Christmas Presents

Tablet and Coconut ice

I normally really like Christmas.  The lights, food, presents (and sometimes even being with family).  Its a time of year where I spend lots of time thinking about others – what do they want for Christmas? Should I give my diabetic Dad sweets he likes even though they’ll eventually kill him? How are we going to get to Kent/Cumbria/Back home as quickly as possible? and of course what are we going to eat on the way.

But this year it all got a bit much.  At the risk of sounding curmudgeonly I found myself wondering why I was shopping for Christmas presents for people who pretty much could have bought things themselves if they wanted them.  So partly to dispel the spirit of Scrooge I decided to put in time as well as money and made some presents for my family.

 

The real inspiration was my Nanny.  She’s 93 and in her younger days she was a dinner lady and great cook. I particularly remember her cakes and puddings – suet based of course, and very traditionally British.  At 93 there are various things she can’t eat but she loves coconut ice and fudge (both of which require condensed milk which kept Mr Vitty happily scraping out the residue of the tin).  They also sparked a fit of Christmas nostalga and became 'leftovers' for those family who 'don't do presents'.

Coconut Ice isn’t really cooking – more just mixing stuff together.  I used the Carnation Coconut Ice Recipe.  I made the traditional pink and white version but also made some chocolate by mixing in about 50g of melted dark chocolate to ¼ of the mixture.  I haven’t had coconut ice for years and it was a real taste of my childhood.  The most difficult thing about it was getting the mixture level in the tin (I failed miserably - do cooks spirit levels exist?)  Although I enjoyed it the texture wasn’t quite right, I think mainly due to the size of the dessicated coconut.  If I make it again I think I’ll either by shorter strands of coconut or blitz it slightly in my little chopping machine to make it a little smaller

 

The fudge was a Scottish Tablet recipe. Like many Scottish versions of sweets it’s fudge with bells on.  The texture of tablet is more crystalline than English fudge – probably due to the large amount of sugar that also makes it tooth achingly sweet.  I used a recipe that’s written in an old diary from 1994 that I scribbled down various recipes from friends, family, magazines etc.  This recipe dates from the time I spent at University in Edinburgh and brought back memories of good friends and battered mars bars.

Tablet Recipe

7oz Condensed Milk

1 Tablespoon Butter

2 lb Sugar

1 Cup Milk

Put all the ingredients in a large saucepan and bring slowly to the boil allowing the sugar to completely dissolve. Boil slowly until the mixture caramelises and reaches the soft ball stage.  Remove the pan from the heat and beat until the mixture begins to crystalise at the edges.  Pour into a buttered tin and allow to cool.

Although I've always made this without additional flavouring I think adding some stem ginger, vanilla or perhaps dried cranberries just before putting it in the tin could be nice.