Mary Berry's Ultimate Christmas

(upbeat music) -

Instructor

You can make my mini cheese, and herb scones nice and early, because the base can be cooked ahead and frozen. This is one of my favorite canapes. And I can tell you I've made one or two in my time. I like to serve canapes before the Christmas meal. Much easier than having a first course. It's informal, and it's fun. Into the bowl, one cup of self-rising flour. Because it's a scone mixture, it needs to rise a little bit more, than say pastry. So you add a little extra baking powder. So half a teaspoon. In it goes. An eighth of a cup of butter. So just rub that in, with the fingertips as lightly as I can. It should look like bread crumbs. Now to add flavor, some wonderfully aromatic sage. These canapes are really tiny, so you've really got to pack the flavor in. 'Cause you're only going to have a small mouthful. For some bite, half a cup of finely grated Parmesan. Just testing. These are ready to be added to the flour and butter mix, along with an essential ingredient of mine, mustard powder. You know mustard really does bring out the flavor of cheese. If I'm making something like cheese straws, I would never forget to put a little mustard in it. I'm just going to mix that together. Little bit of pepper and salt. All I've got to do now is to bring it all together. One egg, a couple of tablespoons of milk, and a little bit of elbow grease is all it takes. So there it's come together, really well. Clear the decks and give the dough a light knead. Not a lot, just get these cracks out. You handle it a lot, it'll be tough. Roll it out. I love the flex of that fresh herb. Now you need a little cutter. Mine is one inch, which should make, about 35 of these mini scones. And pop them straight onto a lined baking tray. Ready for the oven. I've been married for 54 years. I've cooked an awful lot of Christmas dinners, and the one thing I've learned is, get ahead and there's no panic at the end. They look like little soldiers, don't they? I always brush the tops of my scones with beaten egg for a lovely golden shine. Now those go straight away into the oven. They want to be risen, and golden brown. I think those scones look absolutely beautiful. Cut in half, for a nice smooth finish. Then top with a generous layer of rich blue cheese. And remember, we put Parmesan in, so you are getting double whack. Very rich, very delicious, and a real treat. About three more minutes in the oven to melt the cheese. And they're ready. Now the finishing touch. Give these mini morsels a festive finesse. A little cranberry and parsley will finish them off. Don't they look good? I certainly wouldn't be satisfied with just one. They're very, very, good. My blue cheese and cranberry mini scones, assure to get my Christmas meal, off with a bang. (bottle popping) (people exclaiming) (laughing) -

All

Merry Christmas! I thought you were good at this. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Lovely to see you. Are you feeling hungry? These look lovely. They are so good. So good mum. That's Christmas. Thank you. In a canape, but sweet and cheesy just like me. (laughing) You said it sweetheart, you said it. Yeah, no one else. (laughing) (Christmas theme music ends)