Quince Marmalade

Roll over Seville orange and make way for quince.  My new favourite ingredient for marmalade is not new at all.  It was the principle constituent in the original marmalades.

The resulting marmalade is cheek-tinglingly tasty.  Here's my recipe for about 24 x 190ml jars:

Ingredients

2.4kg quinces

600g lemons

1.5 litres water

2.5kg sugar

Method

Halve the lemons lengthways and slice as thick as you like the shreds in your 
marmalade, then place in the jam pan with the water. 

Quarter the quinces, remove the cores and slice like the lemons. Put the slices in 
the jam pan and put the cores, tied up in muslin, in the pan as well. 

Bring to the boil and simmer for 45 minutes.

Remove the bag of cores, squeeze the pectin rich liquid out of it in to the jam pan. 

Add the sugar and boil to setting point.  

This shouldn't take too long. Test by placing a spoonful onto a cold plate (keep a 
few handy in the freezer in advance) and after a minute, push it with a finger. If the 
surface wrinkles then it is done.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. This allows the 
marmalade to begin to set so that the fruit and rind doesn't settle too much when 
poured into the jars. 

Sterilise clean jars and lids by placing in an oven at 130°C for ten minutes. 

Pour into the jars and put the lids on. 

Stollen Recipe

Stollen

Ingredients 1

500g strong white bread flour

100g caster sugar

1 sachet fast action yeast

10g salt

150g soft butter

250ml full fat milk

Ingredients 2

2 tsp mixed spice

grated zest of 1 lemon

1 tsp cardamom seeds

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

30ml amaretto

100g blanched almonds

200g raisins / currants

125g mixed peel

1/2 tub glace cherries

Ingredients 3

225g melted butter

400g marzipan

Ingredients 4

25g melted butter

icing sugar

Method

• Mix ingredients 1 to a dough.
• Mix ingredients 2 in a bowl then place the dough on top.
• Kneed the dried fruit and spices into the dough.
• Cling film and leave to double in size.
• On a lightly floured top: form the dough into a 16 inch square.
• Brush the top with melted butter (ingredients 3).
• Form the marzipan into a 16 inch by 10 inch rectangle.
• Place in the middle of the dough with a 3 inch border, top and bottom.
• Roll the dough up from bottom to top.
• Cut the rolled dough into 3 equal lengths.
• Leave to rise for an hour.
• Bake the loaves for 45 minutes at 170 C fan / Gas 5 / 190 C conventional.
• Brush with melted butter and dust with icing sugar.
• Leave to cool.
  
  

Snowball pudding

A family food tradition at Christmas from my wife's side of the family, I was smitten with the first spoonful and was keen to keep this tradition going.  Far simpler than a standard Christmas pud and less heavy.

Ingredients

11 oz can mandarin oranges
2 oz sultanas
2 oz raisins
2 Tbsp sherry (Harvey's Bristol Cream)
3 oz glacé cherries
4 oz butter
4 oz icing sugar
2 oz ground almonds
8 trifle sponges
2 Tbsp milk
5 fl oz double cream

Method

Lightly butter a 1 pint pudding basin.
Drain mandarins.
Place sultanas and raisins in a small bowl and add the sherry.
Cut the cherries into quarters and chop the mandarins.
Cream the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy.
Fold in ground almonds and cherries.
Crumble in the sponges and fold in the mandarins, sultanas, raisins and sherry.
Place this mixture into the buttered pudding bowl, pressing down firmly and levelling the top with the back of a spoon.
Cover with foil and chill in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Remove from the fridge and uncover.
Run a knife round the top and dip in warm water for 30 seconds before upending onto a serving plate.
Whip the cream and cover the pudding to look like a snowball.
Serve as is or decorate as you like.

Merry Christmas!