Graciesbakes

I made a Christmas pudding. Nothing says Christmas indulgence like a slice of pudding, heated to steaming, with some whipped cream or really good vanilla ice-cream.

Nothing else says Christmas like Dublin Airport arrivals hall. The whole area has been decorated with the images from the now legendary Coca Cola adverts, with huge pictures of a certain Mr Claus, the truck from the TV ad, and while sitting there yesterday morning, I was humming to myself, Holidays are coming, holidays are coming….Now I like my lie in’s on a Sunday morning, but yesterday I was at the airport at 840am with my best friend from college. We were waiting for one of our best college friends to come home for Christmas. I have never had reason to be at the airport at Christmas before but always felt a pang of emotion when the TV shows reunions in arrivals halls. Silly as it may sound, I was a little jealous of not having someone who would come home and need meeting at the airport. Well all that changed yesterday. My lovely and amazing friend Grace arrived in from Sydney yesterday morning. After 18 months of just speaking on the phone and via email, I cried like a child when I met her! Welcome home Gracie.

Now back to all things pudding.  I know that I am a little late given that Stir Sunday was a fortnight ago. However, this pudding can be made in 2 days and is just as good eaten straight away as it is if left to sit and develop.

The end result is rich, tasty, fruity and yes, very more-ish!

You should soak the fruit for a minimum of 12 hours. You will need:

800g luxury mixed fruit, Grated zest and juice of one large orange, 150ml brandy or grand marnier, and 3 Tablespoons of black treacle, 1 large cooking apple – grated, 50g each of breadcrumbs and flour, 1Tbsb ground mixed spice, 100g blanched almonds – chopped, 2 large eggs beaten, 125g chilled, unsalted butter

Put the mixed fruit, orange zest and juice, brandy and treacle in a large bowl and stir well. Cover and leave to sit for 12-18 hours. Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 1.8l pudding bowl and line the base with 2 circles of greasproof paper.

Add the apple to the fruit along with the breadcrumbs, flour, spices, almonds and eggs. Mix well after each addition.

Grate the butter into the mix and stir well. I find at this point the best thing to do is to roll up your sleeves and mix really well with your hands to make sure that all the butter is mixed in properly.

When everything is all mixed up well, spoon the mixture into your prepared pudding bowl. Cut 2 large square of greas proof paper (measuring 12in square) Put one on top of the other and fold a pleat down the middle. Place the paper over the bowl, and tie under the rim of the bowl with string.

Stand your pudding bowl into a large deepsided tin. Pour 1.7litres of water into the dish and cover completely with tinfoil. Ensure that the edges are sealed properly. Place carefully into the oven and bake for 6 hours. You shouldn’t have to top up the water, but ensure to keep an eye on it just in case!

Once the pudding is cooked, allow to cool a little and turn out of the dish. In order to store, wrap your pudding in a double layer of parchment and then in foil.

In order to reheat the pudding, cook in the same way as before for one and a half hours.

Enjoy!

Orls xxx