Christmas Pudding
From Sainsbury'sA rich classic pudding, served with a brandy butter.
Serves: 10
Preparation time: 20 Minutes
Cooking time: 350 Minutes
Ingredients
225g seedless raisins
225g currants
225g sultanas
75g chopped dried pear
25g chopped dried pineapple
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
225g fresh white breadcrumbs
75g plain flour
1 teaspoon ground mixed spice
225g shredded suet
225g soft light brown sugar
Dash of angostura bitters
4 large eggs, beaten
55ml dark rum
55ml Calvados
75ml milk
100g unsalted butter
75g dark brown sugar
4 tablespoons dark rum
Method
Lightly grease 1.6 litre pudding basin and line the base with non-stick baking parchment.
Put the raisins, currants and sultanas in a large mixing bowl with the dried pear and pineapple, lemon zest, breadcrumbs, flour, mixed spice, suet and sugar. Stir to mix.
In another bowl whisk together the eggs, a dash of the angostura bitters, rum and Calvados and milk. Add to the fruit mixture and stir well. Spoon into the pudding basin and press down well. Cover the surface with a disc of greaseproof paper. Cover the whole basin with some more paper and foil, making sure to pleat in the centre for expansion. Secure with some string.
To cook: Place the pudding basin into a large saucepan and pour enough boiling water in to come halfway up the basin. Now bring up to the boil, cover the pan and boil steadily for 5 hours, making sure the saucepan doesn't boil dry. Top up with boiling water only.
Once cooked, remove from the pan and allow to cool completely. Then recover with some fresh greaseproof paper and foil. Store in a cool, dark place for 6-8 weeks.
To reheat on the day: Steam pudding for 2 hours as above and then turn out onto your warmed serving dish.
To make the rum butter: Mix the ingredients well until completely combined, store covered in the fridge.
When ready to serve the pudding: warm some rum in a pan and set it alight with a match. Pour this over the pudding and serve with the rum butter.
