Iced Christmas Pudding Parfait, Burnt Orange Jelly
(Submitted by Mark Greenaway)
Picture: TSPL
Serves 6
Mark says "I couldn’t let Christmas go by without sharing a dessert recipe. Use your leftover Christmas pudding to create this alternative and impressive festive treat."
Burnt orange jelly
Ingredients
• 140g caster sugar
• 500ml fresh orange juice
• Zest of 1 lime
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Zest of 1 orange
• 2 vanilla pods, halved and seeds scraped out
• 7 leaves of gelatine, soaked in cold water
Method
Place the sugar in to a heavy based pan and set over a high heat, stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar is equally melted to a golden caramel, take off the heat and add the zest and vanilla seeds.
Very slowly add the orange juice, stirring frequently until all the of liquid had been incorporated, return to the heat and bring up to the boil.
Add in the soaked gelatine, stir until dissolved, pour the liquid through a fine sieve and leave to cool.
Pour into a tray and set in the fridge.
Once set, cut out circles from the jelly using a small teacup or cookie cutter and set back in the fridge.
Christmas Pudding Parfait
Ingredients
• 7 egg yolks
• 325g caster sugar
• 1.5 tbsp liquid glucose
• 3 egg whites
• 750ml double cream
• 3 leaves gelatine, softened in cold water
• Half a good quality Christmas pudding, crumbled
Method
Whisk the egg yolks until pale and light.
Boil 210g of the caster sugar with the liquid glucose until the soft ball stage is achieved (118C) and pour over the egg yolks.
Stir in the softened gelatine. Whisk this mixture until it is cold.
Whisk the egg whites and the rest of caster sugar to make a meringue.
Whip the double cream to soft peaks.
Fold all of the ingredients together.
Pour into 4cm hemispherical moulds and freeze till firm.
When the parfait is frozen, turn out the moulds and stick the hemispheres together to make spheres.
Place back into the freezer until ready to serve. Serve each sphere sitting on top of a round of jelly.
Christmas pudding
(submitted by Neil Forbes)
Picture: TSPL
Neil says: "We start making our puddings at the end of September. It’s a recipe adapted from chef John Webber, my old boss and a legend.
"It’s not the horrid black specimen you get from the supermarket, but a light easy-to-eat version with the distinct taste of spices, dried fruit, grated apple and carrot, and made using proper beef suet. The addition of Californian raisins is crucial due to their even, plump shape, and their full flavour. This is the one recipe I urge you to make this year. Go on, don’t be a Scrooge!"
Serves four (one pudding)
Ingredients
• 125g sultanas
• 125g currants
• 125g raisins
• 20g glacé cherries, chopped
• 20g mixed peel
• ½ Bramley apple, grated
• 20g carrot, grated
• 2 tsp finely grated orange zest
• 40g prunes, stoned and chopped
• 50g plain flour
• 20g ground almonds
• 60g bread crumbs
• 1tbsp milk
• 50g soft dark brown sugar
• 75g proper beef suet
• 1 tbsp golden syrup
• 1 egg
• Pinch each of salt, mixed spice and cinnamon
• Glug each of brandy, sherry and rum
• 4 tbsp stout
Method
1 Place the sultanas, currants and raisins in a large bowl. Add the alcohol and leave to soak overnight.
2 Line a 2 pint pudding basin with muslin, leaving enough spare to tie at the top. Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl of soaked fruit and mix well.
3 Fill the lined pudding basin with the mix and tie up the muslin with a piece of string.
4 Gently steam the pudding for 2 hours in a lidded pot (water covering half the pudding basin). Don’t allow to boil dry.
5 Before serving, check that the centre of the pudding is piping hot. Serve with brandy sauce or pouring cream.
Ecclefechan Tart
(Submitted by Neil Forbes)
Serves four
Neil says "This is a wonderful recipe which I adapted from one given to me by a dear friend of mine, John Webber, who is now teaching at Nick Nairn’s Cook School, but was once the head chef at Kinnaird House in Perthshire."
Ingredients:
• 240g soft (almost-melted) butter
• 240g soft dark brown sugar
• 4 eggs beaten
• 1 tsp cinnamon zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 960g California raisins
• 240g walnuts, roughly chopped
Method
Prepare a blind-baked sweet pastry 10in tart shell and leave it in the mould. I use bottomless tins.
Beat the soft butter and brown sugar together until well combined and creamed. Then trickle the eggs in slowly, a little at a time. Add the cinnamon, lemon juice and zest and mix well. Fold in the raisins and walnuts and give it a good mix.
Scoop the mix into the prepared pastry case and smooth out with a wet palette knife. Bake at 160C/Gas Mark 4 for roughly 45 minutes, checking and spreading the mix flat as you go.
Allow to cool slightly before cutting into slices and serving with lots of crème fraîche.
Stollen
(Submitted by Tom Kitchin)
Picture: Flickr
Ingredients:
• 100ml milk
• 25g dried yeast
• 300g plain flour
• 50g icing sugar
• 1 egg
• 75g cut mixed peel
• zest of lemon
• 1 pinch of salt
• 5ml dark rum
• 30g flaked almonds
• 100g butter
• 300g raisins
• extra butter and caster sugar
Method
Heat the milk to lukewarm and dissolve the dried yeast. Put all the remaining ingredients, except the butter and raisins, into a bowl with the milk and yeast and mix by hand to make a dough. Cover with a damp cloth and leave to rest in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Add the butter and raisins and knead them into the dough, then leave for a further 30 minutes. Once rested, knock back and divide the dough into two pieces. Cover with a damp cloth and rest again for 20-30 minutes.
Roll out each piece to about the thickness of your finger. Make two dips in the dough with the rolling pin, then fold the dough into the middle and back on to itself. Repeat with the other piece of dough. Leave the loaves to rest for another 15 minutes with a damp cloth over them.
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Place the stollen in the centre of the oven and bake for 40 minutes. Remove and leave to cool for ten minutes. Remove any burnt raisins you can see, then brush the stollen with butter and toss in caster sugar. Leave for about an hour to cool completely, then wrap in clingfilm and store in a cool place for up to four weeks.
To serve
Dust with icing sugar, slice and arrange on a plate.
Mincemeat Mile High Pie
(Submitted by Sue Lawrence)
serves 8
Ingredients:
• 300g/10½ oz gingersnap biscuits, crushed
• 115g/4 oz butter, melted
• 400g/14 oz best quality mincemeat
• 2 tbsp whisky or brandy
• 1.2 – 1.5 litre/2 - 2¾pt quality vanilla ice-cream
• a sprig of holly, to decorate
Method:
Mix the biscuit crumbs and melted butter together and press onto the base and up the sides of a 23cm/9in flan dish. Refrigerate for about an hour.
Heat the mincemeat for a couple of minutes (to melt the suet), then stir in the rum or brandy and allow to cool slightly.
Soften the ice cream a little, then mix together with the mincemeat. Spoon this mixture into the prepared flan dish, smooth the top and freeze until firm. (It takes up to an hour, depending on the quality of the ice-cream).
Serve decorated with a sprig of festive holly.
Cranachan Soufflé with Raspberry Sorbet
(Submitted by Richard Massey)
Ingredients
• 2 x egg yolks (reserve the whites for making the soufflé)
• 450ml milk
• 125g caster sugar
• 5g corn flour
• 55g plain flour
• 75ml Talisker whisky
• 10g honey
• Soft butter
• Porcelain ramekins
• Pastry brush
• 500g raspberries
• 1 lemon
• 280g sugar
• 100g water
Method
For the Soufflé base
Place all the ingredients into a bowl and mix together with a whisk, place the contents into a saucepan and cook out over a low heat whisking until the mixture boils.
Transfer to a suitable container.
For the Raspberry Sorbet
Bring water and sugar to the boil, place raspberries into a food processor, add lemon juice and sugar syrup and blend – pass through a fine sieve to remove pips.
Transfer to an ice cream maker.
For the Soufflé
Butter the ramekins using the soft butter, brush the butter in an upward motion covering the ramekin completely, and then add caster sugar so it coats the ramekins.
To make the Soufflé
Place the egg whites into a bowl, whisk the whites whilst slowly adding the caster sugar until it forms firm peaks.
Fold the whites into the Cranachan base mixture gently so as not to remove the air from the egg whites.
Spoon into the ramekins and smooth over with a palate knife. Gently with your thumb go around the inside of the ramekin to a 1cm depth. Sprinkle with oats.
Cook in a pre-heated oven at 190o C for 6 minutes or until risen.
To Serve
Remove soufflé from oven and serve with a scoop of raspberry sorbe
