Hot Buttered Rum

December is here in all it’s crisp, cold glory, Christmas is just around the corner and a little bit of luxury never goes amiss. It’s also traditionally a time of dairy and booze, quite often combined and I’m here to enable you whether you’re toasting the season or trying to steel yourself for wrapping your gifts. This recipe uses the quince rum I made back in autumn, but in the interests of making this a treat for everyone I tested it on regular rum and on a non alcoholic version using hot apple juice and enjoyed them all.

It’s deliciously decadent, very warming and incredibly easy to do. Make a batch of the butter and keep it in the fridge for when people drop by. It’ll go nicely with a mince pie and it’ll impress people much more!

Hot Buttered Rum: (makes lots of drinks)

• 150g salted butter
• 150g dulce de leche
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg, ground

• 50ml quince rum per drink
• dash vanilla extract
• 200ml boiling water/apple juice (if the non alcoholic version)

You can buy dulce de leche in a supermarket these days or it’s ridiculously easy to make in the oven from a can of condensed milk. It keeps forever in the fridge and can be used when you need it in cakes, tarts, ice cream and desserts.

Take the cold salted butter (the salt helps make the whole thing taste somehow butterier) and the dulce de leche, add in the spices and whisk with an electric whisk for 2-3 minutes until everything is well combined and the butter is light and fluffy.

Then take a mug or heatproof glass and put a dessertspoon of the spiced caramel butter in the bottom, add the dash of vanilla extract and the quince rum and top up with boiling water, stirring as you go. (Use apple juice instead of water if you are using regular rum or keeping it virgin.) The butter will melt and combine to make a creamy sweet drink that’s so good you’ll find reasons to keep making them once Christmas is over…

PS: I drank several of these to perfect the recipe for you, by which point I’d forgotten how to point my camera at anything in a meaningful fashion. You’ll just have to make one yourself to see how they look!