Now bring us some figgy pudding, Now bring some out here!

And finally we come to the end of Christmas. The silly season is definitely over. Who's going in for a Feb Fast? (giving up alcohol for the whole month of February? Definitely signals the end of silliness)

And for my last trick... the Christmas Pudding. Remember I was a bit unsure of how this would turn out? Well, it was fabulous. Lots of fruit, but not the gross kind of fruit. Enough brandy without getting everyone drunk. Not too dark.

To be honest, I'm not really a fan of Christmas Pudding... but this one I liked.



CHRISTMAS PLUM PUDDING.

INGREDIENTS. - 8 oz. of moist sugar
8 oz. of finely-shredded suet (I used the packet stuff and it worked out okay, so you can use that if suet is hard to come by)
8 oz. of sultanas cleaned
8 oz. of raisins halved and stoned
8 oz. of currants washed and dried
4 oz. of shredded mixed candied peel
4 oz. of flour
4 oz. of bread crumbs
2 oz. of almonds blanched and shredded
the grated rind of 1 lemon
3 eggs
1/2 a teaspoonful of salt
1/2 a pint of milk
1 small wineglassful of brandy (optional)

METHOD. - Mix all the dry ingredients together, stir in the well-beaten eggs, milk and brandy (if used), turn the mixture into 2 well-greased basins, steam from 5 to 6 hours.

TIME. - From 5 to 6 hours. SUFFICIENT for 8 or 9 persons.

Pretty nummy. Serve with ice cream, or cream or brandy custard. Incidentally, this is exactly the same recipe my nana used, except she used butter instead of suet. Her recipe is called Royal Pudding, and so I think I'll try that next year instead.