Sparkling Cider Jellies with Dried Fruits topped with Cider Syllabub

This is a very special dessert of dried fruit in a sparkling cider jelly topped with a creamy cider syllabub.

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This recipe first appeared in Sainsbury’s Magazine (Jan 1996)

Method

First of all, pare off the outer zest of the orange – preferably using a potato peeler to avoid getting any pith. Then place the orange zest, together with the prunes, apricots, sugar, cinnamon stick and 5 fl oz (150 ml) of the cider, in a small saucepan. Now bring it up to a gentle simmer and give it just 5 minutes' simmering. After that, remove it from the heat and leave the whole thing to infuse for a further 10 minutes.

While that is happening, squeeze the juice from the orange into a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatine over this and leave it to soak. Next, strain the simmered fruit through a nylon sieve set over a bowl to catch all the liquid, pressing well to extract everything, then return this liquid back to the pan, add the soaked gelatine and place the pan over a low heat, stirring constantly until the gelatine has completely dissolved and the liquid is clear.

Now, pour this mixture into a large bowl and add the remaining chilled cider. Stir well and then, when the liquid is completely cool, cover the bowl with clingfilm, pop it into the fridge for about 1½ hours or until the jelly is syrupy and just at setting point.

Meanwhile, remove the zest and cinnamon from the fruit, discard these, then cut each apricot and prune into roughly ½ inch (1 cm) pieces. When the jelly is about to set, remove it from the fridge and fold in the fruit. Then ladle it into the glasses and give each one a quick stir with a fine skewer to distribute the pieces of fruit as evenly as possible, so that they don't all stick together in the base of each glass. Now cover the glasses with clingfilm and return them to the fridge until needed.

To make the syllabub cream, place everything except the lemon juice in a small bowl and lightly whisk with an electric hand whisk until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has reached soft-peak stage. Finally, fold in the lemon juice then cover and chill the syllabub.

Top each jelly with a swirl of syllabub and a sprinkling of orange zest just before serving.