New Year's Eve Prosecco Jellies
Now I have to admit that I am not a big celebrator of the New Year, I like to keep things low key and reflective. Having said that, I do like to mark the change in the calendar and my way of doing this is with food! A popular choice in my house is a New Year's Eve BBQ, whatever the weather! But I think this year it might be homemade pizza; I enjoy making the dough from scratch….plus there is a lot of cheese in the fridge, left over from all the festivities.
New Year’s Eve wouldn’t be New Year’s Eve without some fizz, and as my menu has an Italian theme, that will lead me to Prosecco. So along with sipping the sparkling drink, I am also going to turn it into dessert with Prosecco jellies.
You can swap the Prosecco for Champagne, if that is your preferred choice, or indeed any sparkling wine. Sparkling rosé, for example, gives the jelly a wonderful blush. Magically suspended in the jellies are fresh raspberries, I find their tartness gives a beautiful balance to the sweetness of the Prosecco.
Prosecco Jellies
55g caster sugar
4 leaves of gelatine
300ml hot water
500ml prosecco
fresh raspberries or any other berry
Place the water and sugar into a medium saucepan and slowly bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until the liquid has thickened slightly.
In a large heatproof bowl, pour in the Prosecco and the gelatine leaves and allow to soak for about 10 minutes, letting the gelatine leaves soften.
Once the gelatine has softened, lift them from the Prosecco and squeeze out as much remaining Prosecco as you can then add them to the hot sugar liquid and whisk quickly to dissolve.
When the leaves have dissolved, add the sugar mixture into the large heatproof bowl with the Prosecco and whisk again to combine.
Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to one side until the jelly is completely cool, but not set.
Pop the bowl in the fridge and leave for about 2 hours, or until the jelly starts to thicken, when that happens, remove from the fridge and pour into your serving glasses. As the liquid has thickened, you can gently add the fresh berries and they will be suspended in the jellies.
Cover the glasses with cling film and place back in the fridge to fully set - this will take about 6 hours, so best to do the night before.
Leave chilled until ready to serve, along with some fresh berries for decoration.
This recipe will make 6 small jellies, or 3 larger ones, depending on your glass size.
This is the last blog of 2016, I hope you have enjoyed reading so far. I have really enjoyed making and writing it. I wish you a splendid New Year and I will see you in 2017 for some more foodie ideas and inspiration.
