X'Mas Puddings (3 Days Process)

Ingredients

• 4 oz          Plain Flour
• 2 oz          Dark Chocolate, grated
• 1 teaspoon    Mixed Spice
• 6 oz          Fresh White Breadcrumbs
• 10 oz         Suet
• 8 oz          Muscavado Sugar
• 2 oz          Dried Apples & Apricots
• 2½ lbs       Raisins, Currants & chopped Dates
• 2 oz          Hazelnuts, Walnuts & Almonds, chopped
• zest of 1     Lemon and same volume of Orange zest
• 2 teaspoons   Vanilla essence
• ½ teaspoon   Almond essence
• 4             Large Eggs
• 1 tablespoon  Black Treacle
• ½ pint       Dark beer
• ¼ pint       Dark Rum and/or Brandy

Equipment

• Large Mixing Bowl
• Robochef
• Large Wooden Spoon
• Teaspoon
• Tablespoon
• Scales
• Large Saucepan or Steamer
• Pudding Cloth (Butter Muslin)
• Butcher's string
• Greaseproof paper
• Pudding bowls

Method (Day 1)

Creating the Mixture

1. Prepare the breadcrumbs using fresh bread and the Robochef.
2. The Robochef is also useful for grating the chocolate. Use good quality high-cocoa dark chocolate and don't grate it too finely.
3. And finally, it is useful for coarsely chopping the nuts.
4. The dried apples and apricots can be snipped into small pieces using kitchen scissors.
5. The orange and lemon zest should be cut into fairly small pieces.
6. Sift the flour into the mixing bowl. Add the chocolate and spices.
7. Add the suet, the breadcrumbs the suet and the sugar. Mix well.
8. Add the dried fruit, the nuts and the zest.
9. Add the essences, the treacle, the eggs, the beer and the brandy/rum. Stir well until the mixture is fully mingled.
10. Let everyone in the family have a stir and make their secret wishes.
11. Cover the bowl with a clean cloth and leave overnight for the mixture to rest and develop.

Notes

1. I've already stated that this recipe is very easy to alter to cater to personal tastes. I would like to repeat this advice, with some examples here.
2. I often use self-raising flour. It makes no real difference. It's still going to be a rich, heavy pudding! In other words, use whatever is most easily to hand
3. I tend to use vegetable Suet nowadays, but only because it's easier to get than normal Beef Suet. Vegetable Suet may make the pudding slightly lighter, but not enough for me to be able to tell.
4. If you can't get dried apples, use peeled, grated fresh apple then - and cut down on the amount of beer (i.e. fluid) used.
5. And talking of beer, Guinness is indeed dark but a sweet Brown Ale is the best choice. Do not use lager!
6. This quantity of chocolate will add flavour the pudding. You can always cut down on the amount used if this is undesirable. Originally, it's purpose was to help darken the pudding.
7. Almost any nuts, except peanuts, may be used. I add Pecan nuts to my recipe when I can get them.
8. I don't use Sultanas or Golden Raisins in my recipe. I prefer the darker fruits specified above.
9. But I do add some exotic fruits when I can get them - I managed to obtain some sour dried cherries and dried blueberries one year, and they were a very tasty addition.
10. I like dark rum! That, with the molasses, helps to give this pudding a rich flavour. But if you don't like it, just use all brandy instead.

Method (Day 2)

Filling the puddings.

1. Butter the insides of the pudding bowls.
2. Place a large square of Pudding Cloth in the bowls. The butter helps the cloth stick to the sides of the bowl.
3. The cloth needs to be large enough so the the diagnoal corners can be tied over the top of the pudding mixture.
4. Spoon the mixture into the bowls, leaving a small amount of room for expansion.
5. Cover the mixture with a circle of baking paper.
6. Knot the cloth over the top of the pudding.
7. Cover with a pleated piece of foil.
8. Secure the foil with string. Ensure you create a handle at this stage. It'll be a great help when removing the cooked puddings from the steamer.
9. Place the bowl into a large saucepan or steamer, on top of a small plate or saucer - the pudding should not have direct contact with the bottom of the saucepan.
10. Fill up the saucepan with water to about halfway up the side of the pudding bowl.
11. Heat up the water 'til at the boil and then reduce heat to keep at a gentle boil.
12. Boil for 4 hours (medium pudding) to 6 hours (large pudding) topping up withHOT water throughout as necessary.
13. Remove the pudding bowls and leave them on a trivet to cool overnight.

Notes

1. Yes, I know - that is a very long time to cook something.
2. But it is better to over-cook these puddings than risk under-cooking. In fact, it is almost impossible to over-cook them.
3. Do not let the steamer boil dry!

Method (Day 3)

Storing the puddings.

1. Remove and discard the string and foil coverings.
2. Carefully ease out the puddings - the pudding cloth really helps here!
3. Wrap the cloth-covered puddings in foil.
4. Store in a cool, dry place until Christmas Eve.

Christmas (at last!)

Christmas Eve

1. Take your pudding and remove it from it's foil covering.
2. Place the pudding in a buttered bowl and, as when it received its first steam...
3. Top up the bowl with a good slug of rum and/or brandy.
4. Cover with a pleated piece of foil.
5. Secure the foil with string. Again, ensure you create a string handle.

Christmas Day

1. Place the pudding bowl into a large saucepan or steamer, again, just as when it was received its first steaming.
2. Fill up the saucepan with water to about halfway up the side of the pudding bowl.
3. Heat up the water 'til at the boil and then reduce heat to keep at a gentle boil.
4. Boil for 2 hours(medium pudding) to 4 hours (large pudding) topping up withHOT water throughout as necessary.
5. Remove the pudding bowl from the steamer and remove the foil and string
6. Untie the cloth knots (or cut them off) and remove the baking paper circle.
7. Up-end the bowl onto a plate.
8. Remove the bowl and carefully remove the cloth.
9. Pour on a decent (two or three tablespoonfuls) quantity of warmed rum and/or brandy and ignite.
10. Serve immediately with custard, cream, clotted cream, brandy butter or whatever else takes your fancy.

Notes

1. Warming the rum/brandy is essential for a good flame.
2. A few seconds (and no more than that!) in the microwave is a good way of achieving this.
3. Do try to flame the pudding a the table. After all this trouble making the pudding, it would be a shame not to milk the occasion for all it's worth.