Over the festive season, we eat meals and ingredients which are neglected throughout the rest of the year. In the UK, there is a big focus on spiced fruit flavors in desserts and sweet treats, which go beautifully with yogurt, cream or ice cream. Check out these three sweet staples of a British wintertime menu, and see if you can track these down for yourself to try.
Mince Pies
The ‘mince’ in these pies refers to the mincemeat, an old name for the delicious sweet filling of spiced and sweetened fruit. This filling will often include sultanas, currants, and raisins, and may also involve some candied orange peel too. Encased in rich shortcrust pastry, mince pies are a real treat of the festive season.
Christmas Pudding
This rich and indulgent dessert is often steamed (which can take hours depending on its size) and then soaked with brandy and set alight at the table to create a show-stopping finale to a festive feast! Like the mince pies, the sweetened fruit features heavily here. This dessert is ideal served with vanilla ice cream, custard, yogurt or cream—the dairy helps to temper down the intense richness of the pudding.
Melt In The Middle Desserts
For those who aren’t so keen on the flavors of spiced fruit, another dessert which gets brought out a lot at this time of year is a chocolate melt in the middle pudding. Comprising of moist chocolate sponge with a rich chocolate cream at its centre, this pudding is incredible served with some cream or ice cream at the end of the meal.
Christmas is certainly a time for indulgence, so if you’re curious to try some traditional British desserts now is the ideal time of year!
