Christmas Pudding

As soon as my mum decided her and Grandma would be coming here to celebrate Christmas, the talk turned to Christmas pudding. Its been a tradition for several generations in our family and the recipe comes from my dad's side, although I dont know how long its been in that side of the family. This seemed a perfect entry for this month's sugar high friday.

It differs from other puddings I've tried in that there is very little binder, its mostly just delicious succulent fruit, so the better the fruit, the better the pudding. I normally notice some alcohol is added, but in this case I think brandy goes all over it just before serving and it is set on fire. You can get really creative with the fruit, I think currants are grim so I substituted candied fruit, ginger and dried tart cherries. I also added dried plums so I could call it plum pudding!

I decided to fill ramekins with the mixture and then took the puddings out after cooking and stored in wax paper. I wasn't brave enough to keep at room temp and decided to keep in the fridge. The recipe states they can be put in a cool dark place and will keep for a year.

4 oz breadcrumbs
12 oz sultanas
8 oz raisins
8 oz currants
2 oz glace cherries
2 oz ground almonds
8 oz dark brown sugar
4 oz suet (I used vegetable suet-bought from a british store)
4 eggs, beaten

Mix all dry ingredients. Make well in center and add beaten eggs one at a time, stirring hard.
Leave overnight and stir again.

This fills two traditional pudding bowls, or 12 little ramekins. If cooking traditionally, steam 6-7 hours with greaseproof paper over the top (I think this means parchment paper).

I cooked for 3 hours at 225f in a water bath (I put an inch of water in a 1/2 sheet pan and put the ramekins in).

To serve, heat in microwave, around 2 minutes per pudding, stand 1 min and serve with whipped cream or brandy butter.