Mum’s Christmas pudding

Good Food reader Christine Ford shares her late mum’s Christmas pudding recipe – the ideal last-minute option as it doesn’t need to mature to taste really good

Prep:10 mins
Cook:3 hrs 30 mins

Easy

Nutrition per serving

kcal 429
fat 11g
saturates 4g
carbs 81g
sugars 54g
fibre 2g
protein 6g
salt 1.26g

Ingredients

450g white breadcrumbs
350g golden caster sugar
225g vegetarian suet
100g self-raising flour
50g almonds, roughly chopped
225g currants
225g sultanas
225g raisins
175g mixed peel
1 tsp each mixed spice, ground ginger and grated nutmeg
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 eggs
2 tbsp treacle
zest and juice 1 lemon
zest and juice 1 orange

Method

Place all the ingredients, except the eggs, treacle and lemon and orange juice, into your largest bowl with 1 tsp salt, then mix. Add the remaining ingredients along with 700ml water, then mix to a consistency that drops off your spoon. Cover and leave in a cool place overnight. The mixture will become firm.
The next day, add enough water to bring the mix back to a dropping consistency, then spoon into greased pudding basins – we used a 2 litre and a 1 litre. Cover with pleated greaseproof paper and foil, and secure with string.
Lower the puddings into a saucepan with upturned saucers or scrunched-up bits of foil in the bottom (so the puds don’t touch the bottom), then fill with boiling water from the kettle until it comes halfway up the sides of the bowl. Simmer the smaller pudding for 2-2½ hrs and the larger one for 3-3½ hrs. Cool, wrap well in foil and chill for up to 3 days.