Cumberland rum butter

Fills a 500ml jar

This makes a nice change from brandy butter for your warm mince pies, Christmas pudding or the black bun. You can make this well in advance, keep it in a Kilner or airtight jar and just spoon it out when you need it. Use the darkest treacly looking sugar you can find, such as Billington's unrefined molasses cane sugar, sometimes known as Barbados sugar. I also use Mount Gay dark rum for this, which gives this a real extra kick. In fact I can't think why it's called Cumberland rum butter and not Caribbean. This also makes an excellent Christmas gift nicely packed in a Kilner jar, ceramic pot, or even rolled, or wrapped in f greaseproof paper and tied with some garden twine with a handwritten tag. Although if children are making it for their relatives you'll have to stop them tasting it.

150g unsalted butter
350g unrefined molasses cane sugar, or the darkest sugar you can find
1/2tsp of freshly grated nutmeg
A good pinch of cinnamon
100ml dark rum

Melt the butter in a pan, add the sugar and beat it in with a whisk or wooden spoon, adding the nutmeg and cinnamon as you are mixing. It should be almost like a sticky caramel. Mix in the rum and beat again until well mixed. Store in a sealed container in the fridge until required.