Christmas puddings

I hope you all have made your Christmas puddings at this stage! The last Sunday in November is the traditional time to make your puddings. It was known as 'Stirabout Sunday' in times gone by as traditionally, every member of the family was supposed to stir the pudding before it was steamed to ensure good luck for the coming year. I have used the same pudding recipe for the past few years and it has never failed me. It's by Darina Allen, an amazing Irish cook. Her book 'A Simply Delicious Christmas' is available on Amazon and is well worth buying if you are into Christmas cookery.

My own slight modification to the recipe is that I steep the fruit for 2 days in a combination of whiskey (Jameson usually as I find scotch has too strong a flavour), Hennessy brandy and a slug of red wine to make up 70ml before I make the puddings. All the wrinkly dried fruit soaks up the alcohol and becomes fat,juicy and shiny nuggets of flavour in the pudding! Also, you can use Atora suet but I ask my butcher every year to keep suet for me and he does. If you use real suet, remember that any vegetarians will not be able to eat this!

Traditional Christmas Pudding – Recipe

Ingredients

Makes 2 x 1.8 litre (3 pint) or 3 x 1.2 litre (2 pint) puddings; The large size will serve 10–12 people, the medium 6–8
•350g (12oz) raisins
•350g (12oz) sultanas
•350g (12oz) currants
•350g (12oz) brown sugar
•350g (12oz) white breadcrumbs
•350g (12oz) suet, finely chopped
•110g (4oz) candied peel (preferably homemade)
•2 Bramley’s Seedling or Grenadier cooking apples, peeled and diced or grated
•finely grated zest of 1 lemon
•3 cloves, pounded
•pinch of salt
•6 organic eggs
•70ml (21⁄2fl oz) Irish whiskey/Hennesy cognac/dash of red wine
•110g (4oz) skinned almonds, chopped
•whiskey or brandy, for flaming

Method
1.Choose a large bowl. Mix all the ingredients together very thoroughly and leave overnight; don’t forget, everyone in the family must stir and make a wish! The following day, stir again for good measure.
2.Fill into pudding bowls, allowing about 4cm (11⁄2in) space at the top of the bowl; cover with a double sheet of pleated greaseproof paper, tie it tightly under the rim with cotton twine and make a handle for ease of lifting.
3.Steam the puddings in a covered saucepan of boiling water for 6 hours. The water should come halfway up the side of the bowl: check every hour or so and top up with boiling water. After 6 hours, remove the puddings. Allow to become cold and cover with fresh greaseproof paper. Store in a cool dry place until required.
4.On the day you wish to serve the plum pudding, steam for a further 2 hours. Turn the pudding onto a very hot serving plate, pour over some whiskey or brandy and ignite. Serve immediately on very hot plates with brandy butter.

If you don't want to make a big pudding, you can make mini puddings in small pudding bowls. I have also made puddings and Christmas cakes in muffin tins and they have turned out really well. They will keep for ages in an airtight tin and will freeze very well.