Holiday Baking

Since we're staying home for Christmas this year, we finally get to bake/cook all the fun treats that we'd normally miss out on, including Christmas Pudding. I've always been scared to do steamed puddings, but thought I'd brave up and give it a try. Turns out, it's pretty darn easy!

Firstly, you marinate mixed fruit in brandy for at least overnight, or in my case, several days.



Then, when you've got an entire day to spare, you put the pudding together. It's quite simple and basic: just a little flour and sugar;

Loads of spices

Suet (veg), bread crumbs, orange marmalade, ale (Newcastle Brown, of course!), lemon zest & juice, eggs, and almonds

Then pack it into the pudding moulds

Wrap tightly

And set on the stovetop to simmer/steam for 6 hours. Yes, that is a number 6, not a type-o. See what I mean about taking the whole day?

I thought I could do them initially together in my soup pot. But it wasn't big enough. So I split them out. But then I discovered that they were too big for the pans. You need to have the lid on (so as to create the steamy atmosphere) but you also need space for them to raise up a bit. As you can see above, I had the lids straight on top of the puds, which meant no raising room, no steam in the pot but a very steamy kitchen. So I gave in and did them separately in my big soup pot. Much better. 

You can see how it's puffed up.

After it cools down, you poke lots of holes in the top and pour more brandy over. Then wrap, leave to set and macerate and steam for a couple hours when you're ready to eat! Can't wait.