PUDDING TIME

I'm ashamed to say I have been remiss with my store cupboard contents. I am laying blame with the Mr. as he is the packer and putter away of shopping. We are also in a state of chaos due to home improvements, and various purchases being put in some odd places. Anyhoo, I found a big jar of dried mixed fruit lurking in the depths of the cupboard of doom (named because every week he crams more in there and due to the height of it I cannot reach easily. We had a sort out and found said fruit, which was probably past its best. We tried it, and he said it was lovely (a bit crystalised) so it went into the big bowl with a generous slug of sherry and brandy, and the juice and zest of an orange and lemon.  I was going to throw everything else in too, but thought it would benefit from a bit of time to plump up. The fruit weighed in at just under 12oz, and I added a tablespoon of mixed peel (for him, not a fan myself) covered it with cling film and left it overnight.

This recipe  is loosely based on Mary Berry's Traditional Christmas Pudding from The Aga Book, in that my fruit had quite a lot of dried cranberries, and less raisins. The rest of the ingredients were the same, didn't have any Guinness so used Mackeson Stout, which is sweeter.

We all had a stir and made a wish, then I poured it into a pudding bowl, wrapped in grease  proof and foil, simmered in a pan half filled with water with lid on for 30 minutes on the hot plate, then put in the simmering oven overnight.   Next day it was left to cool, and popped into the freezer, job done!

Now onto the cake preparations, but needing some  inspiration as I always make The Classic Christmas Cake by Delia. It's a lovely cake, as is her Scottish Whisky Dundee Cake, but I fancy something a bit lighter.  Any suggestions would be gratefully received!