- Sift the flour and spices into a large bowl. Add the sugars, breadcrumbs, apple, carrot, dried and candied fruits, nuts, grated orange and lemon rind. Stir together until well mixed.
- Place the remaining ingredients, except butter, in another bowl. Melt the butter, add to liquid ingredients and beat together. Pour onto dry ingredients and stir thoroughly.
- Cover and set aside overnight.
- The next day, stir again, then place in the well-buttered pudding basin. Cover with baking paper, make a pleat in the centre, tie with string and cover with foil. Place in a large saucepan with water halfway up the sides. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and steam for four hours. (Top up water when necessary.) Set aside to cool, then refrigerate overnight.
- To make the custard, place milk and cream in a saucepan. Split the vanilla beans, scrape seeds. Add the seeds and beans to pan. Bring to the boil then remove from heat and set aside for 10 minutes to infuse.
- Place sugar, egg yolks and cornflour in a bowl and whisk until pale and creamy. Add to milk mixture and cook, stirring, over low heat until thickened. Strain custard, discarding vanilla beans. Cover with plastic wrap. Add brandy just before serving. Re-steam pudding for two hours, and rest for 10 minutes before turning out on a plate. Serve with warm custard.
- Begin this recipe two days before.
- Place the calico in a large bowl and cover with plenty of water. Set aside overnight to soak.
- Combine the raisins, sultanas, currants, dates, mixed peel and orange rind in a large glass or ceramic bowl. Place the brandy or sherry in a small saucepan over high heat. Bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and pour over the dried fruit mixture. Stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside overnight to soak.
- Drain the calico well and transfer to a large saucepan of boiling water. Boil for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, use an electric mixer to beat butter and sugar in a small bowl until pale and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Add to the fruit mixture with the breadcrumbs, flour and mixed spice. Use a wooden spoon to stir until well combined.
- Working with one piece of calico at a time, wearing rubber gloves, remove a piece of calico from the water and wring out excess water. Place flat on a clean work surface. Sprinkle with extra flour and use your hands to spread the flour, leaving a 5cm border, to form a thin but complete layer of flour over the calico. Shape one-eighth of the pudding mixture into a ball and place in the centre of the prepared calico. Gather the calico together to enclose filling and tie with kitchen string to seal. Use extra string to create a loop. Repeat with remaining calico, extra flour and pudding mixture.
- Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Lower puddings into the boiling water, making sure there is enough liquid so the puddings are not touching the base of the pan. Cook, covered, over medium heat, adding more water when necessary, for 1 1/2 hours. Remove puddings from the water and serve immediately with brandy butter. Alternatively, hang the puddings immediately in a dry place where they are not touching anything. Loop ends of the calico so they don't rest on the pudding which will prevent it from drying properly. Set aside overnight to dry completely.
- To make the orange brandy butter, use an electric mixer to beat butter and sugar in a medium bowl until pale and creamy. Add brandy and orange rind and beat until well combined. Serve in a bowl, chilled or at room temperature.
You will need 8 x 30cm pieces of calico for this recipe. Also makes 1 large pudding.
This pudding can be made months in advance. Store in a cool, dry area, or the fridge. The pudding doesn't need to be frozen - but it can be frozen if necessary.
Ingredients:
113g/4oz GF shredded suet
55g/2oz sifted GF flour
¼ tsp baking powder*
113g/4oz stale, GF breadcrumbs
½ level tsp Xanthan Gum
Heaped ½ tsp ground mixed spice*
¼ tsp grated nutmeg*
Heaped ½ tsp ground cinnamon*
225g/½lb soft brown sugar
113g/4oz sultanas
113g/4oz raisins
288g/½ lb currants
25g/1oz mixed peel*
25g/1oz chopped, blanched almonds
½ cooking apple, peeled, cored & finely chopped
Grated rind of ½ orange & ½ lemon
2 eggs – broken up
2 tbsp rum
75ml/ 2½ fl oz white wine
75 ml/2½ fl oz GF beer
Method:
1. Thoroughly mix suet, flour, baking powder, xanthan gum, breadcrumbs, spices and sugar in bowl. Break down any sugar clumps.
2. One by one, thoroughly mix in each of the dried fruits, peels, apple and nuts.
3. In a separate bowl and mix in the eggs, rum, wine and some of the beer.
4. Empty all this over the dry ingredients and then stir very hard indeed. You must mix the ingredients very well at this stage.
5. Make sure mixture is of good dropping consistency which means it should fall from the spoon when tapped sharply against the side of the bowl. If necessary, add more beer to get it there.
6. Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave it.
7. Grease the pudding bowls and pack the mixture in tightly leaving around a 1cm or half an inch head room at the top of the bowl.
8. Cover each basin with a large square of greaseproof paper and tie it around the rim of the bowl with string.
9. Steam puddings for 8 hours in a steamer checking that the water does not boil away. If you are familiar with using a pressure cooker, using one will reduce the steaming time to 2.5 hours.
10. When you’ve removed them from the steamer, allow the puddings to cool, remove the greaseproof paper & replace it with a fresh lot.
11. Store the pudding in cool dry place.
12. When you are ready to eat it, steam it again for two hours in a steamer or half an hour in a pressure cooker.
This Christmas pudding has plenty of delicious fruit and nuts, but it's really simple to make - just plan ahead and then make the warm vanilla-bean custard on the day.
