
Granny Martin's Christmas puddings
- Preparation and cooking time
- Prep:
- Cook:
- Plus overnight soaking
- More effort
- Makes 2 puddings, each serving 6
- 350g sultana
- 350g currant
- 140g dried figchopped
- 100g mixed peel
- 85g glacé cherryhalved
- 100g dried apricotschopped
- 150ml brandy
- 100g stem gingerchopped
- plus 3 tbsp of the syrup
- 2 applesgrated
- juice and zest 2 oranges
- 6 large eggsbeaten
- 250g shredded suet
- 250g fresh white breadcrumbs
- 350g light muscovado sugar
- 175g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- butterfor greasing
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal764
- fat23g
- saturates10g
- carbs130g
- sugars101g
- fibre5g
- protein10g
- salt0.81glow
Method
step 1
Soak the sultanas, currants, figs, mixed peel, cherries and the apricots in the brandy in a bowl overnight if possible or for at least a few hrs (if you don't have time for this, place the fruit in a microwaveable bowl with the brandy and give it a quick blast in the microwave to plump up). In a larger bowl, mix the ginger and syrup, apples, orange juice and zest, eggs, suet, crumbs, sugar and flour. Using your fingers or a wooden spoon, mix in the soaked fruit and mixed spice.
step 2
Butter 2 x 1.5-litre pudding basins and divide the mixture between them, filling almost to the rim. Smooth the tops and cover with 2 circles of greaseproof paper. Cover each pudding with a sheet of foil with a folded pleat down the centre, to allow the pudding to expand, and secure everything by tying it tightly with some string. Stand the puddings in a deep, large pan (or 2 if that’s easier) on trivets or upturned saucers and pour boiling water around so it comes about a third of the way up. Cover the pan and steam the puddings for 5 hrs, topping up with more boiling water when necessary.
step 3
Let the puddings cool down before removing the foil and greaseproof paper, then cover with cling film over the top and store in a cool, dry place if you aren’t using them straight away. This is the time you can drizzle them with more booze in the run-up to Christmas if you have time. To reheat, steam the pudding for 1 hr more before turning out and flaming with hot brandy.