Mince pie and brandy cream Gelato - courtesy of Palette & Pasture

We're on Frome FM again tomorrow when, amongst other things, you'll hear us talking with our local gelato expert about how she makes her festive favourite gelato - mince pie and brandy cream.

As she says, it really is yummy! So much so that we bought a tub to bring home and sample. And as we type this we're still sampling it. Even on a Saturday morning...........

Here's what you need to make the gelato base mix:

700ml of full fat milk

25ml of double cream

50g dextrose

25g granulated sugar

1tsp guar gum

And this is what you need for the mince pie and brandy cream:

250g mince pies - homemade or shop bought

Enough brandy to soak them in overnight

Method:

1. Crumble your mince pies into a large bowl

2. Cover them with brandy and leave overnight

3. Heat the milk in a saucepan to 45 degrees. Add the sugar, guar gum and double cream. Heat to 65 degrees or until the sugar has dissolved

4. Leave to cool and then refrigerate overnight

5. Take out of the fridge and stir the mixture well

6. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and set it to work

7. If you don't have one then pour the mixture into a freezer proof container and put it into the freezer. Remove it every 15 minutes and stir until it starts to set

8. Pour some of the gelato mixture into another freezer proof container. Then add some of the mince pie and brandy cream and swirl it into the gelato

9. Add another layer of gelato mixture, swirl in some more mince pie and brandy cream and continue until everything has been used

10. Return it to the freezer to allow it to freeze completely

And then to serve.............

Take the gelato from the freezer and let it warm slightly in the fridge for about 15 minutes. Then serve a generous scoop or maybe two, with either some Christmas Pudding, a mince pie or simply on it's own.

We're going to give it a go very shortly. Whether it'll be up to Rachel's exacting standards we'll have to see!