Pear and Cranberry Chutney

This Christmas I wanted to do something a bit different and try to make a gift to give to people as a stocking filler.  I'm no good at making beautiful homemade cards or making scented bath bombs etc...but i can cook!  I wanted something that was going to be easy to make and that everyone would like as I was giving it as a gift to a few members of my family (who all know good food!).  So I trawled the BBC Good Food website (my favourite) and looked for ideas. 

Each Christmas the website features ideas for home made gifts such as biscuits, muffins, limoncello and truffles.  This year I spotted a few chutney recipes which i liked the sound of but they weren't very "Christmasy" and looked a little bit of a faff to make.  So I set about searching the Internet again and stumbled across good ol' Delia Smith and her recipe for Pear and Cranberry Chutney. 

The recipe makes four 4fl oz jars (with enough left over for a little bit of tasting!).  To make the chutney you will need the following:

• 220g ripe pears
• 220g cranberries
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon (or half a stick)
• 8 allspice berries
• 100g of chopped onions
• 110g light soft brown sugar
• 65ml distilled malt vinegar
• zest and juice of 1 orange

Firstly peel, core and chop the pears into small pieces.  Place them in a large saucepan with the cranberries, onions, sugar and vinegar.  Add the cinnamon, orange zest/juice and allspice berries (remember to pick them out before you put  it into jars or put them in some muslin - i didn't have any at the time) and stir together.

Bring the mixture to the boil and then turn the heat down to simmer the chutney, making sure to stir it from time to time until it reduces to a thick pulp.  I found that this took about 40 minutes.  You can tell its ready when you pull your spoon across the surface and it doesn't immediately fill with vinegar.

Pour the mixture into warm sterilised jars and seal it while its still hot. 

Mmm....the smell of Christmas filled the house