Nigel Slater’s latest book,  ‘The Christmas Chronicles’ is something you’ll want to snuggle up with on a wintry night with a little glass of something lovely on the side (such as this).

‘The Christmas Chronicles’ is chock-full of wonderful tales of Christmases long past and is brimming with nostalgia, festive spirit and wonderful recipes, some of which are so simple yet manage to be irresistibly luscious, like this one; a heady, creamy and fragrantly-spiced apricot concoction.

The best news is that the boozy apricots are absolutely wonderful served with a very good Stilton cheese (or some other blue). You could even use them as a filling for chocolate truffles – just switch them out for the prunes in this recipe here.

This recipe yields approximately a pint of liqueur with lots of drunken apricots and you’ll need to make this at least 2 weeks and preferably a month before you want to drink it – I recommend using only the best quality ingredients you can afford.

You’ll also need a large sterilized jar with a screw top.

Nigel Slater’s Apricot, Orange & Anise Liqueur

APRICOT, ORANGE & ANISE ‘LIQUEUR’

Makes approx 1 pint (473 ml)

Ingredients:

1.1 lbs (500g) of dried apricots

One large orange

4 whole star anise

1 and 1/4 cups (300ml) of cognac/brandy

3/4 cup (150g) of fine white sugar

1 and 1/4 cups (300ml) of good dessert wine

Action:

Put the apricots in a stainless steel pan along with a few strips of orange zest. Add the star anise, sugar and cognac and bring it to a boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.

Transfer everything to a sterilized jar and pour in the dessert wine. Seal the jar well, give it a good shake and allow it to sit in a cool dark place for a minimum of 2 weeks and up to a month.