A little bit of festive cooking from Alastair Hendy's Christmas House

var linkwithin_site_id = 519459; After a trip to Hastings, I recently wrote about my visit to Alastair Hendy’s Home Store and Christmas House. You can see the post here or read a condensed version below.

Food writer and stylist Alastair Hendy has created a Tudor escape in the middle of Hastings’ Old Town. The Christmas House, or 135 All Saints Street, is one of the most complete Tudor houses in Hastings. Hendy has meticulously stripped it back to its original form, transforming the former town mortuary into a cosy haven of open log fireplaces and traditional enclosed wooden beds. Stepping into the low door, you really are taken back in time. For fives pounds entry fee, you get to see this lovingly restored project, plus a little tumbler of spiced mulled wine in the kitchen.

The house is also the setting of Hendy’s fairytale, The Elves & The Baker, which is beautifully illustrated in an accompanying Christmas House storybook given on entry. And now that it is Christmas eve, I have set myself the task of cooking a couple of his delicious-looking recipes. I had alot to choose from- mulled fruit and nut christmas chocolate bars, almond and cherry sugar hearts, flowerpot baked ginger cakes and advent pretzels. I decided to go for the Chocolate, Hazelnut and Cinnamon Kugelhupf, Almond and Cherry Sugar Hearts (in my case stars) and Honey & Ginger Pears in Brandy.

Here is the recipe for the Almond & Cherry Sugar Hearts, they’re delicious but very sweet:

Makes 6 large heart biscuits, or if you had a star cutter like me, about 50 small stars!

300g ground almonds

350g caster sugar

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

1 tsp almond extract

2 egg whites, beaten until just foamy

1 tbsp clear honey

icing sugar, to serve,

1 x 100g tub candied cherries, halved

Mix together the ground almonds with the sugar thoroughly, then mix in the lemon zest, almond extract (I actually used vanilla extract), egg whites and honey until it forms a dough (a very sticky, crumbly dough- don’t be afraid to get your hands messy). Dust the work top with icing sugar and roll out until about 2cm thick, then stamp out a series of heart shapes. Line a tray with baking parchment, dust with a layer of icing sugar and place the hearts on top. Stud each with candied cherry halves. Bake for about 20 minutes in a 180C oven on the lower shelf without browning. They should remain slightly soft and gooey inside. Store in a cool place in an air-tight tin. Serve on a snowdrift of icing sugar.

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