If you don´t like cake, or stodgy puddings, a great alternative at Christmas is ice cream. To me there is something very decadent, almost naughty, about eating ice cream in the depths of winter. Of course, if you live somewhere that Christmas falls in the middle of summer, then it´s even more perfect.
We´ll be eating this not as an alternative to pudding, but as well as! I´ll serve it with my Light Christmas Pudding and Boozy Fruits….and who knows, a few mince pies may sneak onto the table too.
It´s very easy to prepare, and can obviously made ahead of the Big Day. It´s another Delia Smith´s Christmas recipe, which I have tweaked a little over the years.
The night before you want to make the ice cream, soak about 100g of your favourite mixed candied peel (chopped) and raisins, plus some glace cherries in about 6 tablespoons of rum or your favourite liqueur and stir in 3 tablespoons of honey. I also used dried apricots and cranberries – it´s up to you!
For the ice cream, using an electric whisk, beat 4 egg yolks with 100g of caster sugar until pale. Grate about 75g of creamed coconut into 400ml of double or whipping cream and heat it gently until the coconut has melted. Stir over the egg mixture while whisking (it should thicken a little, but don´t worry if it doesn´t) then when it has cooled a little stir in 200ml of thick, creamy, Greek yogurt and add about a teaspoon of vanilla essence (optional). Finally stir in the fruit and alcohol with honey and pour into a 1litre pudding basin. Cover with a lid or a few layers of foil and freeze.
When it is about half frozen (it took about 8 hours in my very packed freezer) spoon the mixture out into a bowl and mix it gently to distribute the fruit which will have sunk to the bottom, then pack it back into the pudding basin. Cover, freeze and forget about it until you are ready to serve.
This ice cream stays fairly soft, so you can turn it out and serve it immediately. I usually hold a hot wet tea towel around the bowl for a few seconds before turning it out. It doesn´t look quite as pretty in the photo today as it will on the Big Day on a beautiful plate and drizzled with boozy fruit.
Chica Andaluza 
That looks amazing – your parents are going to have such a great time 😉
I hope so…I know they´ll enjoy the two different celebrations we´re having ie. Spanish Christmas Eve and “our” Christmas Day!
This a beauty. I will try this! Thanks.
Thank you, glad you like it! Can highly recommend it as it´s so tasty 🙂
MMMMMMMMMMMMMM… Ice cream! I saw a “pudding” on a magazine cover, and basically, it’s a blowl… lined with slices of cake rolls, then softened ice cream is placed inside. Then it’s sealed with those slices, then frozen.
Then….. tip it upside down, pour white chocolate on top (to make it look like the traditional thing), and SERVE! I think I might down-size it so instead of using 2 L ice cream, I’ll use only 1… 🙂
Oh my, that sounds good! Maybe I´ll have to have a freezer tidy up and see if I can squeeze this one in too 🙂
I love the way you think.
Well, it is Christmas!
Ice cream and boozy fruit…YUM!
Thanks – glad you like it!
That’s beautiful! I’ll bet you could make individual servings in small molds, too….
Filing this one away for future reference!
Individual ones would look good turned out – what a great idea!
What a great dessert, Tanya, and fitting way to end your holiday meal. Your parents are going to love it! I can almost hear their “Ooohs” and “Aaahs” as you bring this to the table.
I hope so! They´re here now and all we are talking about is food 🙂
Hi Tanya, Your ice cream sounds so good. It sounds very much like one that I get called tuti fruiti. One question…is creamed coconut just a piece of coconut or is it a product that you buy?
It is very much like tutti frutti or even cassata! Creamed coconut is something you buy – it´s basically a lump or block of compacted coconut, so if you had fresh or the thick paste from a tin of coconut milk then that would be good too I think.
Thank you for the explanation.
You´re welcome!
Wooah!! Rum.. candied fruit.. This is a perfect Christmas ice cream and it’s so cute shaped like a Christmas pudding!!
Clever eh?! And so easy too, which is always good when you have 101 other things to do 🙂
You can’t go wrong with boozy fruit.
This looks really great!
Happy Christmas Tanya!
You´re so right, thanks JamieAnne and all the best to you and your family for a wonderful Christmas 🙂
That looks gorgeous! You could also just put a scoop in a cornet when you’re in front of the tv watching the Christmas film 🙂
Good plan – hope it´s The Wizard of Oz!!
Oooh….this so works for my Christmas!! We will certainly be having 80 degree weather so a boozy ice cream treat will be so welcomed!!
I have never had a Christmas in the heat…one day maybe! Mind you, it´s mild and sunny here still, so def no snow for us 😦
It looks like the French nougat glacé which is just about the most delicious ice cream you can have, and I like the idea of using Greek yogurt in it.
Yes, the Greek yogurt lightens it and stops it being too sickly. I love that French nougat glace but can´t get it here 😦
Hey, I recognize that Christmas card! 🙂
This is perfect for a Christmas in Panama, so I’m taking the recipe with me.
Thanks Tanya!
Yes, you do recognise it! I hadn´t quite got my crib sorted and I loved it. Hope you enjoy the ice cream if you make it in Panama 🙂
Oooh, DELICIOUS!! I just got back and have been scouting holiday recipes to try out this year, and of course, you never fail to disappoint!! Thank you, I’m excited! It looks like I have a lot of catching up to do!! 😀
Hey Michi good to have you back. Am off to read about your trip! Glad you liked the recipe 🙂
You have GOT TO STOP!!! this is too good, ice cream is my weakness!! and your boozy fruits are SO GOOD that like the alcoholic housewife, i am taking nips of it here and there, more here than there but you know what i mean!! c
Oh I do know what you mean – but I am so sure we deserve it, and as we both live in the middle of now where we´re only being practical by drinking at home as we avoid the dangers of drinking and driving!
So pleased we aren’t the only ones who do the “as well as” as opposed to the “instead of” – it is Christmas after all.
Lovely ice cream!
🙂 Mandy
You made me laugh…well, we like to give people choices!