Soph’s always made chicken liver pâté for Christmas, but this year it’s getting a cranberry twist, along with some extra onions.

• 500g chicken livers
• 300g butter
• 2 banana shallots
• 6 cloves of garlic
• A couple of handfuls of fresh cranberries
• 2 teaspoons of mustard powder
• 1 teaspoon of ground mace
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
• 2 tablespoons of Calvados
• Salt & pepper

Finely chop the shallots and garlic and cook them down in a little of the butter with the cranberries (reserving a few for decoration). Meanwhile, trim the chicken livers and discard the sinewy bits. Once the onions and cranberries have softened, put them into a food processor.

Then fry off the chicken livers in the same pan – they need to be browned off, but still a little pink on the inside.  Once browned, transfer the livers to the food processor, then deglaze the pan with the Calvados (regular brandy would work, as would sherry). Pour whatever is left in the pan into the food processor.

Melt most of the butter in a small pan, reserving around 100g. Once melted, add this to the processor with the rest of the ingredients. Add the thyme and spices and blend well – you want to get it as smooth as possible.

Have a taste and add salt & pepper as required. If you want a really smooth finish, you can pass the blended mixture through a fine sieve (but Soph can never be bothered with that).

Spoon the pate into dishes – this makes loads, so make sure you have enough dishes! Put a couple of the reserved cranberries on top, plus anything else that takes your fancy – a sprig of thyme is nice, or a bay leaf.

Melt the remaining butter and carefully spoon it over the pate to create a seal. Leave to cool and set before placing in the fridge.

Enjoy with hot toast! Yum!