CHRISTMAS " TO DO LIST" ~ CHRISTMAS PUDDING

Good Morning to you,

Today I will be adding another tick to my Christmas "To Do List" as I will be making our Christmas Pudding.

So far, I have ticked,

Christmas Cake baked ...... tick

Christmas Cake fed with brandy each week...... tick

Pickled Onions, stored ....... tick

Christmas Pudding, making today ....... tick

I have ticked the Christmas Pudding prematurely, but don't you just love the red ticks.... I know I do. Our Christmas Pudding will be filled with sultanas, currants, raisins, and almonds. It will be  a rich pudding and it will be perfectly matured by the time Christmas arrives.  

When I make our Christmas pudding, my memories return to a time when our girls were small, as we would all have fun stirring the Christmas pudding.  When all the ingredients had been added to the Christmas Pudding mixture, the pudding would be stirred from East to West, to honour the Three Wise Men.  Whilst stirring, we would each make a secret wish, which we had to keep to ourselves, which of course the girls could never do, as they would always share their wish by whispering it to George or to me. They both thought, that whispering didn't count, and that the wish would still remain a secret. Of course being near to Christmas time, we found it useful that they told us their wish, as their wish  was  something which they hoped to receive as a Christmas gift.  Danielle was the funniest, as she always thought, that if she whispered the wish quick enough, she could list five things, thinking that as long as she whispered the list  quickly, the list would be granted as one wish..... don't you just love children.

I was thinking, that maybe the music I should have chosen, should have been Christmas music the girls enjoyed, but when they were little girls they listened to LPs.  I still have the LPs, but I cannot play them as I don't have a record player anymore.  The type of Christmas music they loved  were songs sung by Pinky and Perky, and one song I remember, is Winter Wonderland, now I wonder if the girls will remember Pinky and Perky and Winter Wonderland. Actually Pinky and Perky did not sing as they were puppets..... but you know what I mean.

I think my time for listening to Pinky and Perky has passed, so I have chosen to enjoy,

A Classic Christmas.  This has The Philharmonia Orchestra playing Bacchanale, Winter, The Hansel and Gretal Overture played by The London Symphony Orchestra and for something to sing along to, Ding, Dong, Merrily on High sung by The Bach Choir.  

So my apron is on, I am really enjoying this music, as it is the music I normally play on Christmas morning, and yes, I am in the Christmas Spirit and  ready to list my ingredients.

INGREDIENTS

150g plain flour

100g fresh breadcrumbs

100g Demerara Sugar

150g ground almonds

125g currants

125g raisins

225g  sultanas

1 large cooking apple

grated rind and juice of 1 orange

3 eggs

120 ml Guinness

100ml sunflower oil

3 teaspoons of mixed spice

1 teaspoon of grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon of salt

METHOD

2 x 1kg pudding basin

string

parchment paper

tin foil

Place the breadcrumbs into a large bowl

and

add the Guinness

Can you see the image of my hand and camera?

Stir until the Guinness has soaked into the breadcrumbs

add the sunflower oil and stir

add the demerara sugar

and stir

add the mixed spice and grated nutmeg

and stir

add the ground almonds

and stir

add the currants, sultanas and raisins

and stir

add the sifted flour and salt

and stir

add the 3 beaten eggs

and stir

add the grated apple

and

the grated orange rind

and

the juice of the orange

and

stir

Natasha and Danielle loved all the stirring

involved in making this Christmas Pudding.

Actually they didn't want to stop stirring

as they enjoyed it so much.

 Remember, now that all the ingredients are incorporated, 

it is  time

for each member of the family,

to take a turn, to stir,

from

East to West

and  to make 

a 

Wish

Pour the Christmas Pudding mixture

into the greased pudding bowls.

Cut a double layer of parchment paper,

I usually use a large dinner plate to create my circle.

The parchment paper needs to be at least

6 inches larger than the size of the pudding basin

as you need to make a pleat in the centre,

to allow the pudding to expand during the 

cooking process.

 Cover with

parchment paper.

Tie string around the pudding bowl

to hold the parchment paper in place

Cover with tin foil and again

make sure the foil is large enough 

so that you can create a pleat.

Tie with string, just to be sure the tin foil stays in place

If you have a double boiler,

use this.

 If not

use a large saucepan and place a saucer on the

bottom of the saucepan. 

Place the pudding on the saucer.

Boil enough water to come halfway up the side
 of the pudding bowl,

then

reduce the heat to a simmer

and simmer for 4 hours.

REMEMBER

to keep an eye on the water level.

 Make sure the water does not evaporate completely

during cooking.

Top up with extra boiling water, as the need arises.

I found I only needed to do this once.

Allow the pudding to cool,

then remove the tin foil and parchment paper

and drizzle 1 tablespoon of brandy over the pudding.

Replace with fresh

parchment paper and tin foil

and store in a dark cool place until Christmas time.

On Christmas Day our Christmas Pudding will be steamed

for a further 3 hours

and served with

custard, cream 

or 

brandy cream,

whichever takes our fancy.

As with the Christmas Cake, I would advise you to list and tick each of the ingredients as they are weighed, to make sure that all the ingredients have been added.  I tend to weigh everything and put the ingredients in the order which I am going to use them, so that when I check my list, I know for sure that everything has been included.

Christmas Puddings are very rich, as are Christmas Cakes, but we only cut a small slice..... but, oh how enjoyable are these small slices.

Take care and I will see you on Wednesday.

This week I will be joining,

Karen from Sew Many Ways

and

Anyonita from Anyonita Nibbles

and

Yvonne from StoneGable