Coffee sweetmeats

This coffee sweetmeat recipe dates from the time of Charles II.

You will need:

• 1 egg white
• 250g icing sugar
• Coffee essence made from instant coffee with a little water added

1. Put the egg white into a mixing bowl and stir in coffee essence (but not too much)

2. Sieve icing sugar in and mix to a stiff paste

3. Sprinkle some icing sugar onto a table and roll out coffee paste until 1 cm thick

4. Cut into shapes with sweet cutter. Re-roll remainder and cut again. Repeat until all paste is used up

5. Leave sweets to dry and put into sweet cases (if you don't like coffee you can use rose water flavours).

Spiced wine

Spiced and heated wine and ale was popular at Christmas. This is a non-alcoholic recipe. Please ask an adult to help you, as you will need to use a cooker.

You will need:

• 1 carton red grape juice
• 2 dessertspoons of sugar (add an extra spoonful if you have a sweet tooth)
• 1 orange
• 1 lemon
• 12 cloves
• 2 cinnamon sticks

1. Pour grape juice and sugar into a pan and warm until the sugar has melted

2. Stick cloves into the lemon and orange and cut in half. Add them to the grape juice

3. Add the cinnamon sticks. Simmer for 10 minutes. Serve hot

Marzipan fruit

You will need:

• 2 tablespoons of ground almonds
• 2 tablespoons of caster sugar
• 2-4 teaspoons of rose water
• Food colours
• A few cloves

1. Place sugar and almonds in a bowl. Add rosewater.

2. Mix with wooden spoon until ingredients become a stiff paste. Then using hands, roll paste into a sausage and cut into four pieces

3. In separate bowls add a few drops of red, yellow and green food colours. Add a piece of marzipan to each. Mix the food colour into the marzipan

4. Mould pieces into fruits such as red and green apples and yellow pears

5. Make some leaves out of the green marzipan and use cloves for stalks

6. Stick the leaves to the marzipan fruit with the cloves

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