Put the figs and 150ml water in a large heavy based saucepan. Bring to a simmer and gently bubble for 5 mins or until the figs have softened and released their juices. Add the orange zest, sugar and lemon juice. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring regularly for around 5-7 mins or until thick, skimming off any skum that rises to the surface. Remove from the heat and leave to sit for 10 mins.

Ladle the mixture into sterilised jars. Seal with the lids and leave to cool completely. Will keep for six months unopened and 2 weeks in the fridge once opened.

Tip the flour, yeast and salt into a large bowl and mix together with your hands. Stir 300ml hand-hot water with the oil and honey, then stir into the dry ingredients to make a soft dough. 
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 mins, until the dough no longer feels sticky, sprinkling with a little more flour if you need it.
Oil a 900g loaf tin and put the dough in the tin, pressing it in evenly. Put in a large plastic food bag and leave to rise for 1 hr, until the dough has risen to fill the tin and it no longer springs back when you press it with your finger.
Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Make several slashes across the top of the loaf with a sharp knife, then bake for 30-35 mins until the loaf is risen and golden. Tip it out onto a cooling rack and tap the base of the bread to check it is cooked. It should sound hollow. Leave to cool.

Peel the pears and slice the bottom part so that the fruit can stand. Place in a small pan and add the wine and the cloves. Top up with the water enough that the pears are submerged in liquid. Place on low flame and simmer until pears are cooked. When ready, place in a separate dish. The fruit can be eaten warm as well as cold. Great to be served with some light yogurt.

Chicken Filling – Cook some chicken breast and cut into small pieces. Add some mayonnaise, some soft cheese, fresh parsley, salt and pepper and mix well.

Tuna – Drain 2 large cans of tuna. Place in a food processer with a small onion, one garlic clove and a ¼ of a green pepper. Blend well. If need you may add 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

Olive and Feta Cheese – in a blender add 6 tbsp Three Hills Kunserva, 50g black olives, 30g capers and 50g feta cheese. Blend well. You may add some olive oil, or preferably extra virgin olive oil.

This is a super easy recipe and it look nice 😉However it is important that the grissini sticks are long and not broken. Also, choose good quality Italian ham known as Parma ham.

Slice each piece of ham in half and rotate it around the grissini stick. Be careful not to break any.

These party Bouchées are identical to vol au vents but much smaller. The term vol-au-vent means ‘fly with the wind” and for this reason puff pastry, a very light form of flaky pastry, needs to be used.

Filling for Party Bouchées

Ideally, it is best to prepare a basic filling, which you may separate into different bowls, and then add different ingredients and seasonings. This will give you a variety of pasty-filled boats. Do not overfill these bite-sized pastries as these pastries are normally eaten by hand and the filling may spill out of them.

Basic filling:

Place a tub of cream cheese into a bowl. Add some Hanini Creamylight, two hard-boiled eggs, cut into very small pieces, and season with salt and pepper. Mix well until it creates a homogeneous paste.

Varieties of fillings:

Tomato: Peel and cut tomatoes into very small pieces, Add to the basic mixture with a teaspoon of mustard. Mix well. Fill the pastries with the filling and garnish with tomato pieces on top.

Shrimp: Squeeze the juice of a lemon to the basic filling. Mix well. Fill the pastries with this filling and garnish with shrimps and a sliver of lemon on the top. If using frozen shrimps, follow the instructions on the packet.

Salmon: Fill the bouchées with the basic mixture. Cut the smoked salmon into very small pieces and garnish the pastry boats with a slice of lemon or caviar

Tuna: Drain the canned tuna. Mash the tuna and add to the basic filling recipe. Drizzle some drops of Pinto’s Sweet Chilli Sauce or Red Hot Sauce and mix well.

Mushrooms: Finely chop the mushrooms. In a pan melt a spoonful of butter and cook the mushrooms in the butter. Allow to cool. Add the mushrooms to the basic recipe and add some finely chopped parsley. Mix well and fill the pastry with the mixture.

Chicken: Cook the chicken and finely chop. Add to the basic filling recipe and add a spoonful of Mayor Tomato Ketchup. Mix well and fill the party bouchées.

Sift the flour in a large bowl, add the salt, sugar and yeast and amalgamate together well. Add the milk to the mixture. For best results, make sure the milk is warm, not hot! Knead the pastry dough well enough to get a highly smooth texture, and form into a ball. Place the dough in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Leave the bowl in a warm place and allow to rest for around 2 hours or until the dough doubles in size. Sprinkle some flour on a smooth clean surface. Knead the dough again with the palm of your hand and place again In the bowl. Cover again with the damp cloth and place in a warm place until it rises again. The rising process takes less time this time but this step will reduce the taste of the yeast. At this stage you may freeze the focaccia dough in a plastic bag, compressing it as much as possible and place in freezer. The dough will freeze well for up to 3 months. This recipe will produce approx. 800g of dough. Before cooking top up with your favourite toppings.

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until roughly ½cm thick. Use an 8-10cm round biscuit cutter to stamp out as many discs as you can, then reroll the offcuts and cut out more, using up as much of the pastry as possible.
Spoon 1 tbsp mincemeat into the middles of half the pastry discs. Stamp out small stars (or other festive shapes) from the middles of half of the remaining pastry discs and set aside.
Beat the egg and brush lightly around the edge of each mincemeat-topped pastry disc. Place the lids on top – some with the stamped-out stars and some without. Brush a little egg wash over each pie, then stick the leftover stars on top of the plain pastry pies. Brush the stars with egg wash, too. Poke a little hole in the top of the covered pies to let steam escape during cooking.
Either use a fork to seal the edges of the pies by pressing around the edge, or make a small, neat crimp by pinching with your fingers. Arrange the pies on a plate or baking tray and chill for at least 30 mins. Will keep frozen for up to two months.
Heat the air-fryer to 180C. Lay a square of baking parchment in the air-fryer basket, sit the pies on top, cooking as many as you’d like at a time. Cook for 8-10 mins, then turn the mince pies and cook for a further 2-3 mins, or 13-15 mins from frozen. The pies should be golden brown and steaming hot. Leave to cool for 5 mins, then dust with icing sugar and serve. Will keep in an airtight tin for up to two days.