20 Days 'Til Christmas (Day 5)

I mentioned yesterday that my grandmother has passed away. As it looks now, my family and I will be leaving for Ireland sometime tomorrow and returning either Thursday or Friday, depending on flights.

In honour of my Nana I thought that I would put up a recipe for Christmas Pudding. She makes them every year - one time my dad found a pudding on top of the cupboards that had been there for so long it was supporting it's own ecosystem of moulds. Gross. I could never eat them as I have an allergy to nuts and she put nuts in them but I'm sure I had some as a child (prior to my 4th grade anaphylaxis awakening), I just can't recall.

This is obviously not a direct recipe from my grandmother but it's an

Irish Christmas Pudding

You will need:

• 6 1/2 cups sultanas
• 2 1/4 cups currants
• 3 cups raisins, chopped
• 2 1/4 cups dates, chopped
• 2 1/4 cups dried prunes, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups red glace cherries, quartered
• 2/3 cup mixed peel
• 2 medium apples, peeled, grated coarsely
• 2/3 cup fig jam
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon mixed spice
• 1 1/3 cups Irish Whiskey
• 4 cups butter, melted, cooled
• 3 eggs, beaten lightly
• 4 cups lightly packed stale (not dry) breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup plain flour

1. Mix all of the ingredients together in an oven safe bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let sit overnight in a cool, dark place.


2. Place the bowl in a deep rpasting pan and add steaming water to the pan, enough to come up as high on the bowl as possible but so that you can still lift the pan without spilling the water. It's best to do this while the roasting pan is set on the oven rack.


3. Bake the pudding at 350 for about 3-4 hours. The water needs to steam to bake the pudding. This is a really bad recipe to communicate steaming a pudding as I've never done it before...sorry. Just make a fuit cake instead.

In an effort to maintain my post-a-day for 25 days I have pre-written a few posts and scheduled them for the days I'm away. If I miss one or two don't hate, I'll double post once I'm home again.

Back at the end of the week.

Jamie

P.S. Happy Birthday Mike!!!

*I also quite enjoy the shoutout to my dad