Sunday 9 January 2011

Tangy Christmas Pudding with Brandy Butter- End of November, counting down the days

About many years ago started to make my own pudding as my Gran was no-longer with us and the source of my puddings. My original recipe was mish mash of Delia Smith's Traditional Christmas Pudding and Prima Magazine November 2001 Christmas Pudding Recipe. However this year I was inspired by Heston Blumenthal's Christmas Pudding for Waitrose, with crystallised orange inside. My pudding doesn't result in a crystalised orange, but results in a rich tangy orange scented and flavoured pudding that we all found quite remarkably morish. It was even very delicious cold the next day, which was rather unexpected as in the past Christmas pudding in my opinion was always disappointing cold. This year I am not sure which I preferred it the most; cold or hot.

4oz raisins
6oz currants
4oz sultanas
3oz cranberries
2tspn mixed spice
4oz SR flour sifted
4oz Veggie Suet
4oz stale bread crumbs
6oz muscovado sugar
1 cooking apple, peeled, cored and grated
grated zest of orange
grated zest of lemon
juice of an orange
3 eggs
1/4 pt of ale
2tblspn of Port
1 washed tangerine

In a bowl place all the dried fruit, add the citrus fruit zest, orange juice, mixed spice, grated apple, sugar, ale, port. Mix in the beaten eggs, stir in slowly suet, bread crumbs, and flour until well mix. Grease a 2pt pudding bowl; place half the mix into the bowl. Take the tangerine make a hole at the top where the stalk was attached; pour tsp of port into the tangerine. Place the tangerine in the pudding bowl; pour the rest of pudding mix on top. Place circle disk of greaseproof paper over the pudding, then lay a sheet of greaseproof paper and foil over the top. Tie string around the pudding bowl to secure the paper and foil as a tight lid to the pudding. Tie another piece of string across the pudding to make a handle. Place the pudding in large casserole dish with tight fitting lid containing 2" of water. Place the lid on the casserole dish, place in the oven for at 100oC for 3-4hrs, essentially steaming the pudding.

Replace the greaseproof and foil lid and store until Christmas, but will keep for another month after Christmas. On the day either steam the pudding again for an hour or remove foil lid and microwave for 5 mins in 900W microwave full power. Turn out onto plate, you can flame as per usual by pouring brandy or port over the pudding light immediately. When serving cut into the pudding take care not to cut into the tangerine, which is not crystalised and looks to be intact as a tangerine, but if you open it up the entire contents has evaporated into the pudding, creating that rich orange flavor and scent. Serve with Brandy Butter, vanilla ice-cream, or cream.

Brandy Butter
2oz Butter
4oz Icing Sugar
2oz Ground Almonds
good 1tblsp Brandy

Cream butter and sugar together, mix in the brandy and almonds. Place in bowl, rest in the fridge before serving.

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