THE CHRISTMAS PUDDING

"Stir it up Sunday"

A wonderful family tradition, this is a lovely day in our home and a beautiful family tradition.

The last Sunday before the season of Advent is so called Stir up Sunday, this day was so named after the collect for the day in the common book of prayer which starts with the words "Stir up, O Lord the wills of thy faithful people.  It has also become the traditional day to make your Christmas Pudding for the British, this day is said to have been introduced by Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband.

Wonderful rich decadent sumptuous Christmas plum pudding, an old fashioned traditional recipe handed down for generations, unfortunately not from my generations!

Prep Time 15 minutes / Cooking time 40-50 minutes

Ingredients

(makes 1 large family ball & 10 small individual puddings)

225g Sultanas

225g Currents

175g raisins

100g prunes

1 tsp earl grey tea leaves

80g mixed peel

1 orange zest and juice

1 lemon zest and juice

1 apple grated

150g fresh breadcrumbs

200g dark brown sugar

150g self raising flour

1 tsp mixed spice

1/4 tsp grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp golden syrup

1 tbsp black treacle

30ml Madeira

30ml Cognac

3 beaten eggs

25g grated butter

If I can I like to place all the dried fruit in some boiled tea water, just enough to almost cover the fruit with and leave to steep over night, you can skip this and place all the fruit in a saucepan and bring to a simmer for five minutes, take off the heat and leave to cool while the fruit absorbs the tea.  

Strain the fruit and place in a large bowl and then add all the other ingredients and mix well allowing each family member a stir of the pudding East to West while making a special wish for the year ahead.  I like to leave my pudding mix to rest for a couple of hours if I can before cooking.

Pre heat your oven to 170 C / 338 F, grease your pudding tins and line the bottom with a circle of grease proof paper, fill the tins most of the way up but still leaving a little space for expansion, cover the top of the tins with a piece of baking paper that you have put a folded pleat in the centre to allow for that expansion during cooking.

Place in a deep roasting tin and fill with hot water 3/4 of the way up the tins, place in your oven for approx 40 minutes, to check if they are cooked in the centre insert a skewer and when a skewers comes out clean they are done.  Leave to cool and then take off the foil, keeping to one side and pour over a tablespoon of brandy, wrap back up and store in an air tight container until the Big Day.

Every few days add another spoon of brandy over each pudding, this is optional, and I do have a reputation for a very boozy Christmas pudding, this is from the topping up...