Aunt Reta's Christmas pudding
- 500g dried currants
- 400g sultanas
- 200g muscatels
- 200g mixed peel
- 200g glace cherries
- 1 cups (375 ml) overproof rum
- 380g butter
- 380g dark brown sugar
- 8 eggs
- 1 tbsp mixed ground nutmeg and cinnamon
- 675g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
- salt
Aunt Reta's Christmas pudding is a source of great nostalgia for me, so I include it here for sentimental reasons. The Christmas pudding in Maggie's Table is closer to the one I make commercially.
Method
Mix the fruit in a large bowl and soak overnight in the rum.
Cream the butter and sugar then mix in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in
the fruit, rum and spices. Sift in the flour with a large pinch of salt
and mix well. Dust a square of washed calico (about 45cm square) with
flour. Spoon the pudding mixture into the centre of the cloth, pull the
corners and edges to the centre and tie well with kitchen string to
secure.
Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Immerse the pudding, bring
the water back to the boil and let it bubble quietly over low heat for
6 hours, keeping the pudding completely immersed. When cooked, hang in
a well-ventilated place to dry until required.
Before serving, boil the pudding again in a large saucepan of water for 1 hour. Unwrap and serve.
Serves 12-16
