HONEYCOMB

Use a very large aluminium saucepan and don’t worry about the shocking state of the pan afterwards; it only needs a five-minute soak in very hot water and, hey presto, it’s clean again.

8 heaped tbsp sugar
8 heaped tbsp golden syrup
4 tbsp water
4 rounded tsp bicarbonate of soda

METHOD

• 1.Lightly oil a sheet of greaseproof paper and put it in a shallow bowl, plate or cake tin.
• 2.Put the sugar, golden syrup and water in a large saucepan over a moderate heat, mix it all together and stir continuously with a wooden spoon.
• 3.Let the syrup boil for up to 5 minutes – keep your eye on the clock – by which time it should be a rich, golden brown (but not too dark, you don’t want it burnt).
• 4.Quickly add the bicarbonate of soda, still stirring rapidly, and get the pan off the heat as the honeycomb froths and rises up the pan.
• 5.Scrape the honeycomb onto the greaseproof paper immediately and leave to set for about an hour before breaking it up into chunks.

GINGER BEER

I first made ginger beer in primary school with the same teacher who taught us to make miniature pancakes on top of an old baked bean tin with a candle underneath... (Mrs Jones, where are you now? And can you imagine what the health & safety brigade would say about candles in the classroom today?)

Anyway, I remember being bitterly disappointed after all the waiting, never having tried ginger beer before, and thinking it tasted revolting. Now I like it, and this process is so straightforward it’s a good project for kids to have a go at during those long school holidays – or you can start on a Saturday and finish it off the following weekend.

Like other beer and ciders, ginger beer can also be used in cooking (see Ginger Beer Pork and Honey & Ginger Glazed Carrots in Chapter 3: Make Dinner, Not Excuses).

METHOD
TO START:
1/2 pint (125 ml) fresh, cold water
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 heaped tsp soft brown sugar

• 1.Put the cold water, ginger and sugar in a clean, dry jar with a tight-fitting lid, and give it a good shake.
• 2.Every day for the next 7 DAYS add 1 heaped teaspoon of ginger and 1 level teaspoon of sugar to the jar; then holding the jar by the lid, gently swish round for a few seconds before leaving it to stand.

TO MAKE THE GINGER BEER (LEAVE FOR AT LEAST 12 HOURS AFTER THE FINAL ADDITION OF SUGAR AND GINGER):
2 x 2 litre bottles of still water
2 lemons
1 1/2 mugs of soft brown sugar
3 mugs of boiling water
1 level teaspoon of dried yeast

N.B. To make an alcoholic version, add a double measure of whisky (2 x 35 ml) – or a miniature – to a 2 litre bottle of ginger beer at the final stage.

• 1.Fill (or half fill) the kettle with water from one of the 2 litre bottles of mineral water.
• 2.Using an old, clean tea towel, carefully strain the ginger and sugar mixture from the jar through the cloth, into a very large mixing bowl. If the tea towel is very old and threadbare, fold it in half so as not to let too much of the sediment through.
• 3.Squeeze both lemons through a clean part of the cloth – squeezing the cloth gently with your fingers to let as much juice into the bowl as you can.
• 4.Pour three mugs of boiling water into the bowl and add the yeast and sugar, stirring for a couple of minutes until all the sugar has dissolved.
• 5.Allow the liquid to stand for half an hour, then strain through another old, clean tea towel (or thoroughly rinse the first one and use it again; doesn’t matter if it’s damp) and add the entire contents of the second 2 litre bottle of water, plus whatever remains from the first bottle, and mix well.
• 6.Use a jug or funnel to pour the ginger beer into the two 2 litre bottles (adding the whisky if you’re using it) and refrigerate. As soon as the ginger beer is chilled, it’s ready to drink. (If you find there’s still a lot of sediment in the bottle after 24 hours, strain the ginger beer through an old, clean tea towel again, rinse out the bottle and pour the drink back in.)

TOFFEE APPLES

The amounts given here are enough for eight toffee apples but it’s a good idea to make a greater quantity of toffee than you need so you’ve got more to play around with; the syrup thickens very rapidly as it cools, which makes it trickier to get a nice, even layer of toffee over the last few apples.

MAKES 8 TOFFEE APPLES:
12 oz soft brown or caster sugar
2 oz (50 g) butter
4 oz (100 g) golden syrup
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 pint (125 ml) water

METHOD

• 1.Lightly grease a large sheet of greaseproof paper and have a large bowl of cold water ready beside the stove.
• 2.Wash apples in lukewarm water and dry thoroughly, then push a lolly stick into each one, where the stalk used to be, about halfway through.
• 3.Put all the ingredients into a large saucepan and stir over a low heat for a few minutes until the sugar has completely dissolved.
• 4.Increase the heat to medium-high and allow the syrup to boil fairly rapidly for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• 5.After 20 minutes (not a minute more with this quantity) drop about half a teaspoon of the boiling syrup into the cold water; if it hardens immediately it’s ready. A fudgier sort of toffee means it needs to be boiled a little longer – coat the apples with too-soft toffee and you’ll never get it off your teeth.
• 6.TEST AGAIN AFTER ONE MINUTE.
• 7.When the toffee is ready, take the pan off the heat and tilt it slightly, making it easier to dip the apples.
• 8.Swirl the apples around in the syrup one at a time, as quickly as you can, then plunge them straight into the cold water and leave them upside down on the greaseproof paper to dry completely.

BOTTLING IT

For chutney, fruit spread and grapefruit curd (see below) the jars always need to be warm – regardless of whether the produce is going in hot or cold – in order to prevent mildew forming. You can warm the jars by rinsing in very hot water and drying them quickly, but an easier way is to put the jars in the microwave; about 45 seconds (or 1 minute) on high should do it.

CHUTNEY

This is great as a dip, or with cheese, jacket potatoes and cold meats, or try adding a couple of spoonfuls to curry, pasta sauce and nut roasts for extra flavour.

You should get about six standard size jam jars out of this lot, so if you want to make less, halve the quantities.

5–6 large cooking apples (i.e. Bramleys)
1 head of celery
2 onions
1lb sultanas
1 pint (500 ml) brown (or white) malt vinegar
1/2 pint (250 ml) water
12 oz (350 g) Demerara sugar
1 level tbsp salt
1 heaped tsp mixed spice

METHOD

• 1.Wash the sultanas in warm water.
• 2.Top and tail the celery and remove the leaves, peel the onions, then roughly chop the vegetables into small chunks. (Leave the apples till the end to stop them going brown.)
• 3.Pour the vinegar and water into a large saucepan and add the prepared vegetables, sultanas, salt, sugar and spice.
• 4.Cut the apples into quarters (or even smaller), peel, core, cut into small chunks and add to the pan.
• 5.Give everything a good stir and bring to the boil over a moderate heat, then turn the heat right down and simmer very gently for 1 1/2– 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
• 6.When the chutney looks ready, i.e. thick, pulpy and sweet smelling, pour it into a large bowl, cover with an old, clean tea towel and leave to stand for at least a few hours, and preferably overnight.
• 7.Bottle in warm, dry jars (see above) and store in the cupboard.

SOFT FRUIT SPREAD

Jam making for absolute beginners; this is as easy as it gets, but because it doesn’t keep quite as well as regular jam, which is made with twice the amount of sugar, store it in the fridge and use within a couple of weeks once the jar is opened.

Any soft fruit, or a mixture of soft fruits will do, i.e. raspberries, blackberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants and cherries. If you get the chance to pick blackberries for free at the end of August/beginning of September, make the most of it; they freeze well and you can do lots with them.

You should get a couple of jars from this amount of fruit and sugar, so increase the quantities and use a larger pan if you want to make more.

2 lbs (1 kg) soft fruit
1lb (450 g) granulated sugar
2 lemons

METHOD

• 1.Put the fruit in a saucepan with the sugar, juice from both lemons and a little water – unless the fruit is already very wet and running with juice, in which case you may not need any – and heat very gently for a few minutes, stirring often with a wooden spoon, to give the sugar time to dissolve.
• 2.Turn the heat up and boil fairly rapidly for 20–30 minutes until the jam thickens and gels and you can separate it in the saucepan for a couple of seconds when you run the wooden spoon through the middle.
• 3.Remove the jam from the heat and let it stand for about 10 minutes, then pour it into warm, dry jars.
• 4.Leave to cool for another 10 minutes, then cover.

GRAPEFRUIT CURD

Homemade fruit curd is similar to shop-bought, but less solid, with a purer taste and texture. If you’d rather have a thicker, jelly-like curd, add a teaspoon of cornflour mixed with a tablespoonful of water and a few drops of lemon juice at the end; thick or thin, it’s equally good on bread and crackers or as a filling in cakes and pastries. To make lemon curd, just use 2 lemons (rind and juice) instead of one grapefruit.

MAKES ROUGHLY ONE STANDARD SIZE JAM JAR:
1 grapefruit – grated rind and juice
8 oz (225 g) caster sugar
3 oz (75 g) butter
3 eggs

METHOD

• 1.Melt the butter in a saucepan over a moderate heat.
• 2.Add the sugar with the finely grated rind and juice of the grapefruit and stir for a couple of minutes until all the sugar has dissolved.
• 3.Pour in the beaten egg and stir briskly and continuously with a wooden spoon to prevent the egg separating while the mixture thickens. (Don’t panic if any little white flecks of egg do develop; you can get rid of these when you strain the curd at the end.)
• 4.After about 10 minutes the curd should have reached the consistency of custard, which means it’s ready.
• 5.Strain through a sieve into a measuring jug and pour straight into the warm jar. Leave to cool for about 30 minutes, then put the lid on and store it in the fridge.

FIGGY PUDDING

I’ve always liked the idea of Christmas pudding made with figs (as the song suggests) but by far the best thing about this pudding – apart from the short list of ingredients – is the fact that it doesn’t need time to mature, meaning you can make it a couple of days before Christmas when you’re feeling Christmassy, rather than in October when you can’t bear the thought of winter, let alone ‘Winterval’ (as it will never be known in my house).

The quantities here make three 1 lb puddings, so if you only want one large pudding to get you and your family through Christmas and Boxing Day, halve all the measurements except for the sherry and make one big pudding in a 1 1/2 –2 lb pudding basin, in which case you should steam it for the maximum four hours.

Cover each pudding with a double thickness of greaseproof paper with a pleat in the middle to allow for any expansion, then put a layer of foil over the top of the greaseproof, also with a pleat in the middle, and fold the foil tightly around the rim, or secure with string.

Finally, if you want to put a coin in for good luck (£1 must be the going rate these days), wrap it in foil and pop it in before covering the pudding for the first time.

FOR 3 X 1 LB PUDDINGS:
1 lb (400–500 g) fresh white breadcrumbs
2 oz (50 g) self-raising flour
4 oz (100 g) soft brown sugar
4 oz (100 g) suet
1 lb dried figs
1 lb mixed fruit
3 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp salt
1 oz (25 g) flaked almonds
1/4 pint (125 ml) sherry or brandy
3 fl oz (90 ml) milk
2 eggs, beaten

METHOD

• 1.Grease the pudding basins with butter.
• 2.Mix the breadcrumbs with the sifted flour, suet, sugar, salt and spices in a very large mixing bowl.
• 3.Wash the mixed fruit in warm water, dry thoroughly in an old, clean tea towel and chop the figs into small pieces (wash them too, unless the packaging states ‘ready to eat’).
• 4.Crumble up the flaked almonds with your hands and add them to the bowl with the fruit, followed by the sherry, milk and beaten eggs.
• 5.Stir thoroughly for a minute, making sure everything is combined, then put the mixture into the prepared pudding basins, cover and leave to stand overnight.
• 6.Steam the puddings for 3–4 hours (depending on size) in a saucepan of boiling water, topping up the level of water every now and then to prevent the saucepan from boiling dry.
• 7.After steaming, allow the puddings to cool for at least 1 hour before removing the foil and greaseproof paper and covering with fresh foil and greaseproof paper.
• 8.Store puddings at room temperature and steam again for a further 2 hours before serving with brandy butter, custard or cream.

BRANDY BUTTER

There’s no reason why you can’t make brandy butter with sherry instead of brandy or, as my dad often did, with whisky.
3 oz (75 g) unsalted butter
3 oz (75 g) icing sugar
2 tbsp spirit

METHOD

• 1.Keep the butter at room temperature, then beat it in a mixing bowl with an electric hand whisk until it’s light and fluffy – or use a wooden spoon, if you’ve got enough strength left in your arm (it’s Christmas remember).
• 2.Gradually beat in the icing sugar, followed by the brandy or other spirit, and chill in the fridge for an hour before serving.

FUDGE

There’s something upmarket and slightly sophisticated about fudge compared with your average chewy toffee, but although it gives the impression that it’s been made with great skill by someone who really knows their stuff, all you need to do is spend a few minutes stirring butter, sugar and milk together while you think about something more important. Just like the Honey, Lemon & Yoghurt Cake in Chapter 8, any kind of homemade fudge – chocolate, coffee, fruity, extra creamy, coconut – not only looks good, it has the magical effect of making the person who made it look good too. Result!

The quantities given here make 36 good-size cubes in an 8″ (21 cm) square cake tin, or similar, but if you haven’t made fudge before and are a bit unsure, you may want to make only half this amount, in which case you shouldn’t need to boil the mixture for any longer than 15 minutes (start testing after 10 minutes).

Once you’ve taken the fudge off the heat it’s better to cool it down quickly rather than beating it by hand for at least another 10 minutes while you stand around wondering if it’s going to work, so stand the pan in a shallow bowl of cold water (the washing up bowl will do) or, if you can bear to get another pan dirty, scrape the fudge into a clean, cool one. After a couple of minutes the fudge will start to thicken and lose its shine, becoming dull and slightly grainy – exactly how you’d expect fudge to look – then all you have to do is add the flavouring and get it in the tin.

MAKES 36 CUBES:
2 lb (1 kg) sugar
6 oz (175 g) unsalted butter
1 tin (410 g) of evaporated milk
Roughly 1/4 pint (125 ml) milk

METHOD

• 1.Melt the butter in a large saucepan while you lightly grease and long-strip-line a square or rectangular cake tin.
• 2.Pour the tin of evaporated milk into a measuring jug then top up to the 1 pint (500 ml) mark with the milk.
• 3.Add the milk and sugar to the pan over a low heat and leave it for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved.
• 4.Bring to the boil, then boil rapidly for 15–20 minutes, stirring continuously, until the syrup reaches the ‘soft ball stage’, meaning 1/2 teaspoon of syrup dropped into a cup of cold water holds its shape and looks and feels like a piece of soft toffee when you squeeze it.
• 5.Remove the pan from the heat and allow the fudge to cool for a few minutes (see above), beating almost constantly, then add the flavouring and scrape it into the prepared tin.
• 6.Mark the fudge into squares after about 15 minutes; leave it in the tin for at least 2 hours to cool completely, then lift it out, cut it up and store in an airtight tin.

COFFEE & VANILLA FUDGE:
1 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 1 tbsp boiling water
2 tsp vanilla extract

• 1.While the fudge is cooling, quickly dissolve 1 tsp of instant coffee in a cup with 1 tbsp of boiling water, then mix with the vanilla extract and thoroughly beat the liquid into the fudge.

CHOCOLATE MARBLE FUDGE:
3 oz (75 g) plain chocolate

• 1.Break the chocolate into pieces and melt in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water while you make the fudge.
• 2.As soon as the fudge is cool and ready to go into the tin, pour the chocolate into the middle of the fudge and stir only once or twice in clean, sweeping movements, to create a marbled effect. Pour the fudge into the tin and leave to set.