Alas, this is not a recipe that produces anything akin to the Angel Delight desserts I enjoyed as a child—packets of powder that, once combined with milk and set, became a heavenly synthetic-flavoured mousse that I adored (if you must ask, my preference was always Strawberry or Banana). Nonetheless, I do think this little recipe is delightful, because it evokes sweetshop aromas and has a lovely soft, jammy, but not entirely smooth consistency, so you’re not robbed of texture. 

I was on holiday in my beloved Italy and took with me a new recipe book, Mamushka: Recipes from Ukraine & beyond by Olia Hercules*. It was a gift from my mother, who I’m guessing wanted me to get in touch with my Eastern European roots or was just curious to see if I thought it was any good. I can say that, without doubt, it was utterly delightful. There were things that loosely resembled dishes I grew up with, as well as plenty of other recipes that looked delicious and thankfully weren’t dumbed down for a Western audience. Many Eastern European recipes are, to me, completely unpalatable. But this writer managed to pick out dishes that made me want to search for my local Polski Sklep in an attempt to locate Twaróg (cream cheese that is responsible for Poland’s obscenely good cheesecakes).

Anyway, I started with one of her more basic entries: a rhubarb, strawberry and rosewater cordial. It sort of worked, if by cordial you mean a purée to be whisked into fizzy water so it resembled more of a diluted smoothie. In my mind, it worked far better as a yoghurt topper. 

So that drove me onto another project, in light of my current emphasis on breakfast toppings: to try and slightly modify the recipe so that it produced a quick breakfast addition which could be used up within a few days. Too many times I’ve tried new breakfast topping recipes only to realise that it’s intended to serve a family for a month during a famine. Or, I’ve read a recipe that calls for hours of stewing time and thus, quite frankly, requires far too much forethought. 

This recipe is an acknowledgement of these plights. It takes 20 minutes from start to finish and can be used over 3–4 servings, so it can be comfortably eaten within a week. 

**A few notes on the recipe:** 

Less is more with the rosewater, unless you enjoyed eating your grandmother’s soap as a child.

*Hercules, Olia, Mamushka: Recipes from Ukraine & beyond (London: Mitchell Beazley, 2015).