Christmas Pudding, sort of Delia Smith

My daughter asked me to blog all about Christmas, so that she can do it exactly like I do.  Sweet!  But hardly likely to happen!

I guess this is my recipe now that I have made all the additions, but it did start out as a Delia Smith recipe from her wonderful web site.  She has the best cookery web site around with recipes that really work, and a wonderful style that lets you know she loves cooking and is not just in it for the money.  You can access it by clicking here, but only if you have an hour to spare!  Its impossible not to get dragged in to marvel at the lovely photos and recipes.  All Delia's recipes work, and she is especially good for Christmas recipes when you want old fashioned recipes for the nostalgic Christmas season.  So her pudding recipe is a good place to start.

I added dates and apricots and changed her barley wine for Guinness.  It would not be Christmas if there wasn't Guinness in the pudding, half for the recipe and half for the chef!  That's me.  Hic!  Its best to start the day before and leave the mixture overnight to soak up the liquid.  This makes one 2lb pudding for Christmas and one nearly full 1lb pudding to eat before Christmas if you like, or to keep till New Year.  I cook it fully and re-heat it in the microwave, coz i just can't be doing with an extra saucepan on the hob that day.

Christmas Pudding

4oz/110g shredded suet, (beef or vegetarian) or frozen butter grated

2oz/50g self-raising flour

4oz/110g white breadcrumbs

1 teaspoon mixed spice

1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

8oz/225g soft dark brown sugar

20oz/565g mixed dried fruit, any combination you like

2oz/50g chopped dates

2oz/50g chopped dried apricots

1oz/25g flaked almonds (or any other nut you fancy)

1 small Bramley apple, pealed and grated

grated zest of half an orange and half a lemon

5 fl oz/150 ml Guinness

Tablespoon of whiskey

2 large eggs

Take you largest bowl or a clean washing up basin and add everything one by one, ticking off your list to make sure you have not forgotten anything.  Mix everything together very thoroughly.  Invite everyone to have a stir and take a wish.  The mixture will be quite sloppy.  Cover the bowl and leave overnight.  You have enough work done today!

The next day, it will be less sloppy, and the liquid will have soaked into the breadcrumbs and dried fruit.

Fill your 2lb pudding bowl first, to almost the top and press down lightly.  Tip with a circle of silicone paper and seal with cling film.  Put the plastic lid on top and pop into your steamer, or directly into a pot with an upturned plate at the bottom.  The plate will keep the pudding off the direct heat, and fill the saucepan to half full with boiling water from the kettle and steam for 8 hours for the large one and 41/2 to 5 hours for the smaller one.

Watch the water does not boil away and keep topping it up as necessary. Then your pudding will be ready for Christmas day.  Store in a cool, dry place, away from light. 

Christmas Mince Pies

Making the mince

You have to take a long run at Christmas to be relaxed and produce great food over almost a full week to a house full of people.  Its all good fun and adds to my enjoyment, but it does not happen by accident that the house is full of good thing to eat and there are wonderful smells coming from the kitchen where the oven is rarely turned off.  

I like to start by making the mince for the pies, the pudding and the cake by the end of November, early December.  Today I mixed the mince for the pies.  This is based on a recipe from the original Myrtel Allen book, "The Ballymaloe Cookbook", one of the first books I owned and I have made almost every recipe from it.  Yes, Darina Allen was a great cook and now, Rachel Allen too, but it all started with Myrtle and her gentle writing and encouragement that two good free range eggs boiled, served with homemade brown bread was a far better supper than anything reheated from the supermarket.  

I have added a few extra bits to her recipe, as I like a few glistening red cherries in there too, I like a few toffeeish dates, and a handful of nuts, but it is her addition of a tablespoon of orange marmalade that turns a bowlfull of dry ingredients into a beautiful moist mass of juicy fruity lovelyness.  I don't know why a tablespoon of one ingredient can do this, but it does.  I like packing it away into a few jars and looking at it in the back of the cupboard in the smug knowledge that I can whip up a dozen mince pies at twenty minutes notice.  This recipe will make about 30 pies, enough for my family over Christmas.  

Christmas Mince

1 lemon, rind and juice

1 cooking apple grated into the juice

1lb/450g dried mixed fruit, any combination you like

2oz/55g chopped candied peel

2oz/55g flaked almonds

2oz/55g chopped cherries

2oz/55g chopped dates or apricots

1lb/450g moist brown sugar

8oz/225g chopped suet (I used Atora vegetable suet)

3fl oz/90ml whiskey or brandy or any spirit over 40% proof

1 tablespoon of orange marmalade

Mix everything into a bowl and stir thoroughly.  When it is very well mixed, put it into jars (mine filled 3x12oz jam jars) and cover closely.  Make sure you pack it down tightly.  When you are ready to use it, tip it out into a large bowl and stir well again. 

It makes a lovely present too if you want to give any of it away!
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So, this is what I did with it over Christmas.  I was busy and did not have time to make individual pies, so I made one large pie in a rectangular tin to cut into slices.  I often do this with mince pies as I like more filling and less pastry.

I added a layer of apple, a sliced Brambley, to add a fresh zing to the mince.

 When it was cooked and sliced, it looked like this

The sweet pastry is the same as from the Lemon and Lime pie recipe here.  It was lovely, rich, biscuity and very Christmassy!  I does not need to be baked blind, just rolled out and filled.