Ingredients:

450g (2¼ cups) sugar
250ml (1 cup) liquid glucose
80ml (⅓ cup) honey
1 sheet rice paper
2 extra-large egg whites
pinch of cream of tartar
250g macadamia nuts, roasted
60g dried cranberries
cornflour, to serve

Method:

1. Place the sugar, glucose and honey in a saucepan over a medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Do not allow to boil, brush the sides of the pan with extra water so that the sugar crystals do not cling to side of the pan.
2. When the sugar has completely dissolved, place a sugar thermometer into the syrup and bring to a rapid boil until 140˚C is reached on a sugar thermometer.
3. Line the base of an 18 x 28cm rectangular cake tin with rice paper.
4. Place the egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk until soft peaks form. Add the sugar mixture in a steady stream until it is incorporated and continue beating for about 5 minutes until the mixture is slightly cooled and thickened. Add the macadamia nuts and cranberries, whisking them in by hand.
5. Pour the mixture onto the rice paper and press gently with a spoon to flatten. Cover with another piece of rice paper and allow to set for a few hours before cutting.
6. Cut into desired shapes, using a very sharp knife. Dip each piece of nougat in cornflour to give it a very light coating before wrapping in parchment paper or cellophane wrapping.

Recipe by Lianne Scher, styling by Anna Montali and photograph by Graeme Borchers; extract from Yule love it published in the Food & Home Entertaining December 2009 issue.

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Ingredients – dough:

2 cups cake flour
2 tablespoon baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 large egg
4 tbsp butter/margarine
½ cup of water
oil for frying

Ingredients – syrup:

1kg sugar
1 ½ cinnamon sticks
½ tsp ground ginger
1 ½ cups of water
juice of one lemon

Method – dough:

1. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.
2. Rub in the butter and mix until pliable.
3. Mix this with the egg and water (adding the water a little at a time).
4. Work the dough well. If the dough appears to be lumpy and sticky, continue to work the dough until it will ball up.
5. Let the dough rest at room temperature for about three hours (under an inverted mixing bowl).

Method – syrup:

1. Prepare the syrup a day before (it needs to be very cold).
2. Dissolve sugar in the water.
3. Add the spices and lemon juice to this and boil together. Leave the syrup cool in the fridge overnight.

To prepare the koeksisters:

1. Roll out the dough (thickness 5mm).
2. Cut the dough into strips of 6cm long, 2cm wide.
3. Cut each of these strips into three strips (not all the way through, leave the strips connected at the top).
4. Plat each strip, pinch together at the end of the strip.
5. Deep fry until golden brown.
6. Remove and drain quickly – dip the hot koeksisters in the cold syrup (that was stored in the fridge up to now).
7. The secret is to keep the syrup cold and the koeksisters hot, this way it will draw just the right amount of syrup.
8. You can keep the syrup cold by keeping the syrup bowl in another container filled with iced water.