Christmas Pudding

Most households have a recipe for Christmas pudding, quite often one which has been handed down through the generations.

Sometimes called plum pudding or figgy pudding (and immortalised in the popular West Country carol ‘We wish you a Merry Christmas’), it is traditionally served at the end of the Christmas dinner.

The Victorians established ‘Stir Up Sunday’, the fifth Sunday before Christmas, as the day when the family would get together to make the pudding, each stirring the mixture to bring luck the following year. Ingredients varied but included dried fruit, suet, eggs, breadcrumbs, flour, and alcohol. Trinkets or charms were hidden in the pudding, each signifying something different – a coin for wealth, a ring for a future marriage, a thimble for spinsterhood, a button for the bachelor.

Christmas pudding in our house usually came from Fortnum & Mason, the chicest grocery store in London. It was a family tradition left over from my parent's days of living in the centre of the city. Each year, my mother would insert the silver charms into the pudding before steaming it and serving it with brandy butter and whipped cream. My grandmother's recipe book revealed her Christmas pudding recipe. This amount makes one very large pudding so I have halved the quantities and given instructions for covering and steaming the pudding. I made two family sized puddings.

225g raisins

225g currants

225g sultanas

225g mixed candied peel

225g suet

225g breadcrumbs

225g flour

225g apples, cored, peeled, chopped or grated

225g soft brown sugar

25g ground almonds

1 tsp ground nutmeg

½ tsp mixed spice

½ tsp cinnamon

3 eggs

milk if required

75ml rum

Put the raisins, currants, sultanas, candied peel, and apples into a bowl, add the rum and leave to soak overnight.

The next day, mix the remaining ingredients together in a large bowl and add the soaked fruit. Mix together thoroughly - I used my hands for this due to the large amount!

Butter 2 pudding basins - I used a 1.2 litre basin (17cm dia) and a 750ml basin (15cm dia) - and fill with the pudding mixture. Do not overfill the basins as the puddings will expand when cooking.

To create the lid, you will need a piece of greaseproof paper and a piece of tinfoil. Your pudding needs to be watertight.

Create a pleat down the centre of the greaseproof paper and place on top of the pudding basin. This will allow the steam to expand the lid without bursting it. Then, cover with a double thickness of tinfoil and secure it tightly with a piece of string. Make a handle by threading a double length of string through the piece around the bowl and tie it on the other side. This will enable you to lift the basin out of the water once the pudding is cooked.

Stand the pudding basin into a large saucepan (put a saucer in the bottom of the pan to prevent the bottom of your basin getting too hot) and fill with water three quarters of the way up the basin. Bring to the boil, put the lid onto your saucepan and steam for 3 hours. Check the water level occasionally to make sure it hasn’t evaporated, and top up with boiling water from the kettle as required.

Once the time is up, allow to cool before removing the tinfoil and paper. Re-cover with a new sheet of greaseproof paper and tinfoil and store in an airtight container until Christmas. On Christmas Day, reheat the pudding by steaming it for about an hour.

In her Book of Household Management (1861), Mrs Beeton tells us ‘on Christmas day, a sprig of holly is usually placed in the middle of the pudding, and about a wineglassful of brandy poured around it, which, at the moment of serving, is lighted, and the pudding thus brought to the table encircled in flame’.

If the youngsters in your family are not keen on Christmas pudding, my Hot Chocolate Pudding is a welcome alternative!

Spiced Apricot Chutney

A tasty and fruity chutney that can be made at any time of year due to its store cupboard ingredients. Great with a slab of cheese but especially good paired with leftover ham and turkey over the Christmas holidays and a welcome change from cranberries! One from my mother's recipe book.

500g dried apricots, halved

450g onions, peeled and finely chopped

125g raisins

75mm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped or grated

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or grated

600ml white wine vinegar

2 level tsp yellow mustard seeds

1 level tsp ground turmeric

1 level tsp cayenne pepper

450g light muscovado sugar

First of all, sterilise your jars. Have a look at 'all you need to know about making chutney' if you're not sure how to do this.

Put a level teaspoon of salt and all the other ingredients (except for the sugar) in a large saucepan and bring gently to the boil. Reduce the heat and add the sugar, stirring until it has dissolved.

Simmer for 1-1½ hours until the mixture has thickened, stirring towards the end of the time to make sure it’s not sticking to the bottom of the pan. Draw your spoon through the mixture and if it does not immediately fill with juice, the chutney is ready. Allow to cool slightly, spoon into your sterilised jars and put the lids on.

This amount makes about a litre of chutney or 4 x 250ml jars.

Candied Peel

I found this tucked into my mother’s recipe book and decided it was perfect for Christmas. It isn't difficult to make and is worth trying, if only for the wonderful citron smell that will fill your kitchen.

If you squeeze your own orange juice, then you’ll regularly have a pile of squeezed-out orange skins -this is the perfect alternative to the compost heap. Once you’ve made your candied peel, you can add it to your Christmas cake or use it in cookies or breads. Just chop it up small and you’re good to go.

6 citrus fruits – oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit

300ml cold water

250g caster sugar (plus 100g extra for dusting)

Prepare the fruit

Wash and scrub your chosen fruit to remove any dirt.

Remove the peel - the easiest way to do this is to score the skins from top to bottom until you reach the flesh. About 6-8 strips. Then pull off the skins and put into a saucepan.

Cover the peel with cold water and bring to a simmer – about 5 minutes. Strain and repeat twice more to remove any bitterness. Then put the peel back into the saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer until soft – about 30-40 minutes.

When the time is up, drain and reserve about 300ml of the water. Allow the skins to cool slightly before removing any excess pith - I used a teaspoon for this, scraping it carefully along the inside of each piece – then, slice the peel into strips about 5mm thickness.

Put your reserved water into a clean saucepan with the caster sugar and bring to a simmer over a low heat. Stir until the sugar has dissolved and then bring to the boil. Add the strips of peel. Simmer for about 20-30 minutes until the liquid is syrupy and most of it has absorbed into the peel. Keep an eye on it. Drain off any remaining liquid and allow the peel to cool slightly.

Put some caster sugar onto a flat tray or into a shallow bowl and put the sliced peel into the sugar, a small amount at a time. I used tongs for this. Toss to coat with sugar and place on a wire rack to dry – this will take 1-2 days so put it out of temptations way! When it's dry, store in an airtight container - it will keep for about a month. You can also freeze it.

If you want to make an indulgent treat for Christmas or a gourmet gift for a friend, dip half of each slice of peel in dark chocolate.