A Winter-Summer pudding, twelfth night, thirteenth night and a mulled wine sorbet.

So you are equipped, having been recently gifted with a cure-all-exfoliating-flannel, confident and braced against the shower wall endeavouring to scrub away your sins?. Your purse is in denial, your body aches from over indulgence and work beckons.

Gym subscriptions soar, power yoga books fly off the shelves. We chastise and simultaneously balm our inflammation. We pretend not to delude ourselves yet ……. Yet our internal linguistics assert, panic, gripe and yo-yo in disapproval. A better paced restorative regime is the wise path forward. There’s no quick fix to smooth the jerky peaks and troughs of life. To find proportion and soften the curve will be beneficial to your legacy-of-self and a true gift to those who care about you. Kick reticence from the recent, deepest recesses of excesses. It’s a lovely brand new year to treasure and enjoy.

Winter gifts us time to focus our emotional toolbox as we catch up on some of life’s simple pleasures, for me this includes cooking nourishing foods and ideas flow from the ‘use-ups’. Hence a winter-summer pudding on twelfth night, posted on thirteenth night, I’ve thrown in a quick wassail-esque mulled wine sorbet and a naughty little ice cream too.

And so in the bleak mid Winter comes a little ray of sunshine on Twelfth and Thirteenth nights respectively.

I’m quite partial to a bit of BS on occasion (who knew?) William Shakespeare dear, Bill to his chums, please behave. One quote from Twelfth Night. “Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit.” Reigns eternal and I quoth ” Oh she wisheth she took-eth heed for self, whilst having a twang on her loot, spinet or twain.”

Another goodie is “Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.” I’m still waiting for that one but it works splendidly for ice cream particularly the part where its thrust upon us.

Brioche lined pudding moulds, filled with defrosted berries from the bounteous autumn harvest, come into their own with the aid of a mulled wine reduction. Mulled spiced apple juice too if you’re off the hooch. Thats said, the alcohol will be boiled away?

Much to the joy of the Tea Boy I have made several of the following puds and popped them into the freezer.

For the syrup: A whole, half or jolly dregs of a bottle of store-bought mulled wine is poured into a small saucepan and once brought to a simmer is left to gently reduce to a syrupy goo.

Allow to reduce to as thick or thin as desired.

The fruits: can be fresh, canned in juice or syrup, defrosted frozen berries work well or use in combination. Just taste check for sweetness and adjust to suit your needs or whims. I prefer using maple syrup to sweeten, it avoids the acrid saccharine smack in your taste receptors and gives a lovely, cuddly depth of flavour. Combine with the mulled wine syrup and fruit juice to suit personal taste. Dip slices of brioche into the berry juice mix and line small pudding basins or ramekins. I use small disposable ones which are spuriously reused time and time again. A little non stick spray or butter ensures that they don’t stick if you are concerned, but I don’t bother. Some folk line the receptacle with cling film but, to my mind, the finished puddings look as if they have issues with cellulite and who needs reminding of that?

The sorbet and ice cream: Should you be blessed with some ‘left over juice’ it can be frozen into ice cubes and whizzed in a food processor to make a lip-smacking mulled wine sorbet (well aided and abetted by the maple syrup) but another alternative would be adding a little cold double cream or a smidgen of custard which makes an insta-ice-cream too. Use roughly equal measure, by volume, of double cream or custard to the frozen cubes. Whizz, serve, job done, mulled wine ice cream.

The puddings: Start with a circle, cut for the base, and over lap the slides with the wetted brioche. Reserve some of the juice and cut tops using an empty basin as a template. The ones shown are made entirely out of circles, very Beryl Cook? Once lined and filled with fruit, add the dipped brioche lid, then wrap the whole thing tightly in cling film. Pop them into the fridge for a few hours, over night or into the freezer to store for longer. Reserve some of the goo, as I so eloquently describe, as it is great for plate decorating, ponds and squiggles galore. It also happens to be mighty tasty.

Since we are considering ‘being good’ this option makes small amounts in a jiffy. You aren’t left with bucket loads, simpering and pleading to be eaten each time you open the freezer door.

It could be further considered that a little of what you fancy does you good…. making the thirteenth night lucky for some?