Recipe for Wassail Punch and Lambs Wool

Don't you just love trailing around the busy shops?

It might be December 21, the longest night of the year but do you need the hassel?



Not quite as busy in Looe, Cornwall today.
Instead of trawling around shopping centres fighting for parking space in all the snow. TIP......you should have gone to Looe...................


Glitter in the shop windows. Room to walk around the town. Loads of car parking.


Every shop, pub and restaurant decorated for Christmas.....



Something at Amie Soto Blossom's height to see.........


It was cold and icy, looking around the beautiful old shops it brought the magic of Christmas shopping back. No pushing and shoving here.......


If your stuck in the snow you need some thing to warm you up....try this recipe for Wassail Punch............. with compliments from my friend Jan........

If you don't know............ Wassail Punch takes its name from the Anglo Saxon toast "Waes Hael" or Good Health.

You need 4 whole small eating apples with 2 cloves stuck in each.
8 oz of soft brown sugar
1 pint of medium sherry
1 cinnamon stick
4 pints of brown ale (I'm sure you could be inventive here if you can't get hold of brown ale).
Thinly pared rind of 2 oranges

Set oven to 350 or Mark 4. Put the apples in an ovenproof dish and pour the sugar over them.
Pour in the sherry, add the cinnamon stick and bake for 20 minutes, or until the apples are just beginning to soften and brown. DO NOT OVERCOOK, Transfer the contents into a large saucepan and pour in the ale with the orange rinds. Heat until it just begins to simmer.
That's it. It's ready to serve, but you need something heat proof to put it in...

There is another you might like this is called Lambs Wool. It's a hot spiced ale, popular in the Middle Ages.
The name comes about due to the fluffy white flesh which burst through the skins of the roasted apples which floated on top of the bowl of ale.

4 eating apples
4 pints of ale or cider
6 cloves and 1 tablespoon of grated nutmeg. Half a teaspoon of ground ginger. Pinch of allspice. I cinnamon stick, 1 - 2 tablespoons dark soft brown sugar....

Set oven to 400 or Mark 6. Put the apples in a baking dish with a little ale, cider or water and cook for 30 minutes until the apple flesh is "woolly" in texture.
Meanwhile heat the ale or cider, spices and sugar to taste in a large pan over a low heat until very hot, but do not allow to boil. Strain into a large serving bowl. Scoop out the apple pulp with a spoon, discarding the core and the pips and pile on the hot ale. Serve hot with a scoop of apple flesh......

Seasons Greeting .............