The recipe is my Nan’s and as she sadly passed away a couple of months ago I thought I would give it a try in her honour. Nan made puddings every year, often with mixes so big she needed the jam pan to do the stirring, so that she made one for all the family and a few friends too. I didn’t fancy being that ambitious so I just made up one quantity of the recipe.
It’s a really packed mixture full of fruit, nuts and spice, breadcrumbs and suet, and eggs to bind it all together, not forgetting the generous slug of brandy!
The amount of mixture I made managed to fill three pudding basins – a one and a half pint, one pint and a diddy half pint – so there are a couple of spares.
Making the mixture didn’t actually take too long so I did that on the Saturday afternoon (before Strictly!) and left the puddings in the fridge overnight.
Sunday was the best day with the puddings steaming away gently on the hob for six hours and the most wonderful smell filling the house all day. Mum then also put a gammon on to roast in the afternoon so it smelled even better, honestly if I could have bottled it...
Once the puddings had steamed and cooled down I uncovered them to check, and they certainly look and smell like they’re supposed to! I put fresh greaseproof paper on top and tied on a cotton napkin lid so they’re ready for Christmas and the taste test.
Mum decided that if they’re really good we’ll eat them all ourselves, but personally I think we ought to share at least a little bit with some of the family and see if I’ve made it up to Nan’s standards.
It’s not at all a difficult process, just time consuming with the steaming, although I’m sure there are short-cut ways of doing it, but at least for the first time I wanted to do it properly. I’m really pleased with how they’ve come out and I’m sure they’ll taste lovely too.
More Christmassy things on the horizon, mince pies to make, little knitting projects, and presents to buy, but I’m getting there, hope you are too!
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