Edible Christmas Crackers

I’ve officially made the perfect Christmas starter: edible Christmas crackers! You’re most welcome 😉 combining all the wonderful flavours of squash, brussel sprouts, lentils, pomegranate, and chestnuts. I managed to find all the ingredients in my local supermarket – even chestnut puree at this time of year!

If you have trouble cutting squash, peel it first then place it in a microwave for about 5 minutes. It’ll then be much softer and easier to deal with.

Ideally these need to be served straight from the oven to keep the pastry perfectly crisp.

 

Makes 6 crackers

Ingredients:

400g butternut squash
200g brussel sprouts
50g pomegranates
150g puy lentils (cooked)
100g chestnut puree
Olive oil
Thyme
Salt and pepper
20g butter/margarine
7 filo sheets (usually 1 pack – leaves one for practice in case something goes wrong)
1 egg or more olive oil for brushing pastry

 

What to do:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C
• Peel and dice squash into small cubes, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast for 20 mins.
• Cut the sprouts in half, and boil or steam for 10 mins
• Add the squash, lentils, pomegranate seeds, and chestnut puree to the sprouts
• Add a sprinkling of thyme, salt, pepper, and butter/margarine. Sir until the butter/margarine has melted. Leave this to cool slightly
• Take one of the pastry sheets, fold it in half so it forms a square, and place some of the filling in the middle but closer to the bottom rather than the top. Leave a gap of a few cm on the left and right. brush the top and bottom edges with a little olive oil.
• Roll it up from bottom to top, then tie the ends with string like so:
  
• Now it look like a Christmas cracker! Use olive oil to seal the edge
• Place on a lined baking tray and repeat for each of the subsequent Christmas crackers
• Brush with olive oil/egg wash all over
• Bake in the oven for 10 minutes on each side