Christmas Pudding

Wed, 22 November 2017

Catherine Leyden was in the kitchen with this delicious recipe for Christmas Pudding.

Ingredients

Method

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Add the lightly beaten eggs and mix well.

Stir in the sieved flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spice. Next add the raisins, sultanas, mixed peel, cherries and ground almonds. Mix well.

Finally, add the breadcrumbs and stout. Stir well, cover and leave to stand overnight.

Transfer to a 1½ litre/3 pint greased pudding bowl.

Cover pudding with greaseproof paper and secure with string or tinfoil.

Place pudding in a saucepan with water half way up the side.

Cover and steam for 5 hours or longer. The longer the pudding cooks the richer and darker it becomes.

Top up saucepan with boiling water as required and don't let it boil dry.

To Steam Pudding In Oven:

Put two long strips of tin foil crosswise on work top.

Place roasting tin on foil. Sit pudding bowl into the tin and fill with boiling water to within 2cms/1" of top of tin.

Then bring tin foil around to form a parcel, which should be airtight to prevent any steam escaping.

Place in preheated oven at 150°C/300°F/Gas 2 for the same length of time as above. There is no need to top up with water during cooking.

To Serve:

Steam pudding for 1-2 hours. Serve warm with a dollop of freshly whipped cream, pouring cream, brandy butter or custard!