Christmas Pudding Recipe from The Cotswold Chef™ Rob Rees

The Cotswold Chef™ Rob Rees shows us how to make the perfect Christmas pudding as previously presented in ‘The Cotswold Chef™ – A Year in Recipes & Landscapes’.

Portions: makes approx five 2 pint pudding basin size puddings

INGREDIENTS

• 225g self-raising flour

• 450g Hobbs House breadcrumbs

• 450g suet

• 450g dark brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon allspice

• 325g currants

• 650g raisins

• 175g mixed peel

• 50g ground almonds

• Grated rind of 2 lemons

• ¼ grated nutmeg

• 8 “Cotswold Legbar” eggs

• 2 tablespoons black treacle

• Juice of 2 oranges

• 1 grated carrot

• 1 grated cooking apple

• 3 cans of Guinness, brandy or Freeminer Speculation Ale

METHOD

1. Mix all ingredients together in large bowl and allow to soak overnight.

Note: when adding the Guinness only add enough to create a mixture that is of dropping consistency, but remember that the dried fruit will soak up some of the liquid overnight so it doesn’t matter too much if the mixture is a little wet.

2. Divide the mixture between 5 buttered pudding basins filling to an inch from the top. Place buttered greaseproof paper cut to fit the top, wrap in either muslin or tin foil and tie ready for steaming.

3. Steam for 10 hours. Re-heat on Christmas day by steaming for a further 5 hours. The key to a dark, moist and rich pudding is in the steaming – the longer you can do it the better it becomes.

For more information on The Cotswold Chef™ please visit: http://www.thecotswoldchef.com/