Mulled wine sorbet

Ingredients

2 oranges
12 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
1 bottle (750ml) good-quality red wine 1 teaspoon ground mixed spice
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup (60ml) port or brandy

Clove biscuits

3/4 cup (165g) white sugar, plus extra for sprinkling 2 1/2 cups (375g) plain flour
3/4 cup rice flour
375g butter, cubed

60 cloves 

Method

1. To make the sorbets, cut one orange in half and stud both halves with cloves. Place in a saucepan with cinnamon sticks, wine, mixed spice and sugar. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves, then cover and cook over very low heat for 10 minutes. Cool, then strain. Juice the remaining orange and stir juice and port or brandy into the mulled wine. Refrigerate for several hours to chill completely.

2. Pour the mixture into a shallow container and freeze until frozen at the edges. Remove from freezer and beat with an electric beater. Pour back into the container and re-freeze. Repeat 2 or 3 times. (Alternatively use an ice-cream machine following manufacturer's directions.)

3. Preheat oven to 140°C.

4. While sorbet is freezing, prepare biscuits. Place sugar in a food processor with flour, rice flour and 1 teaspoon salt, add butter and process until just combined. Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and gently press mixture together with your hands to form a ball. Divide into two. Roll each piece out to 1cm-thick. Use a 4cm plain round cutter to cut into rounds, place on a lightly greased baking tray, sprinkle with a little extra sugar, prick biscuits with a fork and press a clove into the centre of each. Cook on lower oven racks for 25 minutes. They should just be lightly coloured when cooked. Cool on a wire rack, then store in an airtight container.

5. Scoop sorbet into glasses and serve with one or two clove biscuits on the side.