Sugar and Spice

When I think of Christmas food, I am haunted by the smells of cinnamon and spice, of oranges. I think of Christmas cake soaked with boozy dried fruits and crisp pastry shell mince pies. In Georgian times, the import of fruits, fresh and dried were a popular commodity and elaborate confections adorned the supper tables of the aristocracy and landed gentry. In 1757 an Italian pastry cook named Domenico Negri opened a confectionery shop at 7-8 Berkeley Square under the sign of “The Pot and Pineapple”. At that time, the pineapple was a symbol of luxury and used extensively as a logo for confectioners. Only the rich could afford the delicacies produced in this type of shop, but the eating of ices and sweetmeats became extremely fashionable. No image remains of the premises, but here is one of Negri’s business cards.

Frederic Nutt’s Spiced Biscuits

Sugar and Spice

The Ang Lee adaptation of Sense and Sensibility (1995) has Fanny Dashwood declare at the ball, that her brother and husband “have been eating ices”. Negri’s shop employed apprentices, one of whom included Frederic Nutt, who went on to produce his own recipe book. The recipe following, (converted into modern measurements) is taken from Nutt’s publication, The Complete Confectioner: Or, The Whole Art of Confectionary Made Easy : Also Receipts for Home-made Wines, Cordials, French and Italian Liqueurs, &c, first published in 1789.

(NB not suitable for people with nut allergies)

These biscuits are rather like biscotti, designed to be dunked in sweet, dessert wine (or these days, coffee or tea). They are hard and crunchy so best to be softened by liquid before consuming.

Ingredients:

125g plain white flour

125g blanched almonds

40g icing sugar

Teaspoon mace (or mixed spice)

Teaspoon cinnamon

Sugar syrup – 100ml water, boiling with 125g caster sugar, swirl in pan, boil for 1 min.

Method:

Add syrup to dry ingredients. Pull together by hand. Roll into a sausage, flatten a little. Put on baking paper, bake at 160 degrees for 40 mins.

Wet the back of the paper and the sausage will lift off easily. Cut very thin slices at an angle. Put the slices back on the tray and into the oven (switched off) to dry out for 40 minutes. Dunk in dessert wine and enjoy!

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Winter At Studio Arkell

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