When our children were young we lived in Kent and made some wonderful German friends. They introduced us to the European tradition of celebrating the main Christmas meal on Christmas Eve after the Christmas Eve service. The meal was traditionally fish, usually salmon. Christmas Day for them was a quiet day after the celebration of all the activity of Christmas Eve night, shepherds, angels, Jesus' birth, food, presents etc.
As part of our meal - to make a change from the usual plum pudding - we made an ice cream Christmas Pudding! This has remained a firm favourite and is requested every year by our children and now their children. Here's the recipe:
For the Boozy Fruit For the Cranberry Syrup Topping
85g raisins 85g caster sugar
85g sultanas 2 tbsp brandy
85g pack dried cherries 100g fresh or frozen cranberries
100g fresh or frozen cranberries
6 tbsp brandy
2 tbsp dark muscovado sugar For the Ice Cream
2 cinnamon sticks, snapped in half 1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped out
¼ tsp ground ginger 3 large egg yolks
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg 100g golden caster sugar
¼ tsp caraway seeds oil, for greasing the bowl
4 cloves 6 ginger nut biscuits, broken into chunks
600ml pot double cream zest ½ lemon and ½ an orange
STEP 1 The Boozy Fruit
Mix all of the boozy fruit ingredients together in a bowl, then microwave on High for 3 mins. Stir, then leave to cool completely, ideally overnight.
STEP 2 The Seriously Healthy Ice Cream
For the ice cream, put the spices in a saucepan and gently heat for 3 mins or so, stirring once or twice, until fragrant. Tip in the cream and vanilla seeds and bring to the boil. Meanwhile, whisk the yolks and sugar together. Whisk the hot cream into the egg mix, then tip the mix into a clean pan and gently heat for 5-10 mins until it coats the back of a wooden spoon. Pour everything into a bowl or plastic container and leave to cool completely. If possible, chill it overnight as this will infuse the ice cream with a stronger Christmassy spice flavour. Pass the mix through a sieve into another container, then freeze for 5 hrs, stirring in the frozen edges with a fork every hour until you have a smooth, thick mix. Oil a 1.4 or 1.2-litre pudding basin and line with cling film. Drain the boozy fruit in a sieve, mix the fruit with the ginger nuts and zests, then quickly stir into the ice cream. Tip into the basin, cover the surface with cling film, then freeze for at least 6 hrs.
STEP 3 The Beautiful Berry Topping
Put the topping ingredients into a small pan, gently heat until the sugar dissolves, then simmer for 2 mins. Cool completely. To turn the pudding out, let it sit at room temperature for about 15 mins, then turn onto a plate. Ease the cling film away. Spoon the cranberries and syrup over to serve.
