450 currant recipes

Curried cheese spread with farmer's cheese, yogurt, chopped apples, carrots, pecans, and currants. A crunchy, sweet-savory appetizer for crackers or pita.

Homemade mincemeat with raisins, currants, apples, almonds, candied peel, and brandy. No suet needed. Ground twice, baked, and aged for rich, spiced holiday filling.

Roasted Cornish hens stuffed with brown rice, pineapple, currants, and macadamia nuts, basted in a sweet red pepper jelly glaze with crystallized ginger. A showpiece dinner for entertaining.

Spiced fruit chutney with pears, apples, cranberries, and currants simmered in apple cider vinegar with ginger, cinnamon, and orange zest. A tart-sweet autumn condiment for cheese, turkey, and pork.

Rich West Indian Christmas cake soaked in rum and sherry with dried fruits, warm spices, and browning for deep color. Start the fruit a month ahead for a dense, boozy holiday cake worth the wait.

Tender banana sheet cake rolled around sweetened whipped cream, topped with glazed raspberries. An elegant dessert that looks impressive but uses simple ingredients.

A Caribbean-inspired ground beef stew loaded with briny capers, green olives, sweet currants, and warm spices like cinnamon and cloves. Served over rice for a bold, savory-sweet one-plate dinner.

Linda's fruitcake: brandy-soaked dates, citrus peel, raisins, almonds, and cherries folded into a spiced batter with a pineapple jam layer. Wrapped in brandy-soaked cheesecloth to age.

A delicate sponge cake rolled around a silky white wine custard filling, served with warm strawberry currant sauce. A vintage jelly roll dessert that pairs dry white wine with sweet berries.

Myrtle's fruit cake bakes a brown-sugar-and-golden-syrup batter loaded with currants, sultanas, candied orange peel, and warming spices. British-style heritage Christmas loaf cake.

A yeast based risen bread-like cake that's filled with a spiced apple mixture with an attractive lattice style presentation.

Cucidati, the traditional Sicilian Christmas fig cookies, with a rich filling of figs, raisins, nuts, chocolate and rum wrapped in tender pastry, shaped into slashed horseshoes and dusted with sugar.

Braised wild boar marinated for two days in red wine, cider vinegar, and juniper, then simmered tender with carrots, onions, and celery. Finished in a rich currant-jelly gravy and served with chestnut puree.

Appetizer egg rolls stuffed with pork, cabbage, bean sprouts, currants, and slivered almonds, fried golden and served with a warm ginger apricot dipping sauce. Make-ahead friendly.

A German-style no-yeast Christmas stollen with cottage cheese, rum, almonds, currants, sultanas, and candied lemon peel. Brushed with butter and dusted in powdered sugar for a snowy finish.

Traditional British Christmas plum pudding with cognac-soaked dried fruit, walnuts, suet, and warm spices, steamed in a mold and served with brandy butter sauce. A Victorian holiday classic.