place onto baking paper lined tray and let cool.
4. Once cooled, chop into fine pieces and place in the freezer for use in nougatine.

Blood Orange Method

1. Add water and sugar to a large saucepan, and heat to a medium heat. Stir until sugar is completely dissolved in the water. Reserve a small amount of syrup – around half a cup.
2. Add sliced blood oranges to the syrup, and simmer until very soft.
3. Once cooked, blend the blood oranges and syrup in a food processor – pass through a fine sieve if required.
4. Adjust jam with sugar syrup to correct the sweetness to your liking.
   TIP: Store any jam you have leftover – it is perfect on buttery croissants!

Nougatine Method

1. Add cream and rum to a stand mixer bowl and whip to soft peaks, set aside and clean your mixer bowl.
2. In your mixer, add egg whites and whisk until beginning to foam. Slowly add caster sugar until meringue is glossy and no sugar crystals remain.
3. Fold pistachio praline and sour cherries into meringue until well combined.
4. Fold through semi whipped cream and lastly crème fraiche.
5. To assemble the nougatine, place jam in squeezy bottle or piping bag and pipe into the bottom of your containers. For dishes such as ramekins or rings on lined paper, you only need to line around the edges with jam – you don’t want to overpower it.

To serve:
Garnish with tart berries – Stokehouse Q use freeze-dried raspberries, but you can use anything you would like. The aim is to offset the sweetness of the nougatine slightly – fresh raspberries would work well.