food hits and misses

I've been a bit slack this year. For a really good pudding, you should make it well in advance and let the flavours develop. That said, any extra time between making and eating the pudding is an advantage, and the amount of fruit and spices in the recipe ensures it won't be tasteless.

Plum pudding

1 1/2 cups prunes
1 cup dates
1 cup currants
1 cup raisins
1 cup sultanas
1 cup mixed peel
1 cup whisky
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs, lightly beaten
3 tbspn golden syrup
2 tspn ground cinnamon
1 tspn ground cloves
1 tspn ground nutmeg
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup self raising flour
2 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
1/2 cup blanched almonds

Method

Roughly chop prunes and dates. Place in a large bowl with currants, raisins, sultanas and mixed peel. Cover with whisky, stir and leave to macerate at least six hours. Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well to combine. Add the golden syrup and stir through. Sift together the flours and spices. Add to the butter mixture and mix well. Add the breadcrumbs and mix thoroughly. Roughly chop the almonds, and add to fruit mixture. Combine the fruit and batter mix and stir well to make sure the fruit is evenly distributed. Prepare a 2 litre pudding basin by placing a disc of greaseproof paper in the base. Place the batter in the basin, and cover with pleated greaseproof paper. Secure the paper and cover with a lid if available, or aluminium foil if there is no lid. Place a trivet in a large stockpot or tall saucepan. Put the pudding basin on the trivet, and add water up until one third of the way up the side of the basin. Bring to the boil and simmer for around six hours until pudding is browned and quite firm. Store the pudding in the refrigerator until Christmas, occasionally "feeding" with whisky if desired. To reheat the pudding, place it back in the basin and boil for around an hour. Serve with brandy sauce and cream. To flame the pudding, ladle brandy over the warmed pudding and ignite.