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Christmas Ice Cream

© Pat Churchill

I was watching TV last night and an advertisement came on for the definitive Christmas song collection on CD. As they bounced from sample to sample I could feel the agitation rising. Feliz Navidad. I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas, Snoopy's Christmas, Winter Wonderland...

These are all songs I associate with the angst of Christmas shopping, trudging from store to store getting more and more despondent, feet sore and (because it's summer here) getting hotter and more frazzled by the minute. And following me on my joyless journey are the jolly Christmas songs with their subliminal message - only six more shopping days to go. Hurry. Buy, buy. Catch the mail. Your children will be scarred for life if you don't make the effort. Your mother will feel neglected.

What makes it even worse is that the Christmas harassment starts earlier and earlier each year. I was holidaying in Australia in mid-October and they were already putting up the Christmas trees.

I am almost tempted to buy the Christmas collection CD just so I can stamp on it, run it over with the car, belt it with the meat mallet - and feel so much better.

At least this year I don't have to worry about cooking Christmas dinner. My sister-in-law kindly volunteered to do that. As there will be only four of us present instead of the usual seven or eight it will be a fairly quiet affair. My contribution will be the dessert and so I thought I would opt for something cold instead of the usual flaming plum pudding. Here is one possibility.

Christmas Ice Cream

1 1/2 cups mixed dried fruit
1/4 cup mixed peel
1/4 cup chopped preserved ginger
1/2 cup glace cherries
2 teaspoons mixed spice
1/2 cup dry sherry
1/4 cup Cointreau
2 litres French vanilla ice cream

Place the dried fruit, peel, ginger and chopped cherries in a bowl and sprinkle over the sherry and Cointreau. Set aside in a cool place for two or three days - or at least overnight.

Next day stir the mixed spice through the fruit.

Soften the ice cream and fold in the fruit, ensuring that everything is well combined. Put in a suitable container, return to the freezer and allow to freeze overnight. Alternatively the mixture can be spooned into individual-serve containers such as dariole moulds.

Serve garnished with a cherry half and a couple of mint leaves.