HAPPY New Year, everybody! This week, we’re heading out into the New Year, and Christmas seems a distant memory.

I’m sure the bin-bags of wrapping paper are long gone, and I’ll wager there’s already a few broken toys and unwanted sweaters lurking in those bin-bags too.

Similarly, there should be very little left of the Christmas food glut.

The chocolates have probably all been scoffed in anticipation of the New Year diet (because that’s always how it works!) and the bottle of Advocaat with two measures taken out of it is back in the cupboard, ready to be thrown out and replaced in December.

Surely this slight insanity is part of the allure of Christmas and the New Year.

One thing I find does seem to hang around long after the festivities cease is the mince pie.

I think this is partly because they don’t, in my own personal experience, have a set place in the performance.

It’s nice to have them around, for that morning cuppa, or if people drop by on a non-work day for a glass of mulled wine, and they are lovely with a wedge of cheese as a light supper. Plus, you know, Santa Claus needs his supply!

But they seem to occupy a limbo that’s halfway between cake and dessert, and as such I always find I have several left, and facing the very real threat of the bin, or next door’s chickens.

So I thought I’d have a go at making one of my fiendishly simple parfaits – I’ve mentioned this foolproof recipe many times before – it’s a great recipe and makes a brilliant, smooth, velvety ice-cream with very little fuss.

But then I thought of upping the ante a little and making this a bit more of a talking point dish than a simple dessert. And, as I’d not made a bombe in years, I had my recipe. Mince pie bombe with brandy butter and mulled winter fruits.

A bombe, that dreadnought of the 1970s repertoire, is a lovely thing if done well – a frozen parfait, often multi-layered, and served in a dome or sphere shape for extra pizzazz.

I needed another layer to complement the mince pie, and the obvious choice was to make a contrasting parfait flavoured with brandy butter.

Butter doesn’t freeze very well, and can make frozen desserts greasy, so I simply removed it and added brandy and vanilla to the basic yolks + sugar + cream recipe.

This formed the slightly boozy core, around which would be set the mince-pie layer, full of its crunchy pastry and spiced fruits, but I felt it needed something a little extra, perhaps with a bit of texture, so I decided on a lovely salad of fresh and dried fruits soaked in a mulled wine syrup.

The buttery aspect we were missing returns with a drizzle of creamy white chocolate over the pudding, and gives it a lovely wintery look. And there we go.

All the flavours of fading Christmas, made fresh and zingy, and a brilliant dessert for those still hankering for the spicy aromas of the festive season. An indulgent spoonful or two with which to bid adieu to the holidays.

You’ll need two bowls, plastic or glass, which can be frozen, of differing sizes, ideally about a litre and ¼ litre in capacity, but don’t worry, you can simply layer up the parfaits in any plastic container or terrine and you’ll have a fancy dessert. Aprons on!

For the brandy parfait:

6 fresh, free-range egg yolks

175g unrefined golden caster sugar

480ml whipping cream

A good splash of decent Cognac

The seeds of 2 vanilla pods (keep the pods for the syrup)

For the mince pie parfait:

6 fresh, free-range egg yolks

175g unrefined dark muscovado sugar

480ml whipping cream

4 mince pies, chopped into centimetre pieces

For the fruit salad:

1 Apple

1 Pear

12 Agen or soft prunes

12 dried apricots

½ small bag dried cherries

12 whole blanched almonds

6 Medjool dates, seeds removed and halved

The empty vanilla pods from the parfait recipe

100g unrefined golden caster sugar

50ml red wine

25ml port

1 stick cinnamon

Small pinch ground cloves

1 star anise

Extras:

200-250g white chocolate

Plastic / glass moulds/bowls

Method:

First, make the fruit salad. If you’re making this in advance, leave out the apple and pear until you’re just about to serve.

The dried fruits will keep in their syrup for months in the fridge.

Gently heat the wine and port with the sugar, and add the spices and vanilla pods, then pour this over the fruit and almonds, and allow it to macerate for a good few hours at room temperature before chilling until needed.

First, make the brandy parfait. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and vanilla seeds until very pale, light and fluffy.

Scrape carefully into a bowl, and whip the cream to a soft peak.

Fold the two together, and add a splash of brandy.

Pour this parfait into the smaller bowl and allow to set for a few hours in the freezer.

Any spare parfait makes a good scoopable ice-cream for pies and crumbles. When it’s set, make the mince pie parfait.

Whisk the muscovado sugar with the yolks until pale and fluffy, and whip the cream to soft peak. Fold carefully together with the diced mince pie pieces.

Spoon a little of the parfait into the larger bowl.

Quickly remove the brandy parfait from its bowl, and place in the centre of the larger bowl, resting on the mince-pie parfait, and quickly spoon the remaining mince pie mix around, smoothing the top (to be the base) and freezing immediately.

Leave for at least 12 hours in the freezer, before unmoulding.

Ideally, leave it on a chilled plate in the freezer until you want to serve it, then melt the white chocolate gently in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.

Spoon the melted chocolate over the bombe and return to the freezer until ready to serve.

Add the diced apple and pear to the fruit salad.

Carve thick wedges of the bombe at the table, and spoon a little fruit and syrup around.