I’ve got to be honest and say I’m not keen on traditional X-mas desserts like Figgy Pudding, and since I became chef de jour at casa de Jeffs the responsibility has fallen to me to do the pud for Christmas day, and the past few years it has gone well (although we shan’t mention the disaster with a Jamie yule log recipe…I’m still bitter). Last year I made these Eggnog creams and they were yummy and not massively heavy either which you don’t want when your so full to bursting with turkey and ’tatoes that you couldn’t even wedge a sprout in.
Can you tell I’m starting to run out of adjectives for my recipe posts? The recipe can be used to make mulled wine or cider, although please forgive me for having not tried it with cider since even mentioning the word cider brings back haunting memories of my first ever escapade into alcohol at 13 which resulted in much barfing and eventually being picked up by my dad after my friends exhausted their combined powers of patience and nursing care as as I lay gagging in a bush.
When I was at uni I was something of a drunken sot, but since leaving I rarely drink if at all, apart from two exceptions; Eggnog and Mulled Wine.
I know a lot of people don’t like Eggnog because of the raw egg element, and it’s not a traditional or popular a drink in the UK as it is in the US.
If eggnog isn’t your thing, you can’t go wrong with mulled wine, there’s something about warmed wine that has an almost sedative like quality, I’ve missed many a Christmas day film after a glass or two of the mulled stuff only to wake up during the closing credits.
An ability to produce homemade mince pie’s is a skill in other people that I greatly admire, and at the start of the year I decided I wanted to be one of these clever people and endeavoured to make my very own mince pies, from scratch, from the pastry to the mincemeat, every last bit of it would be made by my own fair hands. I talked about the hitch I had with the mincemeat, but luckily I found a Gluten-Free mincemeat recipe (god bless Nigella) which I made at the very start of November, and finally this week I decided the time was right to unite mince with pie and bake a batch.
Ingredients
1 Sachet of powdered gelatin 250g Granulated sugar (the same sugar you would use for jam making) 1 Egg white A few drops of pink food colouring 1-2 Tbsp’s cornflour 1-2 Tbsp’s icing sugar 1/2 Tsp vanilla extract Vegetable/sunflower oil Baking parchment and a shallow baking tray Method
Start by using the oil to grease a shallow tin. I used round cake tins to make my marshmallow, but you could use any sort of tin as long as its shallow enough.
I harked on about Snicker-doodles in yesterdays post, but actually failed to explain what they are. According to Nigella they’re sort of like an oven baked doughnut and a cross between a cookie and sponge, they remind me of those massive sweet pretzels with the cinnamon sugar, and everyone knows I’m a slut for cinnamon. They’re the sort of thing that could be varied in so many different ways, but for now I’m going to give you the original recipe without any variations.
Before we get started you will need a sterilised jar or two to store your cooked mincemeat in. I used a Kilner jar with a one litre capacity. if your new to sterilising jars I’ve included a Tips for Dummies guide just for you!
Ingredients
250g Dark, soft muscovado sugar 250ml Dry cider (I used Henney’s) 6 Tablespoons of brandy Juice and rind of a small lemon 1 kg Cooking apples 1/2 Tsp cinnamon 1/2 Tsp nutmeg 1/2 Tsp ginger 250g Currants 250g Raisins 80g Glace cherries quartered If almonds don’t make your toes curl, you might want to include 75g’s of them finely chopped Method
