Darina's Christmas deserts
The grandchildren can hardly contain themselves with excitement - somehow that plum pudding seems the most delicious, it’s our first taste of Christmas. The plum pudding can be made from about mid-November onwards. Everyone in the family helps to stir so we can all make a wish.
It’s fun to put silver plum pudding charms in the pudding destined to be eaten on Christmas Day. Wrap them individually in silicone paper so they are bulky and clearly visible.
This recipe makes 2 large or 3 medium puddings. The large size will serve 10-12 people, the medium 6-8 but I also like to make teeny weeny ones.
12 ozs (350g) raisins
12 ozs (350g) sultanas
12 ozs (350g) currants
12 ozs (350g) brown sugar
12 ozs (350g) white breadcrumbs (non GM)
12 ozs (350g) finely-chopped beef suet
4 ozs (110g) diced candied peel (preferably home-made)
2 Bramley cooking apples, coarsely grated
4 ozs (110g) chopped almonds
rind of 1 lemon
3 pounded cloves (1/2 teaspoon)
a pinch of salt
6 eggs
2 1/2 fl ozs (62ml) Jamaica Rum
Mix all the ingredients together very thoroughly and leave overnight; don't forget, everyone in the family must stir and make a wish! Next day stir again for good measure. Fill into pudding bowls; cover with a double thickness of greaseproof paper which has been pleated in the centre, and tie it tightly under the rim with cotton twine, making a twine handle also for ease of lifting.
Steam in a covered saucepan of boiling water for 6 hours. The water should come half way up the side of the bowl. Check every hour or so and top up with boiling water if necessary. After 5 hours, 3 hours, 2 hours depending on the size, remove the pudding. Allow to get cold and re-cover with fresh greaseproof paper. Store in a cool dry place until required.
On Christmas Day or whenever you wish to serve the plum pudding, steam for a further 2 hours. Turn the plum pudding out of the bowl onto a very hot serving plate, pour over some whiskey or brandy and ignite. Serve immediately on very hot plates with Brandy Butter.
You might like to decorate the plum pudding with a sprig of holly; but take care not to set the holly on fire - as well as the pudding!
This recipe is so delicious that people ask to have more Plum Pudding just so that they can have an excuse to eat lots of sauce. This makes a large quantity but the base will keep for several weeks in the fridge, so you can use a little at a time, adding whipped cream to taste.
4 ozs (110g) butter
8 ozs (225g) Barbados sugar (moist, soft, dark-brown sugar)
1 organic free-range egg
2 1/2 fl ozs (62ml) medium sherry
2 1/2 fl ozs (62ml) port
2 ¼ -2 ½ pints (1.3-1.4L) lightly whipped cream
Melt the butter, stir in the sugar and allow to cool slightly. Whisk the egg and add to the butter and sugar with the sherry and port. Refrigerate.
When needed, add the lightly whipped cream to taste.
This sauce is also very good with mince pies and other tarts.
Brandy Butter
3ozs (75g) butter
3ozs (75g) icing sugar
2-6 tablespoons brandy
Cream the butter until very light, add the icing sugar and beat again. Then beat in the brandy, drop by drop. If you have a food processor, use it: you will get a wonderfully light and fluffy Brandy Butter.
Sherry Trifle, can be a pudding to be avoided at all costs, cheap sherry, dodgy custard…However when it’s made as it should be, with good homemade ingredients and lots of best-quality sweet sherry it is a revelation. Trifle was a Christmas tradition at our house and was served in a special “cut glass” bowl kept especially for the purpose with homemade custard.
Serves 8-10
1 lb (450g) approx. homemade sponge cake or trifle sponges
(trifle sponges are lighter so you will need less)
8 ozs (225g homemade raspberry jam
1 pint (600ml) custard made with:
5 eggs, organic and free-range if possible
1 1/4 tablespoons castor sugar
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 pints (750ml) rich milk
5-6 fl ozs (150-175ml) best quality sweet or medium sherry
- don't spare the sherry and don't waste your time with cooking sherry.
Garnish
1 pint (600ml) whipped cream
8 cherries or crystallised violets
8 diamonds of angelica
a few toasted flaked almonds
1 x 3 pint (1.7 litre) capacity glass bowl
Sandwich the rounds of sponge cake together with homemade raspberry jam. If you use trifle sponges, sandwich them in pairs.
Next make the egg custard.
Whisk the eggs with the sugar and vanilla extract. Heat the milk to the 'shivery' stage and add it to the egg mixture whisking all the time. Put into a heavy saucepan and stir over a gentle heat until the custard coats the back of the wooden spoon lightly. Don't let it boil or it will curdle.
Cut the sponge into (2cm) slices and use these to line the bottom of a 3 pint (1.7 litre) glass bowl, sprinkling generously with sherry as you go along. Pour in some homemade egg custard and then add another layer of sponge. Sprinkle with the remainder of the sherry. Spread the rest of the custard over the top. Cover and leave for 5 or 6 hours, or preferably overnight in a cold larder or fridge to mature.
Before serving, spread softly whipped cream over the top, pipe rosettes if you like and decorate with cherries or crystallised violets and large diamonds of angelica. Scatter with a few toasted flaked almonds.
Note
For a posher version, line the glass bowl with slices of Swiss roll.
I ice the Christmas cake with almond icing and decorate it with heart shapes made from the almond paste. Then I brush it with whisked egg yolk and pop it in the oven — simply delicious!.
Serves about 40
450g (1lb) golden caster sugar
450g (1lb) ground almonds
2 small organic eggs
2 tbsp Irish whiskey
A drop of pure almond extract
For Brushing on the Cake:
1 organic egg white, lightly whisked, or sieved apricot jam
For the Fondant Icing:
1 packet fondant (450g/1lb)
Sieve the caster sugar and mix with the ground almonds. Whisk the eggs, add the whiskey and 1 drop of almond extract, then add to the other ingredients and mix to a stiff paste. (You may not need all of the egg.)
Sprinkle the worktop with icing sugar, turn out the almond paste and work lightly until smooth.
Remove the paper from the cake. To make life easier for yourself, put a sheet of greaseproof paper onto the worktop and dust with some icing sugar. Take about half the almond paste and roll it out on the paper: it should be a little less than 1cm (1/2 inch) thick.
Paint the top of the cake with the egg white or apricot jam and put the cake, sticky-side down, onto the almond paste. Give the cake a thump to ensure it sticks and then cut around the edge. If the cake is a little round-shouldered, cut the almond paste a little larger; pull away the extra bits and keep for later to make hearts or holly leaves. Use a palette knife to press the extra almond paste in against the top of the cake and fill any gaps. Then slide a knife underneath the cake or, better still, underneath the paper and turn the cake the right way up.
Peel off the greaseproof paper.
Then roll out 2 long strips of almond paste: trim an edge to the height of the cake with a palette knife. Paint both the cake and the almond paste lightly with egg white or apricot jam. Then press the strip against the sides of the cake: do not overlap or there will be a bulge with the uneven edge upwards. Trim the excess almond paste with a long-bladed knife and keep for decoration and to make almond biscuits. Use a straight-sided water glass to even the edges and smooth the join. Then rub the cake well with your hand to ensure a nice flat surface.
Leave in a cool, dry place for a few days to allow the almond paste to dry out; otherwise the oil in the almonds will seep through the fondant icing.
To fondant ice
Sprinkle a little icing sugar onto the worktop.
Roll out the sheet of fondant to a thickness of a scant 5mm (1/4 inch).
Paint the cake with egg white or apricot jam, then gently lift the sheet of icing and lay it over the top of the cake so it drapes evenly over the sides.
Press out any air bubbles with your hands, and then trim the base. Decorate as you wish. We use a little posy of winter leaves and berries, including crab apples, elderberries, rosemary, old man’s beard and viburnum.
That’s just one option. You could also add simple shapes stamped out of the remaining fondant icing — stars, holly leaves, Santas — to produce an impressive result. Or you could use gold ribbon wrapped around the cake, tied in an ornate bow on the top.
This makes a moist cake which keeps very well. It can either be made months ahead or, if you are frenetically busy, then it will still be delish even if made just a few days before Christmas — believe me I know!
Serves about 40
110g (4oz) real glacé cherries
50g (2oz) whole almonds
350g (12oz) best-quality sultanas
350g (12oz) best-quality currants
350g (12oz) best-quality raisins
110g (4oz) homemade candied peel
50g (2oz) ground almonds
Zest of 1 organic unwaxed lemon
Zest of 1 organic unwaxed orange
60ml (21/2 fl oz) Irish whiskey
225g (8oz) butter
225g (8oz) pale, soft-brown sugar or golden caster sugar
6 organic eggs
275g (10oz) flour
1 tsp mixed spice
1 large or 2 small Bramley seedling apples, grated
Line the base and sides of a 23cm (9 inch) round, or 20cm (8 inch) square tin with a double thickness of silicone paper. Then tie a double layer of brown paper around the outside of the tin. Have a sheet of brown or silicone paper to lay on top of the tin during cooking.
Wash the cherries and dry them gently. Cut in two or four as desired. Blanch the almonds in boiling water for 1–2 minutes, then rub off the skins and chop them finely. Mix the dried fruit, nuts, ground almonds and grated orange and lemon zest. Add about half of the whiskey and leave for 1 hour to macerate.
Preheat the oven to 160C/ 325F/gas mark 3.
Cream the butter until very soft. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Whisk the eggs and add in bit by bit, beating well between each addition so that the mixture doesn’t curdle. Mix the mixed spice with the flour and stir gently into the butter mixture. Add the grated cooking apple to the plumped up fruit and stir into the butter mixture gently but thoroughly (don’t beat the mixture again or you will toughen the cake).
Put the mixture into the prepared cake tin. Make a slight hollow in the centre, dip your hand in water and pat it over the surface of the cake — this will ensure that the top is smooth when cooked.
Now lay a double sheet of brown paper on top of the cake to protect the surface from the direct heat. Bake for 1 hour. Then reduce the heat to 150°C/300°F/gas mark 2 and bake for a further 21/2 hours, until cooked; test in the centre with a skewer — it should come out completely clean. Pour the remainder of the whiskey over the cake and leave it to cool in the tin.
Next day, remove the cake from the tin. Do not remove the lining paper but wrap the cake in some extra greaseproof paper and tin foil until required.
Store in a cool, dry place; the longer the cake is stored the more mature it will be.
Makes 1 x 18cm (7 inch) round cake or 900g (2lb) loaf
JR’s famous Dundee cake makes a lovely light Christmas Cake which can be iced or not as you please.
225g (8oz) softened butter
225g (8oz) caster sugar
Grated rind of 1 large orange
4 eggs
225g (8oz) plain flour, sifted
50g (2oz) ground almonds
25g (1oz) mixed candied peel
100g (4oz) currants
100g (4oz) sultanas
100g (4oz) raisins
50g (2oz) glacé cherries, quartered
40-50 split blanched and peeled almonds
Preheat oven to 150C/300F/Gas Mark 2 and line an 18cm (7 inch) round tin or a 900g (2lb) loaf tin.
Cream butter and sugar until smooth and light. Beat the eggs. Add in three stages alternating with a tablespoon of the flour between each addition. Beat thoroughly. Mix ground almonds, dried fruit and orange rind before folding into the mixture. Fold in the remaining flour carefully. Turn the mixture into the prepared tin and arrange the split almonds over the entire top.
Bake in the preheated oven for 2½ — 3 hours until a skewer comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow 10 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool.
Order your Christmas organic free-range bronze turkeys from: Dan and Anne Ahern near Midleton, Co Cork, tel 021-4631058 or 086-1659258; free-range bronze and white turkeys, geese, ducks and large chickens, Robbie Fitzsimmons of East Ferry Poultry, 086-8548574 and Tom Clancy, Ballycotton, supplies free-range bronze turkeys, geese and ducks, 086-3089431.
There are super hams available from Martin and Noreen Conroy of Woodside Farm, 087 2767206, and TJ Crowe in Co Tipperary, 062 71137.
Organic Irish Cranberries — Ciara Morris and Michael Camon of Slievebloom Farmhouse Foods’ fresh berries are available widely in supermarkets during the Christmas season.www.slievebloomfarmhousefoods.com
