FabFood: Homemade Christmas Pudding

Making a homemade Christmas pudding is very easy - just measure, mix and steam! And then a bit more steaming when you want to serve it. You can prepare several weeks in advance, just keep it moist with a drop of brandy every few days.

Ingredients

500g dried fruit (eg blueberries, cranberries, cherries, sultanas, raisins)
150g dates, chopped
10-12 maraschino cherries, chopped
125g plain flour
125g brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
150g butter
100g breadcrumbs
Zest of 1 Orange
1 tsp ground ginger
Pinch of salt
1 large egg
150 ml milk
Brandy! (Otherwise use cognac or whisky)

Instructions
1. Find a large heat-proof pudding basin or bowl and grease with butter. It'll need to be heat-proof as you'll be using it to steam the pudding for hours and hours...

2. Measure the dry ingredients and put into a large mixing bowl. Dice and add the butter, orange zest and ground ginger.

3. Beat egg and milk together and add to the mixing bowl.

4. Roll-up your sleeves and get messy mixing everything together.

5. Add the pudding mixture to the greased heat-proof bowl.

6. Cover pudding with a layer of buttered grease-proof paper, then cover with a aluminium foil

7. Put the pudding basin in a large steamer, cover and steam for approx 5 hours. If you don't have a steam, use an enormous saucepan and add water half-way up the side of the pudding bowl, cover and simmer. In both cases, check regularly to make sure the pan doesn't boil dry, 'cause your pan, bowl and pudding will all get ruined :(

8. When cooled, remove the pudding basin from the steamer or saucepan and remove the foil and paper. Using a skewer make several holes in the pudding, then pour 2 tablespoons of brandy down the holes. This will keep the pudding moist. Cover the pudding with foil and store in a the fridge. Every few days take it out and add a drop more brandy - say a tablespoon - to keep it moist.