Stollen sour

Prep: 10 mins Cook: 10 mins plus soaking and cooling Difficulty: More effort Makes: 4

Sweet and sophisticated, this spiced cocktail with amaretto and madeira makes a perfect Christmas party drink, topped with a festive dried fruit cocktail stick

Ingredients

● 8 sultanas

● 1 dried apricot ,

quartered

● 4 cocktail cherries

● 4 dried cranberries

● 1 tsp orange liqueur

● 150ml amaretto

● 100ml freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

● 75ml madeira

● crushed ice

For the spiced syrup

● 100g golden

caster sugar

● thick strip pared

orange zest

● thick strip pared

lemon zest

● 1 tsp cinnamon

● 1 tsp mixed spice

● good grating of

nutmeg

You will need

● 4 cocktail sticks

Method

1 First, make the spiced syrup. Put all the ingredients in a saucepan with 100ml water. Heat gently until boiling, then turn the heat off and allow to cool. Strain through a fine sieve into a jug and chill until needed. Can be made 1 week ahead.

2 While the syrup is cooling, tip the sultanas, apricot, cherries and cranberries into a small bowl and add the orange liqueur. Leave to steep for around 30 mins (or up to 24 hrs).

3 When you’re ready to serve, take 4 cocktail sticks and thread 2 sultanas, a piece of dried apricot, a cherry and cranberry onto each one. Fill 4 tumblers with crushed ice.

4 Pour the amaretto, lemon juice, madeira and 50ml of the spiced syrup into a cocktail shaker (along with any leftover orange liqueur) with a handful of ice. Shake well until the outside of the cocktail shaker feels cold, then strain into the prepared glasses. Add the dried fruit cocktail sticks and serve immediately. NUTRITION: PER GLASS

Kcal 259 ● Fat 0g ● Saturates 0g ● Carbs 44g

● Sugars 43g ● Fibre 0g ● Protein 1g ● Salt 0.8g