Orange and Cointreau syllabub

Syllabub - a velvety-smooth concoction of sweet wine and cream - is one of the great English desserts, dating from the 16th century. At this time of year I like to make it with orange rather than lemon, topped with an irresistibly crunchy mixture of orange zest and sugar.

Serves 6

150ml southern French muscat or similar sweet white wine
1 tablespoon Cointreau or other orange liqueur
The finely grated rind of 2 unwaxed oranges
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 tablespoons unrefined caster sugar
400ml chilled double cream

You will also need a large bowl, chilled for 30-40 minutes in the fridge or for 15 minutes in the freezer

Pour the wine into a bowl, add the Cointreau, half the grated orange rind, the orange and lemon juice and 2 tbsp of the caster sugar. Stir, cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Strain through a fine sieve. Pour the cream into a large chilled bowl and beat with an electric hand-held beater until it starts to thicken. Add the orange-flavoured wine, bit by bit, beating between each addition until the cream thickens again. (Don’t overbeat it, or it will separate. Aim for a thick pouring consistency.)

When the final addition of wine has been incorporated the mixture should hold a trail when you lift out the beaters but shouldn’t be stiff.) Ladle the mixture into individual glass dishes and chill for at least an hour before serving. In the meantime mix the remaining orange zest and sugar and leave it on a plate to crisp up. (If you want to make it further ahead put it in a sealed plastic box.) Just before serving sprinkle the orange sugar over the top of each glass.

What to drink:
Although you might think the citrus and sweet wine might pose problems the amount of cream actually makes this a very wine-friendly dessert that would match well with the same type of wine you use in the syllabub. We drank a pretty, peachy Tabali Encantado Late Harvest Muscat from Chile with it which went very well.

Cranberry gin sling jellies with spiced cream

A simple and delicious Christmas dessert from my mate Sarah Randell, food director of Sainsbury's Magazine, which combines two of my favourite things, jelly and cocktails.

Sarah says: An elegant and refreshing dessert with a cheeky alcoholic kick. To make the jellies low-fat (as if you'd be worried about that at Christmas FB) top each with a scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt instead of the cream.

Prep 15 mins
Total time 20 mins, plus setting
Get ahead Make the jellies up to the end of step 3 one day ahead

6 leaves fine-leaf gelatine (Sarah used Supercook Select)

500ml cranberry juice

100g caster sugar

75ml gin

3 tbsp sweet vermouth

1 wine-mulling spice bag

1 cinnamon stick

a dash of Angostura bitters

To finish

150ml whipping cream

a pinch each of ground cinnamon, cloves
and ginger

1 tbsp icing sugar

a few fresh cranberries, tossed in caster sugar

1 Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for 10 minutes.

2 In a pan, gently heat the cranberry juice, sugar, gin, vermouth, wine-mulling spice bag and cinnamon stick. Simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat and add the gelatine leaves (squeezed of excess water). Stir until dissolved. Add the Angostura bitters.

3 Remove the spice bag and cinnamon stick. Pour the liquid into four glasses. Cool, cover and chill overnight.

4 Whip the cream with the spices and icing sugar. Top each jelly with the spiced cream and a cranberry or two.

Sarah is also the author of Weekend Baking and co-author of The Camper Van Cookbook and Camper Van Coast. You can find more of her recipes, posts and cooking tips on the new Sainsbury's Magazine blog Kitchen Secrets

Photo © Martin Poole

Fluffy apple and marmalade hotcakes with cinnamon butter

My friend cookery writer Sarah Randell has written the most enchanting book on marmalade full not only of great marmalade recipes but also some delicious ways of using them.

You can either make them for brunch or at teatime. "I often serve them in relays for brunch when friends or family are staying for the weekend" Sarah says. "Eat them hot from the pan."

Makes 16

150g (1 small) Bramley cooking apple

100g plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon caster sugar

3 large eggs

3 tablespoons of your favourite marmalade (the apple harvest marmalade in the book is particularly good in these)

150g ricotta

2 tablespoons milk

butter and oil, for frying

FOR THE CINNAMON BUTTER

50g soft unsalted butter

1 tablespoon marmalade

1 teaspoon cinnamon sugar

For the cinnamon butter, mix the ingredients together in a small bowl, using scissors to chop any large pieces of peel in the marmalade. Transfer the butter to the fridge to firm up.

Peel, core and dice the apple. Weigh the flour and put it into a mixing bowl, then add the baking powder, sugar and a pinch of salt and mix together. Make a well in the centre.

Crack the eggs into a small bowl, add the marmalade (again chopping any large pieces of peel), lightly whisk together with a fork, then tip into the well in the flour. Using a balloon whisk, gradually whisk the beaten eggs into the flour, followed by the ricotta and milk. Stir in the diced apple.

Heat a small knob of butter and a tablespoonful of oil in a non-stick frying pan until sizzling. Add a heaped dessertspoonful of batter per pancake, frying a few at a time over a low heat for 2-3 minutes on each side – they are ready to flip over when small bubbles appear at the edges. If the fat in the pan starts to darken and burn, wipe out the pan before heating more oil and butter.

Serve the hotcakes straight from the pan, topped with the cinnamon butter.

ALSO TRY

Tropical hotcakes – use lime and grapefruit or sweet orange and passion fruit marmalade in the hotcake mixture and in the flavoured butter, and substitute the cinnamon sugar with regular sugar mixed with a generous grating of nutmeg. Swap the ricotta for thick coconut yoghurt and serve the hotcakes drizzled with passion fruit pulp.

Extracted from MARMALADE: A Bittersweet Cookbook by Sarah Randell, published by Saltyard Books priced £20 and also available as an ebook. Visit http://potofmarmalade.uk/ to find out more.

Raspberry and cherry beer jellies

If you're having a late summer barbecue this weekend here is one of the most delicious - and surprising recipes - from my book An Appetite for Ale. I love serving them because no-one has the faintest idea they have beer in them.

Note: the jellies are deliberately left less sweet than most commercial jellies so that the flavour of the beer comes through. I find them really refreshing but you can, of course, add extra sugar if you want.

Raspberry and cherry beer jellies
These jellies are deliberately left less sweet than most commercial jellies so the sour cherry flavour of the beer comes through. I find them really refreshing but you can of course add extra sugar if you want

serves 4

4 small sheets of gelatine (about 6g or 1/4 of a 25g pack)

375ml Kriek or other cherry or raspberry flavoured beer

1 x 470g jar of pitted Morello cherries (Polish ones are best)

2-3 tbsp sugar syrup or caster sugar

125g fresh or frozen raspberries

Place the gelatine in bowl of cold water and leave to soak for 3 minutes until soft. Measure the Kriek into a jug and top up to the 400ml mark with syrup from the cherries. Pour into a saucepan and add the sugar. Put over a very low heat until the sugar has dissolved then heat until lukewarm (it shouldn’t boil). Squeeze the soaked gelatine leaves, add them to the beer mixture and stir to dissolve then set aside to cool.

Drain the remaining cherries and rinse the raspberries. Put an assortment of berries in the bottom of four glasses or glass dishes then pour over enough jelly to cover them. Put the glasses in the fridge to chill. As soon as the jelly in the glasses has set (about an hour) add another layer of fruit and jelly. Repeat until the fruit and jelly are used up, ending with a layer of jelly.

Leave in the fridge to set for another 45 minutes to an hour before serving with lightly whipped cream, sweetened with a little vanilla sugar or with vanilla ice cream

Mango and passionfruit beer jellies
Follow the above recipe substituting passionfruit beer for the Kriek (top up with tropical fruit juice, passionfruit or mango juice to make it up to the 400ml mark), then mix in about 400g of cubed mango and passionfruit pulp. Adjust sweetness to taste (you can always add a squeeze of lemon juice if it’s too sweet)

Blueberry and peach beer jellies
Follow the above recipe substituting peach flavoured beer for the Kriek (top up with white cranberry and grape juice to make it up to the 400ml mark), then mix in about 400g of cubed peach or nectarine and blueberries. Adjust sweetness to taste as above.

Image ©Vanessa Courtier