A Berry Royal Christmas

A Berry Royal Christmas: This one-off treat offers a unique look into charities that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge support. Mary Berry accompanies them on four special visits. Throughout the programme Mary also cooks some of her favourite Christmas recipes for viewers to try out at home, as she helps prepare the festive food for a very royal event to thank all those working and volunteering over the Christmas period.

The Duchess of Cambridge and Mary travel to Liverpool to visit The Brink, the UK’s first dry bar set up by Action on Addiction to provide a safe space for people who are suffering from addiction.

A Berry Royal Christmas

The Duke of Cambridge and Mary visit The Passage, which is London’s largest resource centre for homeless and insecurely housed people. Along the way they meet the inspiring people whose lives have been changed by the help and support these charities provide, especially at Christmas time. Mary also joins the Duchess of Cambridge behind the scenes at RHS Wisley to learn more about the importance of the early years in raising the next generation of happy, healthy children.

This special programme culminates in a Christmas party, hosted by the duke and duchess and features some surprise guests, including Nadiya Hussain who helps Mary Berry with the festive food. The party is to thank and acknowledge staff and volunteers from charities and organisations who will be working tirelessly over the Christmas period. Mary has designed the Christmas menu, and the duke and duchess even get involved with some of the party prep.

A Berry Royal Christmas recipes:

Vegetable Thai curry

Packed with vegetables, Mary Berry’s Thai curry uses ready-made paste for ease and speed. Serve with rice.

Method

• Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. Tip in the shallots, chilli, garlic and ginger and fry for 2 minutes.
• Add the Thai paste and sweet potato and stir until well combined. Add the coconut milk and lemongrass and stir well. Bring to the boil, then cover with a lid, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Add the cauliflower and aubergine and continue to simmer for another 5–10 minutes until all the vegetables are just soft.
• Remove the lemongrass and discard. Stir in the fish sauce, sweet chilli sauce, lemon juice and half the coriander. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Serve with boiled rice and the remaining coriander scattered over.

Mary Berry’s beef stew

A warming beef stew flavoured with ginger, paprika and horseradish. It’s lovely with dauphinoise potatoes and green vegetables.

Method

• Heat the oil in a large ovenproof pan and fry the meat over high heat until browned all over. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 160C/140C Fan/Gas 3.
• Add the butter and leeks to the unwashed pan, and fry for a few minutes. Sprinkle in the ginger, paprika and flour, stir and cook for a minute. Stir in the stock and bring to the boil, stirring until thickened. Add Worcestershire sauce and season with salt and pepper. Return the meat to the pan, bring to the boil, cover with a lid and simmer for a few minutes.
• Transfer to the oven and cook for about 1¾–2 hours. After this time, stir in the celeriac, bring back to the boil for a few minutes then return to the oven for about 30 minutes, until the meat and celeriac are tender.
• Stir in the horseradish cream, sprinkle with parsley and serve at once.

Beetroot and chocolate cake with feathered icing

Mary Berry’s chocolate traybake includes grated beetroot which makes for a beautifully moist, sweet cake. It’s topped with a chocolate feathered icing – which looks impressive, but is so easy to do.

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180C/160CFan/Gas 4. Grease and line a 30x23cm/12x9in baking tin with baking paper.
• Break the eggs into a large mixing bowl. Add the cocoa, flour, baking powder and sugar. Stir a little using a wooden spoon then gradually mix in the oil and beat until combined to give a thick batter. Once smooth, stir in the grated beetroot.
• Spoon into the prepared tin and bake for about 35 minutes, or until risen and springy to the touch. Remove and set aside to cool before icing.
• To make the icing, place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Add the cream and place the bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water (do not allow the water to touch the bowl). Stir until the chocolate is melted, smooth and glossy. Leave to cool a little so that it is a thick pouring consistency (this won’t take long depending on room temperature). Pour the icing over the cold cake and spread it out to cover the top of the cake completely.
• To decorate, melt the white chocolate in a small bowl set over a saucepan of hot water. Spoon into a small piping bag fitted with a fine nozzle or a small food bag with a tiny corner snipped off. Pipe the chocolate in parallel lines across the cake, about 2cm/¾in apart. Using a cocktail stick, drag through the white chocolate in opposite directions across the cake to give a feathered effect. Allow the chocolate to set a little before cutting into 12 small squares.

Mary Berry’s stained glass window biscuits – A Berry Royal Christmas recipe

Christmas biscuits look so pretty hung on the tree with their stained glass window centre twinkling in the light.

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Line two baking sheets with baking paper.
• Place the butter, flour and sugar in a food processor and pulse until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the vanilla and beaten egg and pulse until it forms a smooth dough.
• Using a rolling pin, roll out on a lightly floured work surface until the dough is about 5mm/¼in thick. Use your large cutter to cut out the shapes. Then use a small cutter to remove the middle (where the ‘glass’ will sit). If you don’t have any small cutters you can cut the middle out by hand, leaving about 1cm/½in of biscuit around the edge. Use a cocktail stick or skewer to make small holes if you want to hang them by thread or ribbon. Re-roll any scraps of dough to make more biscuits. Arrange on the prepared baking sheets and chill in the fridge for 10 minutes.
• Separate the sweets into their colours and put them in plastic bags (one colour in each bag). Crush using a rolling pin until broken into fine grains. Sprinkle these grains in the middle of each biscuit in a generous layer that covers the hole. You can stick to one colour per biscuit or create a rainbow effect by mixing the colours.
• Bake for about 15–18 minutes or until the biscuit is a pale golden brown and the sweets have melted. Leave to stand on the trays for about 5 minutes, or until firm enough to move. Carefully transfer to a cooling rack and leave to cool and firm up.