Gran’s Christmas Pudding

This delicious Christmas pudding recipe courtsey of Paul’s Gran.

Makes two 2pt puddings.

Ingredients:

• 8oz Shredded suet
• 1 heaped tsp mixed spice
• 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 4oz Self-Raising flour
• 1lb soft brown sugar
• 8oz white breadcrumbs (grated from stale loaf)
• 8oz sultanas
• 8oz raisins (ideally big ones with stones)
• 1 1/4lb currants
• 2oz almonds – blanched skinned and chopped (we leave this out!)
• 2oz mixed peel, finely chopped (whole stuff is better)
• grated rind of 1 orange
• grated rind of 1 lemon
• 1 apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
• 5 standard eggs
• 5floz Mackeson’s stout (need much more than this!)
• 4tblsp rum

Equipment:

• Two 2pt pudding basins

Recipe:

1. Put suet, flour, breadcrumbs, spices and sugar in a bowl, mixing
   each one thoroughly before adding next. Gradually mix in the fruit,
   peel and nuts, then add apple, orange and lemon peel.
2. In a different bowl, beat the eggs, rum and stout together.
3. Empty over the dry mixture,and stir very hard. This needs to be
   well mixed (may needmore stout at this point). Aim for a good
   dropping consistency.
4. After mixing, cover and leave overnight.
5. Stir again the next morning, and add more liquid if needed. (Aim
   for a mixture on the wet side rather than dry.)
6. Grease the basins, then pack the mixture in, filling bowls nice and
   full.
7. Cover with greaseproof paper, and tie on a pudding cloth over the top
   withstring, knotting the square of cloth over the top to form a
   handle.
8. Steam for 5hrs in a saucepan of water, with water up to about halfway.
   Keep topped up for whole cooking time.
9. When cooked and cooled, remove paper and cloth, and replace with fresh,
   if pudding is being stored for some time. Store in cool dry
   place.
10. On the day needed, steam for 2 hrs, and serve flaming.