Christmas Pudding

This is a recipe passed down to me by my Great Aunt. I generally soak the fruit in Brandy for a few days prior to cooking. You can keep it in the fridge until Christmas Day, but I have also made it a few weeks in advance and frozen it. Either way works well.

750g Mixed Fruit

100g Pitted prunes, chopped

100g Dates, chopped

250g Butter

1 ½ Cups Brown Sugar

4 Eggs

½ Cup Brandy

1 Cup Plain Flour

1 Teaspoon Mixed Spice

½ Teaspoon Cinnamon

½ Teaspoon Nutmeg

½ teaspoon BiCarb Soda

50g Slivered Almonds

1 Cup Fine white Breadcrumbs

 

1. Cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Mix in fruit, alcohol, sifted dry ingredients, slivered almonds and breadcrumbs.
2. Place mixture into a greased 8 cup pudding basin lined with baking paper. Cover with a circle of foil and place lit on basin.
3. Place in a large saucepan with enough boiling to come halfway up the basin. Boil for 6 hours making sure the water level remains constant by adding more boiling water as required.
4. On the day of serving you can re heat the entire pudding (or sections) in the microwave or by re-boiling for another 2 hours. Serve with custard and cream.