Raspberry and passion fruit pastilles recipe

Sweet and fruity raspberry and passion fruit pastilles are much easier to make than they look. Cut into small squares, toss in caster sugar and pack into pretty glass candy jars tied with ribbons and a gift tag. One batch of this recipe will make enough pastilles to fill a couple of jars, making a couple of gifts at once. As they are made with real fruit, they are better for you than most sweeties. These would be a lovely gift and (as always) any off-cuts are a little gift to yourself...

Ingredients

• 400g raspberries
• 3 passionfruit
• juice of

¼

• lemon
• 300-400g preserving sugar with added pectin
• caster sugar, to serve

Method

1. Lightly oil a 17cm square baking tin and line with non-stick baking parchment. Tip the raspberries into a solid-bottomed shallow pan. Halve the passion fruit and scoop the seeds and juice into the pan. Add the lemon juice, cover the pan and cook over a medium heat until the raspberries have softened and cooked down to a pulp.
2. Remove from the heat and push the fruit through a fine nylon sieve into a bowl. Weigh the resulting purée and return it to a clean pan. Add an equal quantity of preserving sugar and stir over a low to medium heat until it has dissolved. Continue to cook for about 30 minutes, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until the purée has reduced and thickened considerably to the consistency of jam and reached setting point.
3. Use a rubber spatula to scoop the purée into the prepared tin and leave to set for at least 6 hours or overnight.
4. Cover a baking sheet or tray with a sheet of non-stick baking parchment sprinkled liberally with caster sugar. Flip the pastille mixture out of the tin and onto the sugar-covered paper, and carefully peel off the backing paper. Cut into pastilles and toss in the caster sugar to coat completely. Leave to dry for 1 hour before packaging.