Scrumptious Scottish Dishes | Mary Berry’s Highland Christmas

What an amazing view. A true picture of Scotland. The Christmas holidays always feel magical to me. That looks amazing. And this year I'm kicking them off in style as I take a very special trip to Scotland. My mother was a Scot and I remember many happy holidays with her then with my children. So it is wonderful to be back here in the Highlands for my own Christmas. I'll be meeting up with some familiar faces. You're in your Christmas jumper, very smart. Thank you, I appreciate that. Mary! You promised a surprise but this is magical. Enjoying some festive fun. Right, come on, how am I doing this? That's just perfect. It is Christmas after all. Yes, okay. Okay. And I'll be sharing some of my favourite indulgent dishes. That is delicious. That can be enjoyed at any time over the Christmas holiday. Oh, it's put me in the Christmas mood already. Perfect for treating yourself. If it gets in my hair I'll smell of Christmas. Or sharing with others. To make every day feel like Christmas. They're absolutely beautiful. I'm going round the corners to finish this and you needn't watch me. Look at the steam. What a wonderful way to start my Highland Christmas. And I can see snow in the distance. Always been exceedingly proud of my Scottish heritage and where better to have a family Christmas break than the Highlands of Scotland. During my visit I'll be rustling up some Scottish-inspired dishes including my show-stopping Christmas crannock and wreath, warming Highland pie great for sharing, classic cheese fondue with a very special twist, my rich chocolatey bouche de Noel and many more recipes to enjoy over the festive season. This isn't going to go well, is it? For Scottish tennis legend Sir Andy Murray, the festive season's a busy one. Yes! When he's not competing on court or spending time with family, he helps run Cromlech's House, his country hotel near Dunblane. So what do you think of the Christmas jumper this year? Very colourful. And that's llamas that are on it? Yeah, I think it says La La Llama on it. So that's the clue. It's quite modest for you. I've seen far worse than that. Andy's granny Shirley tells me whilst he's an ace on court, he's not on top of his game in the kitchen. So I'm here to help. It's really lovely for me to be here. It's a glorious hotel. Well, thank you. Thanks so much for coming. And you're in your Christmas jumper, very smart. Thank you, I appreciate that. We do get right into it. Everyone's got their Christmas jumpers on and we see who can produce the worst one every year. Now, you told me that Andy is not the greatest cook. That is true. I think now he's got a large family that he could do just a little bit more to help in the kitchen instead of just producing eggy bagels. Yeah, eggy bagels is my speciality at home, which consists of me taking the bagels out of the packet, popping them in the toaster, frying an egg, and then brown sauce on the top. Yeah. To do one thing well is good. Granny, you're quite a cook. I'm famous for your shortbread. Yes. And you make it for the hotel. I do. I have been making it for more years than I care to remember. When we would go to tournaments all over the world, if Gran came to watch us, she would bring a tin of her shortbread. You were always very keen to get the tin back. My mum said your shortbread never lasted long, but yeah, we always made sure the tin came home. It looks so crisp and sugary. Can I help myself? Of course. Sheer perfection. It's full of all the wrong things. Not what athletes like Andy should really be eating, but he's very fond of it. Can I get stuck in? You're not on your training diet. I'm not, no. I hope my coaches don't see this. Well, eggy bagel is a fairly simple breakfast, but I'm going to up your game. Okay. Are you ready? I am. I'm a little bit nervous about this. Please go very easy on me. Treat me like I'm a child in there. Yeah. A competitive child. A competitive child, yeah. While Granny has a cup of tea, Andy and I are off to the hotel kitchen to make my hearty smoked haddock kajuri. Andy, I'm going to teach you one of my all-time favourite breakfasts. We're going to cook this in a very simple way. We'll start by preparing 400 grams of skinned haddock on a foiled baking sheet. So if you can cut that lemon maybe into about four slices. Cut the lemon? I think I can do that. I think I'll be okay with that. Let's see. Put it all across the top there. Arrange slices of lemon on the haddock, squeezing the remaining juice and top with butter before wrapping. Can I do this end? Oh, you're being very keen. That's right. Can you tell me if I'm doing it right? You've done it beautifully. Thank you. Very good. And that bit so it doesn't come out of the end. In it goes to bake at 180 fan for 15 to 18 minutes. So when we make the kajuri, that's breakfast sorted. What sort of things will you have for your Christmas dinner? The family will have turkey and roast potatoes, all that stuff. But I've started in the last couple of years having sushi for my Christmas lunch. I got in trouble for it when I suggested it, but it's my favourite meal, so. I think it's no comment. Okay, right. So onwards and upwards. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil and butter on high before adding two chopped onions. And this is finely chopped and you've got away without having to chop this on because I did not want you weeping over there. Lucky you. Thank you for that. In goes the onion. So give that a good stir. And with the other hand, hold the pan because otherwise it can easily slip. Yeah, that's a good tip. And it might come on me. And now in with the spices. Two teaspoons of cumin and ground coriander and one teaspoon of turmeric. Gives the kajuri that classic flavour. I've got a clove of garlic. Okay. In that goes. I feel like you're doing most of the work here and I'm just sort of. You're the manager. Look at it. You're keeping an eye on it. Then a couple of bay leaves, 300 grams of basmati rice, pepper and salt and 600 ml of vegetable stock. But add more if needed. Then we turn the heat down and it will gently simmer. So am I just leaving? I'm leaving this now. Yes, you are. That's one of the things I would say I find difficult in the kitchen, is just leaving stuff alone. I always want to be prodding. Wait a moment. You only do bathe with an egg. I mean, it's not too demanding, is it? While Andy focuses on leaving the kajuri alone for 12 to 15 minutes, that's just enough time to check on the fish. I can hear it gently sizzling. Is that a good thing? That's a good thing. The haddock should flake easily into delicious buttery chunks. Okay, so small enough to put in your mouth. You've got them hanging a bit beautifully. That's it. So you have four children. Yeah. What ages are they? I've got two, four, six and seven. We've just had a couple of their birthdays, so it's hard to keep track of the ages sometimes. They must be pretty proud underneath it all. I'm not sure about that. The seven-year-old is already a little bit embarrassed by me, like when I drop her at the school gate. So I give me a hug to say goodbye, a little kiss, and she's like, no, daddy, get back in the car. He's so embarrassing. Dads can be a little bit embarrassing. Yes, she doesn't really like the dad jokes. I've got an Andy Murray one. What time does Andy Murray go to bed? Ten-ish. Ten-ish, okay. What's the matter with you? I'm going to put the spinach in now. Stir in 75 grams of baby spinach and four tablespoons of double cream. Could you chop a bit of parsley? I'll get it for you. Here we are. We've got parsley and dill. Okay. Around a tablespoon of each will do. I'm going to do this so wrong. I'll just go for it. Let's see. That's just perfect. Keep your fingers above the knife, otherwise you lose them. You almost look like a chef at work in a Christmas jumper. That's it. I'm detecting a bit of sarcasm there, Mary. No, there was no sarcasm. Those gorgeous buttery haddock pieces can be added to the mixture. So do I need to be more gentle with this now? You've got the idea. Yeah, you see. That's perfect. Oh, I'm dropping it all at the edge now. Good, I've got an extra bit. Look who's coming. Hello, how's it going? Look at that. Can you believe it? That was all my work as well. Did you make all that? All of it, yeah. Oh my goodness, can you remember what you did? Garnish the kedgeree by quartering four soft-boiled eggs. And so just lift them on the top. It looks a bit higgledy-piggledy, but there we are. That'll taste good. It's all over my fingers now. All over your fingers, yeah. A little bit of finesse. Yeah, a bit of feel. Well, you do that in your tennis. So a bit more finesse in the eggs. OK. Scatter the herbs and now to taste. Let's hope it's good enough to add to Andy's cooking repertoire of one recipe. That is delicious. Well, you've been a joy to teach and well done. Thank you. And I hope you make it when you get home. I'll give it a go. My mother was a Scot and one of her great favourites was crannachan. And I've taken a bit of a twist on it with my pavlova. For those who haven't tried the traditional Scottish dessert crannachan, it consists of porridge oats, berries, whipped cream and, of course, whisky. But I'm doing something quite different and putting it in my pavlova. This is a stunning showstopper but deceptively simple to make. Start by preheating the oven to 140 degrees and whisking six large egg whites on full speed until light and frothy. Now, you see, it doesn't really hold its shape and it looks like cloud. So when it's at that shape, I'm going to start adding the sugar. Add 350 grams of caster sugar a little at a time so that the sugar gets completely incorporated into the egg whites. Look at that. It's holding its shape up like that. I know you want me to tip the bowl on top of my head. I'm not going to do that because it could drop. But you can see it's really, really firm. That's what you're aiming at. It's not difficult. Mix one teaspoon of white wine vinegar with a teaspoonful of cornflour. Add to the egg whites to give the pavlova a lovely gooey centre. Every scrap going in there. Make sure it's really well mixed. And look at that. Beautiful. Draw a 30 centimetre circle on nonstick paper and then a 15 centimetre circle in the centre to use as your guide for that delicious pavlova mixture. Very often I've got a pavlova or a meringue all ready to fill because you never know who's going to come. You want to make a special pud and this is just a perfect way of serving it. I'm making this a wreath shape because it's so easy to cut pieces off. It's sort of wedges. Whereas if you make two big circles, it crumbles. It doesn't look as good when it gets to the plate but I promise this will. Now scoop out a shallow trench in the pavlova for the kranikin to sit in. And believe it or not, because we've done the meringue part perfectly, that won't move. What does happen when you put it in the oven, it gets a few cracks. Now there's no need for you to weep about that. Part of the charm of a pavlova is the little cracks. Don't worry. It all looks homemade. It looks beautiful. Looks tempting. I think everybody's going to say, yes, please. And may I have a second helping? That beautiful pavlova wreath can now be put in the oven and immediately drop the temperature to 120 Fahrenheit and bake for one hour, 50 minutes. Once crisp and cooked, leave in the oven to cool. Just enough time to finish decorating my tree. And there it is. Looks pretty good, doesn't it? So to the kranikin. I've got a pan here and I'm going to toast the oats and the light muscovado sugar. So just a good knob of butter. Do you think they're nice, quite big enough? That's it. Good knob of butter in the pan. Fry 75 grams of porridge oats and 25 grams of sugar until the sugar has caramelized around the oats, giving them that light golden color. So put this to one side. Let it get stone cold and then we'll be adding it to the whipped cream and whiskey. Whip 600 mils of rich double cream before adding two tablespoons of whiskey. The smell alone is knocking me out. That's it. Stir in two thirds of the crunchy caramelized oats. I'm going to add half the raspberries. They're really beautiful. Fold those in. Very carefully. That's it. And all I have to do now is to fill my pavlova. This is the bit that I like so much. It's sort of a bit like being in the theater, isn't it? Doing the final act. Then arrange the berries and pomegranate seeds like precious stones on the wreath with a final sprinkling of those caramelized oats. And then you might think this is a bit over the top but I thought I would like to see some Christmas trees so I've got here a rosemary plant. I'm going to just pinch out. Just have a bit of imagination here. Pinch out little Christmas trees. Just put them in here like this. A snowy dusting of icing sugar before the all-important taste test. A bit of crunchy. There it is. Cheer heaven. Just look at that sponginess in the middle. The lightness of the touch. I'm going round the corners to finish this and you needn't watch me. I'm always happiest amongst the hustle and bustle of friends and family. And my anytime smoked salmon and guacamole bites are perfect when people visit during the holiday. They're delicious and so quick and easy to make. The base of a canapé to my mind should be crisp so what better than crisp fried bread? I like brown bread but white works just as well too. Take a cutter, press it down firmly and give it a twist and then out. Use a cutter to stamp out five rounds from each slice. If you haven't got one you could just use perhaps a glass. Just like that. Surprisingly it works just as well. That's it. Heat a touch of oil in a pan. And for flavour some butter. Nothing like butter. For the perfect golden crispy bite a couple of minutes on each side does the trick. As I tap those you can just hear how crisp they are. Listen carefully. That's it. A sprinkle of salt and pepper and the base of our canapés are ready. Next it's on to my delicious guacamole topping. This is a Hass avocado, the ones with the rough skin and I'm going to cut that in half. Then a gentle twist. That is absolutely perfect. Remove the stone and scoop out the flesh. I so love avocados. I can remember trying to grow a tree from it. It did start off pretty well but it didn't last. Then we're going to mash it together. And a little bit of texture is a good thing. Don't try and make it too smooth. Next, finely chop half a red onion. As fine as you can do it. You don't want to come across big pieces before putting to one side. Then I've got a nice fat clove of garlic here. You can even put more garlic in if you want but at Christmas time do we all want a smell of garlic? No we don't. Drop in the grated garlic before adding a kick of lime. Now it's quite difficult to get the lime juice out. If you warm it a bit you'll find you'll get more juice out. This gives the guacamole a flavour punch as well as stopping it from turning brown. That's it. So in goes the juice in with the avocado followed by a handful of chopped coriander. Gosh the aroma is lovely. Then that red onion. There it is. A touch of diced chilli. Then finely chopped tomato. Just the flesh, no pips, no skin. So let's give that a good stir. Salt and pepper. Just to taste. Of course this is looking just like Christmas. Red and green. Vibrant colours. Before I pop the guacamole on my fried bread disc I have a special trick that keeps them crisp and delicious. Smoked salmon. And of course it's Scottish smoked salmon. The very best. Layer each disc with a circle of the smoked salmon. The great thing about having the disc of smoked salmon next to the fried bread the moisture from the guacamole doesn't go down and make the bread soggy. Right now to the guacamole. Dollop on top. Then a little bit of salmon. And finish with a garnish of coriander. Gilding the lily. I better taste it, haven't I? You can't hear the crunch but I can. They're absolutely beautiful. Perfect to serve over Christmas. I'm meeting Scottish comedian Ian Stirling. And where better to meet at Christmas than a reindeer farm? Mary, how you doing? Ian, what a little poppet this one is. I know, it's taking a shine to you. Ian's hosting a big family Christmas this year. And I've got a recipe that I think will be perfect for sharing. Well Mary, it's a big day actually. A big Christmas for me. I'm cooking for the first time. And what are you cooking? You know, the usual. Turkey? The turkey. I do brussel sprouts but we put it in cheese and bacon. You'll be amazed what you can dip in cheese. I'm running. I'd put my whole head in it if I could. I'm going to do a cheese recipe which maybe you don't know. So come and be my chief taster. I get to taste Mary Berry's cheese? You are. What an honour. We are going to make cheese fondue. I love fondue. Let's get on with the job. Yeah, let's do it. We need wine. That's what gives it its warmth. My wife says that every night. Oh, does she? Yeah. Come on, you can be in charge. A large glass of wine, which that is. That looks about a large glass to me. There we go. Squeeze in a good dash of lemon juice. Just a drop more. Perfect. There you go. Then in goes the cheese. First of all, the Emmental and some Gruyère. Oh, there you go. And it makes it go in all these sort of streams. You see, Mary, my wife's Irish. I'm Scottish, but we live in England now. So we're having both families down this year for the first time. So we're very excited to sort of have all our families together. And this feels like the sort of thing you could rustle up relatively quickly around a big table. This would be ideal, quite simple to do. And also, there comes a time when after Christmas, you've got a few leftovers. What sort of things do you have left? You always make too many Brussels sprouts, don't you? There's no such thing as too many sprouts, especially with this recipe. What's great about cheese fondue at Christmas time is you can use the leftovers for dipping. Pigs in Blanket, roast potatoes, perfect to drop in there. Well, this is all my favourite things on a table. And I love cheese, so it'd be perfect. Just dip some leftovers. Classically, you always had chunky pieces of slightly stale bread to dip into it. And the rule is, if by any chance you lose it, you have to buy the drinks for everybody else. That's a lovely idea. And the girls had to give a kiss to everybody, but I'm not quite sure about that. Yeah, not nowadays. That was of its time, the old fondue rules. This is really bubbling up now. We'll turn that down. Yeah, I could see you round a sort of open fire. Were you in, like, the Girl Games or anything when you were younger? Oh, aye. OK. I was. I had all badges all down my arm and I had a cooking badge. Cooking outdoors, the food tastes so much better. After four to five minutes of a gentle simmer, the fondue's ready for thickening. You want just a little quick whiff. That'll knock you out. Oh, my gosh. One tablespoon of cherry-flavoured brandy kirsch and one tablespoon of cornflour helps to keep the cheese smooth as well as adding to the flavour. There we are. I'm going to pour that in. As soon as it's piping hot, the fondue will start to thicken. And I'm going to put a little bit of pepper and salt. I like to see the flecks of pepper. That's it. Cheese is quite salty, so just a little. Give it a gentle whisk to make it beautifully smooth and it's ready for dipping. I'm putting it very firmly on here because I don't want to lose it If I lose it, I've got to give you a kiss. Don't tell my wife. I think I'll behave for the first time. That is looking good. You see how it clings round the bread? It's rather hot, so be careful. I can't wait. I'll have a little try. So, here we go. I don't want it, can I make it? Don't get it in that starter. I might do that. Oh, oh, pathetic. How dare you? How pathetic? You don't need a plate. You keep twisting. Oh, my... That's amazing. I'll try the pig in blanket. Right, I'm going to have a go. Great. Nice. Honestly, this is perfect. Thank you, Mary. This is such an easy way to use up all those Christmas Day leftovers. Kids will love it, grown-ups will love it and worst case scenario, one of your bits falls into the cheese and you get a kiss from Mary Berry. Aww. So, everyone's a winner. There is always so much going on at Christmas that I like to prepare meals ahead when I can. My fennel and onion tart tatin and winter vegetable slaw is a luxurious veggie main that can be made in advance and tastes delicious. When you think of tart tatin, you think of the French classic of the upside down apple pie. Well, how about having a savoury one made with onions, fennel and sage? I think you'll like it. So, to start with, instead of the apples, let's cut the onions up. Five slices from each one. You can always use the ends up in soup. Thickly slice two fennel bulbs. Make sure that you keep the root on, otherwise all the pieces will fall apart. So, it's no good trying to cook fennel straight roasting it because it just doesn't become tender. So, gently boil the fennel for a couple of minutes first, then add the onions. Trying to keep them into the ring. So, I'm going to leave that for another three minutes. Whilst the vegetables are softening, I'm going to make the glaze. We need 50 grams of butter. Real butter, no substitute. Let it sizzle away there. In goes 25 grams of light muscovado sugar and three cloves of grated garlic. So, we can just cook those together until it's shiny. This sugar glaze will turn the vegetables into a delicious caramelised treat. Draw it off the heat and while I've been doing that, the onion and the fennel is ready. So, I'm going to lift it out. A generous helping of fresh sage to finish off the glaze. Lovely aroma, winter. So, that'll give a lovely flavour. And carefully place the onion rings on top so they fit snugly into the frying pan. I'm letting that bubble away very gently, not too fast, so that when I lift up a bit of onion, it's beginning to brown. Just listen to that. Five minutes should be all you need for the onions to start caramelising. Then I'm going to put in the fennel, leaving that sizzling away. See how well that's held together because we left the root on. Salt and pepper and a drizzle of balsamic glaze for extra flavour. So, I've had a little peek to see how those onions are cooking. They're pale golden underneath and the joy is when it comes out of the oven, you turn it over and those gorgeous brown onions are the top surface. Now, to roll out the pastry for the top, which of course will eventually be the bottom. What I'm aiming is to have a circle of pastry the same size as the pan. Ready-rolled puff pastry works perfectly well here. Everybody brings different things when they come on holiday. Some people have a pillow that they insist on taking with them. I always take my rolling pin. It's not a fancy rolling pin, it's just solid wood. Before popping on the pastry lid, I add grated cheese, about 50 grams. The parmesan cheese goes over the top of the vegetables and just holds it together. Otherwise, when you cut it, it would all fall apart. And finally, the pastry goes on. So you don't do anything fancy, you don't have to crimp it, you don't have to do anything other than just press it like that. Into the oven it goes at 200 fan. After 25 minutes, the pastry should be a beautiful golden brown. Remove from the oven and rest for a further 10 minutes. So meanwhile, I'll get on with my slaw. The slaw that I'm going to make is celeriac and sweet potato. I bet you've never had a sweet potato slaw. This will be a first. For the slaw dressing, I'm using both the zest and the juice of a lime, along with a tablespoon of white wine vinegar. Two tablespoons of grainy mustard, some runny honey, and four tablespoons of oil. I use sunflower oil as it's nice and light. Now we need pepper and salt. Just give that a bit of a whisk. The last bit of zest going in. That's my dressing done. That's a lovely consistency. Mustard makes all the difference. The first vegetable is a celeriac. It's this knobbly root vegetable, looks pretty nasty from the outside. You just peel that off and then cut it into strips. So in it goes and the lime stops this discolouring. And then I've got sweet potato. I'll let you see the colour. So there you are. And it is so good in a slaw. I've only just started using it in that way, but it's excellent in salad. Gives a lovely bit of crunch and, of course, colour too. Thinly slice celery and red onion in next and season with salt and pepper. Now it's a lovely mix of colour. If you don't use all this in one go, just pop it straight back in the fridge. The next day you could have it with cold meats. Be perfectly all right and a baked potato will go well. Pile nice and high. For that festive feel, a scattering of chopped dried cranberries finish it off. Now the fennel and onion tartar tartan has been just resting and I've got to just loosen it because it could stick. So what I normally do is give it a little shake and then put the hand flat on it and see if you can turn it. I know now that it's free from underneath. Have a little wish. Like that. I'm rather pleased I didn't drop it. There it is. Oh, I've had a peek before you have. It does look remarkable. Look at that. A final sprinkle of crisp fried sage leaves for the top. And there you have it, a deceptively easy recipe that will really impress. So two different ideas for vegetarians. Both are a great addition to the Christmas table. We had one holiday in Scotland that fell on William, our son's birthday. I telephoned the fishmonger in Elgin and I said I would like to order a salmon but I had no idea how I was going to cook it. I had no vessel, no fish kettle or anything. And then outside I saw a metal tin bath that would obviously be used to bath a baby in. So I put it on top of the cooker, poached it in water and it was absolutely delicious. Everybody was so excited. Thankfully, I'm better equipped this Christmas and have the right tools for my next recipe. Steak pie on New Year's Day is a much-loved Scottish tradition. This is my take on the recipe. My very own Highland pie. This is a seriously rich pie to serve any time over the Christmas holidays when you want something warming, full of flavour that everybody's going to enjoy. Start by preheating the oven to 140 Fahrenheit and get the oil in the pan piping hot before adding a kilo of diced beef shin. That's a lovely sizzle. The gravy will be good. I'm married to a gravy man so I'm really hot on getting good flavour to the gravy. Now set that golden brown beef aside. Lovely colour. Then I'm going to add the onion first. That's two onions and three sticks of celery. Doesn't have to be cut up too finely. Fry in that deliciously aromatic oil for four to five minutes and add two cloves of grated garlic and a tablespoon of chopped thyme. I'm going to put the meat back in with the vegetables. The smell, oh it's put me in the Christmas mood already. Now this is a really rich beef pie so I want a good slug of wine. In fact, half a bottle of wine. There it is and I didn't drink the first lot either. Mix 50 grams of plain flour with 500 mils of red wine. A little at a time for a smooth consistency. Stir that until it's beautifully smooth. In goes the wine and the flour straight in there like that. Boost the dish with 300 mils of beef stock for an even richer flavour. Give it a good stir. I want to get that sediment off the bottom of the pan all adding an excellent flavour. A good tablespoon of tomato puree and of course salt and pepper before bringing it to the boil. I've spent an awful lot of time of my life in Scotland and the one thing I do remember is my mother always used to cook lots of casseroles, stews and warming dishes because we used to love playing outside and particularly when the snow came down making snowmen and we used to make snow animals as well. Why should it always be the men that are made? We used to do tortoises when you only got a bit of snow with the four feet at the back. But a little unusual I know. Give that a good stir. Cover with a lid and in it goes at 140 fan for three and a half to four hours until the beef is really tender. That smells wonderful. Now pickled walnuts. You may not have these in your kitchen but you can get them from most good supermarkets. We have pickled gherkins, pickled onions. Why not pickled walnuts? I love them. They certainly add a little extra to my pie. Pop the walnuts straight in, give it a stir and now we can make it into a pie. First of all I need to support the pastry. I've got a little espresso cup here. You put it in there before you put your meat in and during the cooking of the pastry it sucks up the gravy and so the last person gets plenty of gravy and that might be me and I love gravy. Spoon that gorgeous tender beef into an ovenproof pie dish. That's it. And leave to cool. Having lined the edges of the dish with pastry, brush gently with beaten egg before carefully placing the lid on. And then I'm going to crimp the edges. I'm going to just crimp it in the way that my mother always used to and so you just press it in and pinch. Press it in and pinch all the way around like that. What better way to save Christmas than with pastry? That looks okay and then to let this steam out, two little holes here. That's it and another one the other side. Cook in the centre of the oven for about 45 minutes at 180 fan. It's as simple as that. Moment of truth. That looks amazing. That lovely shiny gravy. A truly gorgeous pie. Christmas is a perfect time to make memories with friends and I've invited multi-award winning singer and self-confessed nervous cook Emily Sandé to lend a hand with my next recipe. My decadent Bouche de Noël made with a chocolate Swiss roll filled with whipped cream hidden under piped chocolate ganache. Now you're not in your comfort zone. You'd rather be singing but you are the original party girl. Is that right? Yes I do enjoy a Christmas party. Cooking I'm not. Yeah I'm definitely out of my comfort zone but Christmas parties I can do. Well this is a real Christmas party dish. Bouche de Noël which is a chocolate Swiss roll. Okay. It's rich, it's got lots of chocolate in. Is chocolate one of your favourites? It is actually yes. Begin by melting 180 grams of plain chocolate before separating six egg whites from the yolks. Were you actually born in Scotland? No I was born in Sunderland in England and then I moved up to Scotland when I was five. So it's a lovely place to come home to at Christmas because it usually snows and you get the real Christmas feeling. You have in fact sung in very grand places. The Olympics. And the White House. The White House yes. It's amazing where music will take you. Do you sing while you cook? I do on the rare occasion I'm cooking yeah. I do enjoy singing. Who does the cooking? Well my dad's a really good cook. My sister's also very good. My partner's a great cook so I'm surrounded by great cooks to be honest. Do you sing at all? You wouldn't want to hear me. I'm as flat as flat. My vocal cords may need some sharpening but hopefully this dessert makes up for it. So next the egg whites should be whisked until stiff. Is this going okay? It's not my forte I just want to double check. I think you're doing an excellent job. Taking it very seriously. There it is look at that absolutely beautiful. Put that to one side and whisk 175 grams of caster sugar with the egg yolks before gently mixing in the melted chocolate. Carefully add the egg whites into the beautifully smooth mixture. You see there's lots of little bubbles there. I don't want to lose them. So instead of sort of beating hard I'm going to stir it and cut through the middle. Stir it and cut through the middle. That's called folding. Have a go. Okay stir and cut through. That's it right around the outside. Takes a time but it's good. Okay. And finally in place of flour 25 grams of cocoa is sifted into the mix for an intense chocolate flavour. We're quite a good team aren't we? There we are. Right two hands Emily. In you go, tip it in. Smells really nice. Smells good and chocolatey. And into the oven it goes at 160 fan for about 25 minutes. Now to create the decadent ganache. Start with 300 mils of double cream. Everything in here? Everything in there, that's it. Heat the cream then add the 300 grams of plain chocolate until melted. A lower cocoa content means the ganache won't split. Lots of chocolate. Lots of chocolate, that's plain chocolate. Gorgeously gooey chocolate mix can be left to cool while we turn to our beautiful bake. There it is, absolutely beautiful. Just a light dusting of cocoa powder to smooth the landing. Like snow only it's chocolate. So I'm going to tip that quite boldly on there like that. Oh yeah. Oh it's juicy. It's good isn't it? Now for some Scottish festive cheer. Whiskey. I think we need a bit of encouragement, just a drop. It is Christmas after all. Isn't it? Yes, okay. Merry Christmas, there we are. But it can't all go in the glass. Brush the surface of the cake with two tablespoons of whiskey for a truly special Scottish Christmas flavour. Chocolate and whiskey. Must be good. While Emily lightly whips 150 mil of double cream, I'm creating a mark along one edge of the roulade. If you don't do that little cut it will flop over in a piece and it won't roll evenly. That's a really good tip. Then put the cream on top. The diet's going to have to wait with this recipe. Using the paper, fold the roulade where it's scored to make a tight roll and cut at the top. So that looks just like a branch. Decorate with piped rows of that intense chocolate ganache icing. Now you see that wasn't too difficult. Yeah. Time for you to have a taste. Okay. This is a first for me. That's absolutely brilliant. Look at it. Are you proud? Yeah, I am quite proud of myself. You make it look very easy. I don't know how I'd get along without you. We could do FaceTime, couldn't we? With some finishing decorative touches and a dusting of icing sugar, it really can't get any more Christmassy in this kitchen. Is it going down well? So well. Oh, I almost forgot. You've got some whiskey here. Yes. Here's to you. Cheers. Thank you so much for having me. And as a thank you, I've arranged a surprise for you. You just grab your jacket. You're going outside. Right now? Okay. You promised a surprise, but this is magical. Thank you. And a happy new year! We wish you a merry Christmas! And a happy new year!