Back Button

Christmas Pudding

Judy

An Australian dried fruit promotion leaflet

My favourite Christmas pudding recipe for longer than I can remember - slightly amended from the original to take account of the family's aversion to peel! Like all Christmas puddings it is best if made a couple of months before being eaten. It can also be kept in the freezer for many months - keep the small one for 'Christmas in July'!

  • 370 gms currants
  • 500 gms sultanas
  • 310 gms chopped pitted prunes
  • 185 gms chopped dried apricots
  • 3 ozs flaked almonds
  • 1 large carrot, grated
  • 250 gms butter, melted
  • 125 gms fresh breadcrumbs (put several slices of bread into food processor)
  • 250 gms sugar
  • 125 gms plain flour, sifted
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon mixed spice
  • 4 large eggs
  • 3/5 cup milk
  • ½ cup brandy
  • ½ cup orange juice

Mountain

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a very large bowl and add the melted butter. Beat the eggs and add the milk, brandy, orange juice. Mix the moist ingredients into the dry. Grease two pudding steamers (1 large and 1 small) and put the mixture into the steamers (don't fill any closer that 1 inch from the top). Grease a double layer of foil for each steamer, place foil over the top of the steamer rim, greased side down, and push foil down to near the top of the mixture (make sure foil is big enough to still cover the rim of steamer). Put the lid of steamer on and clamp tightly over the foil covering.

Place each steamer in covered saucepan of boiling water, with the water coming about 1" or so up the side of the steamer. Steam the large pudding for 6 hours, the small one for 4 hours. When cooked and cooled, turn pudding out of steamer, wash and dry steamer, cover the pudding with Glad Wrap, replace it in the steamer and seal again with the foil topping and lid (if this is not done, the acid, etc. in the fruit will corrode the aluminium steamer if stored for a long period). Seal the pudding and steamer in an airtight plastic bag and put in the freezer. On the day of serving, thaw the pudding, remove the Glad Wrap, replace the pudding in the steamer and seal again, and steam for 1 hour before serving.