ON THE PLATE A really cool yule treat

There’s never enough time is there? No matter the resolutions we all make to be more organised – oh well, at least we had good intentions!

So, if time is precious, here’s a quick and easy dessert to enjoy. So easy, the only tricky part is deciding who you’ll handball this job to.

Even the blokes who claim their only culinary expertise is to turn the snags on the barby will be able to add this recipe to their repertoire of skills! They’ll proudly puff out their ‘chests’ like a barrel-shaped  Santa to take the accolades.

I’ve tricked it up a little bit – in terms of the presentation – but it tastes just as yummy simply scooped out onto serving plates, and drizzled with chocolate sauce, or with a bright and colourful side serve of berries!

So, here’s the drum. It helps if you put on some Bing Crosby Christmas carols – or similar – just to get into spirit of it all. In fact, even better, drag out that Don Burrows Cool Yule CD – yep, that’s even better – ’cause we’re taking the warm southern hemisphere Christmas route here. No more hot and steamy faces as we try to
find a  tiny corner to tuck another morsel of Christmas pud into.

This spicy and fruit-studded ice cream makes such a light and lovely change.

In fact, you can ‘set’ it in the pudding   bowl you normally drag out from the back of the cupboard each year if you must cling to tradition.

Line the bowl with strips of baking of baking paper, then cling film to cover the  bowl entirely. Lift the ice cream out of the freezer about 20 minutes or so before serving dessert on Christmas Day. Drizzle a generous amount of chocolate sauce over it. Where’s that sprig of holly for the top?

Or, as an alternative, I made cone shapes from baking paper and tipped a crushed Crunchie chocolate bar into the cone before adding the softened ice cream mix.

Set in the freezer and remove these festive cones only a few minutes before you plan to serve them. Being smaller, they won’t need to “soften” too much before being devoured!

So, I hope this Christmas is a joyous one for you, and that you get the priorities right: savouring time with the people who are special to you.

My wish is that we’ve all done just a little something for someone else, because that’s where the real warmth of the spirit of Christmas comes from.

May your festive season be really
cool.

I wish I knew the providence of this Christmas To-Do-List, but I want to share it with you anyway as I think it captures what we all could or should aspire to!

Christmas To-do-list: Be present; wrap someone in a hug; send peace; donate food; be the light. Love it! Happy Christmas to you all!