Christmas pudding is almost my favourite part of the festivities, but that doesn't mean I want it at every special meal the season holds. This is the chance to try a host of sweet things that you wouldn't at any other time. Anew cheesecake, a rich chocolate cake, a soft jelly are just a few of the things Iwill be making this year.
This is the time of year when I tend to offer more than one pudding at the end of a meal. A cake, perhaps, plus something lighter like a dish of baked fruit. Both quinces and pears will be making an appearance this year. The quinces will be poached and then baked until sticky and red, then served with asharp goat's cheese. The pears will be left to soften in simmering perry – the drink made from their juice.
The fruit-flecked pudding with its dollop of brandy butter may be the shining star of the festivities, but it won't be the only Christmas pudding on offer.
AROMATIC POMEGRANATE JELLY
SERVES 4
pomegranate juice 700ml
orange peel 4 long strips
lemon peel 2 long strips
green cardamom pods 12
caster sugar 2 tbsp
leaf gelatine12g
sliced oranges or clementines and a few pomegranate seeds to serve
Pour the pomegranate juice into apan. Add 4 long strips of orange peel and 2 of lemon to the juice. Crack the cardamom pods open with a pestle and mortar or other heavy weight then add the pods and seeds to the juice. Bring the juice almost to the boil. Stir in the sugar and let it dissolve. Switch off the heat and leave for 10 minutes for the spices and peel to flavour the juice.
Soak the gelatine sheets in a bowl of slightly warm water. When they have softened to a squidgy mass – a matter of a minute or two – drop the gelatine into the warm juice and stir gently.
Pour the juice through a small sieve to remove the spices and fruit, and ladle into four glasses or moulds. Leave to cool then refrigerate overnight.
Serve with slices of peeled orange and a few pomegranate seeds.
PERRY PEARS
SERVES 4
perry 500ml
water
sugar 4 tbsp
pears 8 tiny or 4 medium sized
lemon 1
a little edible gold leaf (if you wish)
Pour the perry and an equal amount of cold water into a pan. Add the sugar and bring to the boil (if your perry is very sweet then you may not need this much sugar, taste and see). Peel the pears, rubbing them with one half of the lemon. Lower them into the syrup, add the lemon halves and bring back to the boil. Turn the heat down and let the fruit simmer until completely tender to the point of a knife – about 20-40 minutes, depending on the ripeness and size of your pears. If the syrup doesn't cover the pears, then turn them a couple of times during cooking.
Let the fruit cool in the syrup then chill. Serve cold with a few spoonfuls of the chilled syrup and, if the mood takes you, a dusting of gold leaf.
MINCEMEAT CHEESECAKE
You may find that your cheesecake cracks across the top as it cools. I wouldn't worry, but if this bothers you, bake the cheesecake in a water bath. Half-fill a roasting tin with hot water then lower the uncooked cheesecake into it. Bake as below, until the middle of the cheesecake wobbles slightly when you shake the pan.
SERVES 8-10
For the base:
butter 65g
shortbread or digestive biscuits 300g
For the filling:
cream cheese (full fat) 600g
golden caster sugar 200g
eggs 4, plus an extra egg yolk
orange 1 small, finely grated zest
vanilla extract a few drops
soured cream 300g (2 x 142ml pots will do)
mincemeat 250g
orange zest a little more to finish
You will need a round cake tin with a removable base or a spring-form cake tin measuring 22cm in diameter and about 7.5cm high.
Line the base of the cake tin with baking parchment – it will stop the base sticking.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Crush the biscuits to fine crumbs in a food processor and stir into the melted butter. Remove from the heat and tip all but a couple of tablespoons of the crumbs into the lined cake tin. Smooth flat, but avoid the temptation to push down too hard, you don't want a tightly packed, impenetrable crust. Put in the fridge for half an hour to set.
Set the oven at 140C/gas mark 1. To make the filling, put the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a food mixer and beat for a couple of minutes till smooth. Add the eggs and the extra egg yolk, one at a time, beating each one in thoroughly before adding the next. Scrape down the sides of the bowl regularly with a rubber spatula.
Add the finely grated zest of an orange and the vanilla extract. Stop the machine and stir in the soured cream with a large spoon or spatula. Fold the mincemeat in with a spoon, stirring only enough to lightly ripple it through the cheese mixture.
Remove the cake tin from the fridge, place it on a baking sheet, then pour in the cream cheese filling. Bake in the preheated oven for an hour. You will find that the middle of the cheesecake will feel uncooked and wobbly, but that is the way it should be. Switch off the oven, close the door and leave the cake for a further hour.
Remove the cheesecake from the oven, allow to cool and refrigerate thoroughly overnight. (Don't try and skip this step, or your cheesecake won't set.) Scatter the top with the reserved biscuit crumbs and finely grated orange zest before serving.
PRUNE BROWNIES
I normally prefer my brownies unadulterated, but it is Christmas and rich dried fruits such as prunes do seem appropriate. I suggest using armagnac, but anything similar will do.
SERVES 12
soft prunes, stoned 250g
Armagnac 75ml
caster sugar 250g
butter 200g
chocolate 250g
eggs 3 large, plus an extra yolk
plain flour 65g
cocoa powder 55g
baking powder 1 level tsp
You will need a 21cm square baking tin, lined with baking parchment. Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4.
Cut each prune in half and put in abowl. Pour over the Armagnac and leave for 30 minutes.
Put the caster sugar and butter in the bowl of a food mixer and beat thoroughly till pale and creamy. Snap the chocolate into pieces and put them in a small heatproof bowl balancing over a small pan of simmering water. Leave the chocolate to melt, avoiding the temptation to stir. Take care the chocolate doesn't get too hot.
As soon as the chocolate is liquid, turn off the heat. Break the eggs into a bowl and add the extra yolk. Beat them lightly with a fork. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder and set aside.
Add the beaten egg to the butter and sugar mixture, then, with the mixer on low speed, pour in the melted chocolate. Stop the machine. Add the chopped prunes, drained of any excess liquid, and then fold in the dry ingredients. Take care not to over-mix, or your brownie will be flat and heavy.
Scrape the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool before slicing into (at least) 12.
POACHED QUINCES WITH GOAT'S CHEESE
I like the sweet fruitiness of the baked quince with the goat's cheese. It is a short step on from the traditional marriage of quince paste and cheese. The baked fruit is good on its own, too.
SERVES 4
honey 4 generous tbsp
water 500ml
smallish quinces 4
lemon a half
quince, medlar, apple or redcurrant jelly 6 tbsp
goat's cheese 8 slices
Put the honey and water into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Peel and halve the quinces and rub them with lemon to stop them browning. (Quinces discolour even quicker than pears.)
Lower the quinces into the syrup and let them simmer till tender. They may be ready in 25 minutes or may take up to 40, depending how hard they are. They need to be tender, even though they are going to be cooked again.
Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4. Lift the quinces out of the syrup and put them in a shallow baking dish or roasting tin. Measure out 100ml of the cooking liquid and add to the quinces. Add the fruit jelly and bake for about 30 minutes, basting occasionally to make sure the fruit and its jelly are not overcooking, until the fruit is very soft. Ideally, there will be a little sticky jelly or syrup in the bottom of the dish. Remove from the oven and cool.
Serve the quinces with the slices of goat's cheese and any syrup or jelly from the baking dish.
nigel.slater@observer.co.uk
