Ingredients

• 2 bottles medium dry sherry or Madeira
• 3 tablespoonfuls brandy
• 6 dessert apples
• 3 oz granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoonful ground nutmeg
• 3 teaspoonfuls ground ginger
• 1 clove
• 1 blade mace
• 1-inch stick cinnamon
• 3 coriander seeds
• 3 cardamom seeds
• ½ lb caster sugar
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup cold water

Method

1. Wash and core, but do not peel the apples. Put them in a baking tray with a little cold water, and fill the cavities with granulated sugar. Place them in a pre-set oven at Gas Mark 6 or 400°F or 200°C for up to three-quarters of an hour, or until cooked.
2. Put the water, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, coriander and cardamom seeds in a saucepan, and bring almost to the boil. Add the sherry (or Madeira), brandy and caster sugar, and heat slowly.
3. Separate the eggs and put the 6 yolks and the whites from only 3 eggs into the wassail bowl.
4. When the sherry mixture is just warm, add a teacupful of the liquid to the eggs in the bowl and stir well. Repeat this process until you have added 5 cupfuls of liquid to the eggs, and the remaining sherry mixture is almost boiling.
5. As soon as it begins to boil, pour it into the bowl, stirring briskly to make a froth. Add the baked apples and serve immediately.

Notes