members recipes

This is Oscar\'s recipe. Oscar was my father a real treasure, he loved this recipe and always called it the \'best ever Christmas Pudding Recipe\'My father was a wonderfull man and he had a passion for food. His recipe is realy nice, not too heavy and quite fruity. You do not taste the guinness that is in it and the alcohol from the guinness will have well cooked out. It is an interesting recipe, not as sweet as some and it does not have much flour in it, instead it has a large quantity of bread crumbs. I do not like currants and so I make up the quantity with things like dried cranberries, dried cherries and sultanas. (very tasty!)

Ingredients
To make 1 x 2 1/2pt Pudding Bowl

Ingredients

14oz soft breadcrumbs .....( gluten free substitute ground almonds)
2 oz plain flour ................(gluten free substitute polenta)
1/2tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp ground allspice
4oz melted butter
3-4oz grated cooking apple
2oz grated carrot
6oz currants
6oz sultanas
11ozseeded raisins
3oz dried apricots (chopped)
2 oz dried prunes (chopped)
4 oz finely chopped mixed peel
3 oz glace cherries quartered
4oz blanched almonds finely chopped
1 lemon
1 oranges
1 tablespoon black treacle
2 large eggs
Generous glug of brandy
½ pt Guinness
Optional: add 2oz chopped figs and/or pecan nuts

Method
Osc\'s christmas pudding
(The best christmas pud recipe ever!!)

To make 1 x 2 1/2pt Pudding Bowl

Ingredients

14oz soft breadcrumbs .....( gluten free substitute ground almonds)
2 oz plain flour ................(gluten free substitute polenta)
1/2tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp ground allspice
4oz melted butter
3-4oz grated cooking apple
2oz grated carrot
6oz currants
6oz sultanas
11ozseeded raisins
3oz dried apricots (chopped)
2 oz dried prunes (chopped)
4 oz finely chopped mixed peel
3 oz glace cherries quartered
4oz blanched almonds finely chopped
1 lemon
1 oranges
1 tablespoon black treacle
2 large eggs
Generous glug of brandy
½ pt Guinness
Optional: add 2oz chopped figs and/or pecan nuts


Method:
1. Boil the whole lemon and oranges in a pan until soft and squidgy. Drain and blitz the whole fruits in a processor until pulped.


2. When preparing things like the cherries/mixed peel, prunes/apricots and figs, if you are using them. I save time and put them in the processor and give them a short blitz. I find that this gives the pudding quite a nice texture and saves time fiddling around cutting all the stuff up finely.

2. Mix all the other ingredients together, add the lemon and orange mix, pour in the brandy and Guinness, cover and allow to stand overnight in the fridge.

3. Fill your pudding bowls.

4. Cover with greaseproof paper circles on the top of the pudding mix and then cover the bowl with foil or greaseproof. Tie with sting if you wish.

5. Steam for approx 3 hours. The original recipe states it should be steamed for 5-6 hours but I don’t do this. I believe 3 hours is ample time for the pudding to be cooked through and I steam for less time for smaller puddings.

6. After the pudding has cooled, change the greaseproof top. Reseal with foil and store in fridge until needed.

7. You may like to add a little more brandy to it before you use it as this helps keep it moist and of course adds to the flavour.

8. Cook on XmasDay for 2 hrs. If you have a slow cooker you can put it on the night before and it will be ready for when you need it. This also saves on cooking ring space.

9. You are able to microwave it but beware, my Dad did so and because he had put so much brandy in, it caught fire!!

10 Enjoy with brandy butter, fresh whipped cream or brandy sauce.
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( I am sure that you could leave the brandy out if you wanted, but its not as boozy as many other puddings)
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My sisters version of the recipe is slightly different , she has people almost queing up to get hold of one of her christmas puddings, They are very much in demand from all her friends and their families.......

My sister has changed this recipe a little .

In my sisters version she boils the orange and lemon and then she \'blitz\'s\' them in a food processor , I do not do this I simply use the grated zest and juices from the fruit .

She also chops the dried fruits in a food processor, I do not do this I chop them roughly by hand as I like the texture of slightly chunkier pieces .

I also notice that she only simmers the puddings for 3 hours as she feels that is long enough.. I simmer my pudding for longer(5 hours aprox, depending on the size of the pudding) so that it is fine kept on the shelf in a cool dry enviroment.

I have never tried making a gluten free version so I have no idea what it would turn out like, my sister seems to have worked something out and added so gluten free options to the recipe. This is not part of the original recipe that my father had.


N.B. The photo shows the Christmas pudding BEFORE it has been cooked.