It's that time of year again!

image from Freepik

It's hard to believe that a whole year has gone by since I was last posting about my annual Christmas pudding-making!  I made half as much again as the original Larkin Christmas Pudding recipe this year, but obviously the method is exactly the same no matter how much you make:

340g/12oz sultanas

340g/12oz raisins

170g/6oz cherries, halved or quartered

227g/8oz finely chopped mixed candied peel

227g/8oz plain flour

1 level teaspoon ground ginger

1 level teaspoon mixed spice

1 level teaspoon nutmeg ~ freshly grated if possible

454g/1lb soft brown sugar

227g/8oz breadcrumbs

284g/10oz shredded suet ~ beef or vegetable, whichever you prefer

6 eggs, beaten

142ml/5fl oz stout, such as Guinness

142ml/5fl oz brandy

grated rind and juice of 1 orange

142ml/5fl oz milk (approximately)

Grease whatever size of pudding basins you would like your finished Christmas puddings to be.  This recipe will make enough to fill four, one pint, pudding basins each one of which will give about six servings.

Put all the dried fruit into a very large bowl, along with the stout, brandy, and the rind/juice of the orange.  Leave to one side.

Sift the flour and spices into another large bowl, then stir in the sugar, breadcrumbs, and suet.  Beat the eggs in a separate bowl. 

Now's the time to work those biceps and start adding the dry ingredients to the wet, three or four spoonfuls at a time, stirring well after each addition.  Last year I made the recipe twice as I was making double the amount of puddings.  This year, as I was "only" making half as much again, I decided to throw caution to the wind and attempt to fit a pint into a half pint pot as it were ~ it wasn't easy, as I'm sure you can imagine 😏 I should have been more sensible, especially as my toe was hurting so much, and I ended up having to sit down for a while every so often.  Anyhoo, I'm sure you would be much more sensible than me my lovelies 😄

Getting back to the recipe, when you get towards the end of the dry ingredients you will have to make a judgement call on how much milk to add.  I find that this varies from year-to-year, depending on how absorbent the dry ingredients happen to be and also if I've slopped in a tad more stout/brandy than I'd intended!  The mixture should be a soft dropping consistency. 

Divide the mixture between your well greased pudding basins.  This year I made one large pudding along with five smaller ones.  As I've told you before I used to faff about with a doubled-up sheet of greaseproof paper, pleated in the centre, to cover the puddings.  A couple of years ago I had a brainwave and used cake tin liners instead, and have continued to use them ever since as it's much easier.  Depending on what I have to hand, I then hold said liner/greaseproof paper in place with either string or an elastic band.  You use whichever method suits you best 😊

I also used to either use a pudding basin net or make a string handle to lift the puddings in and out of the steamer.  Now I just don my trusty rubber washing up gloves as I find it easier.  Just make sure to take care when removing the pudding as the basin will be very hot, and there will also be a lot of steam.

The old aluminium saucepan belonged to my paternal Grandma and it only ever gets used for steaming puddings.  I've had the steamer for donkey's years; the poor thing is a tad battered as it had been dropped a number of times over the years on the quarry tiled floor of our old kitchen!  It's still perfectly serviceable though so I don't see any need to get a new one 😏

Bring the pan of water to the boil and place the pudding, in the steamer, on top; turn the water down to a low simmer.  Depending on the size of basin used, the puddings will take 5 to 7 hours to steam.  I steam my one pint puddings for 6 hours each, and the larger ones for the full 7.  To keep an eye on things, I set my timer for one hour at a time so that I remember to go and check on the water level in the saucepan.  Keep it topped up as necessary with boiling water from the kettle.

At the end of the steaming period, take the pudding from the steamer (remember to take care!) and discard the cake liner/greaseproof paper.  Cover with a clean tea-towel and leave on one side to cool.  

When the pudding is totally cold remove it from the basin, wrap in a double sheet of greaseproof paper or baking parchment, then wrap again tightly in cooking foil.

The puddings should be stored in a cool, dry, place, or they could even be frozen if you'd prefer.  We usually freeze what's left of the pudding we have on Christmas Day.  You'll have to remember to defrost them thoroughly before reheating.  With all the sugar and alcohol in them they should keep well in a cool, dry, place, though.  We have one at Christmas, obviously, but it's also our family tradition to have another at Easter.

When you are ready to eat your Christmas puddings, they can either be gently steamed for about 1 1/2 hours or reheated in the microwave ~ I take the latter route as it's simpler when there's so much other cooking going on.  I really can't tell you how long to reheat the pudding in the microwave as it's very much a trial-and-error process depending on your own particular machine.  I heat the pudding on full power for five minutes, then in short bursts of a minute or so until it is thoroughly hot all the way through.

Serve your pudding with whatever your family likes best: rum/brandy butter, cream, a white (brandy or rum, perhaps) sauce, custard, ice-cream, etc.  We like to have ours with either cream or a white sauce flavoured with brandy.  I make the sauce very simply, rather along the lines of packet-mix custard ~ just substitute cornflour in place of the custard powder and add brandy to taste!

You can tweak this recipe to your heart's content with the proportions and varieties of dried fruit, so long as the total amount remains about the same.  You could also have a little less fruit and add in some nuts.  You can use rum instead of brandy if you would prefer ~ I use brandy as I'm really not keen on rum.  Make the recipe your own by using the fruit (and nuts) that you and your family like to eat.

Enjoy 😊