A few weeks ago I said I wasn’t making a Christmas pudding this year. Cake and pies are more than enough and sometimes, after a heavy main course, you want something light, something fruity, something pallette cleansing.
And that’s where this champagne jelly comes in.
Readers, I’m not going to lie to you. I’ve made this recipe over and over again since I was a little girl (a little girl let loose with champagne – I know!) and I do often make it using gelatin. Yup, gelatin – that stuff derived from boiling up cow’s feet or whatever it is. But this year I promised you a vegan Christmas and a vegan Christmas is what you’re going to get. So a big warm welcome and Happy Christmas to Agar flakes.
Agar is made from seaweed. You can get it in health food stores, large supermarkets and Asian grocery stores. It sets like gelatin with no smell and no taste. Sweet! It sets quicker than gelatin (in about an hour) and doesn’t even need the fridge to set. However it is substantially more expensive than gelatin and takes much longer to dissolve. You are going to need to leave the mixture simmering for about 15-20 minutes to make sure that it all melts (whereas gelatin takes about 5 minutes), and I personally recommend putting the mixture through a sieve before putting it in glasses to stop it crystalising.
I’m going to give measurements for both Agar and gelatin and then you can make your own minds up. No judgin’ 
Ingredients
500ml/18 floz sparkling wine (don’t actually use champagne for this, it’s a waste, use cava!)**
50g/2oz caster sugar
Handful of purple grapes or blueberries
3tsp powdered gelatin OR 6 tsp Agar flakes OR 1 tsp Agar powder (agar powder is much more concentrated than flakes)
Put a fork in the top of the bottle to keep the remaining champagne fizzy for later. I have no idea why this works, but it does.
Place half the champange, the sugar and the gelatin/Agar in a pan and very slowly bring to almost boiling, stirring continuously. Then add the rest of the champagne and simmer until everything is melted (about 20 minutes if you are using Agar, be very careful not to let it boil over). If you are using Agar I would then sift the liquid to make sure there are no unmelted flakes left as these will crystalise when they set.
Have glasses or bowls ready with some grapes or blueberries in the bottom.
Pour the mixture over the fruit and leave to set – 1 hour for Agar, about 3 hours for gelatin – in the fridge as they are best served cold.
Amazing!! Looks divine!
(though I’m ashamed to add that I always have at least one (large) portion of Christmas pudding after my huge meal…I always use ‘but I had no meat!’ as an excuse; apparently this isn’t a good reason!
)