This would make a lovely gift for someone for Christmas - what more would your friends and family want than a homemade Christmas pudding! Recipe makes two!
Preparation & Baking time:
You can soak your fruit in alcohol for as long as you prefer.
The recipe requires overnight preparation + 5 hours of cooking +
a further 1 hour on the day of eating.
Recipe makes 2 puddings. You will need two pudding bowls. Mine are S24 size Mason Cash, which is a 20cm and 1.75 litre dish.
Ingredients:
350g sultanas
350g currants
140g dried figs (chopped)
100g mixed peel (chopped)
85g glacé cherries (chopped)
100g dried apricots (chopped)
150ml brandy or alcohol of your choice
100g stem ginger (chopped) + 3 tbsp of the syrup
2 apples (peeled, cored and grated)
2 oranges (zest and juice)
6 large eggs (beaten)
250g shredded suet
250g fresh white breadcrumbs
350g light muscovado sugar
175g self-raising flour
1 Tsp mixed spice
butter, for greasing
How I make my homemade Christmas Puddings:
1.First, you want to soak you fruit in some alcohol. Put the sultanas, currants, figs, mixed peel, cherries and the apricots in the brandy/alcohol of your choice in a bowl and leave overnight or for a few hours.
2. The following day, in a larger bowl, mix together the ginger and syrup, apples, orange juice and zest, eggs, suet, crumbs, sugar and flour. Using your fingers or a wooden spoon, mix in the soaked fruit and mixed spice.
3. Butter your pudding basins and divide the mixture between them, filling almost to the rim. Smooth the tops and cover with 2 circles of greaseproof paper. Cover each pudding with a sheet of foil with a folded pleat down the centre, to allow the pudding to expand, and secure everything by tying it tightly with some string.
4. Stand the puddings each in a large, deep pan on upturned saucers and pour boiling water around them so it comes about a third of the way up. Cover the pan and steam the puddings for 5 hrs, topping up with more boiling water if necessary.
5. Let the puddings cool down before removing the foil and greaseproof paper, then cover with cling film over the top and store in a cool, dry place.
6. I usually ‘feed’ my puddings each week with 50ml of brandy (or alcohol of your choice) by poking several holes in the puddings and pouring slightly warmed alcohol on the pudding, making sure it has soaked in before covering up. Do this weekly in the run up to Christmas!
7. To reheat on the big day, steam the pudding for 1 hr (as per the previous method) before turning out and flaming with hot brandy.
8. As this recipe makes two puddings, you can wrap the second one well in greaseproof and foil, and store in a cool place away from any heat or moisture sources. You don’t need to ‘feed’ this pudding if being stored but do check on it regularly. It should keep perfectly fine until next Christmas! Believe me – I’ve done this many a time! Otherwise, why not gift one to a friend or family member?
