And so this is Christmas...

Ok, so not a fantastic shot but still.

I have one of my lovely sisters here at the moment for a short visit after her whirlwind trip to Cambodia and she has helped me make this lovely Christmas pudding. Doesn't it look great?! I follow her easy recipe which I have popped below for your benefit. I tend to soak my fruit in kahlua and for an added bonus we also add a handful ( a large handful!) of choc chips in for good measure. Yum. I'll be serving this up after Christmas lunch with a bunches of fresh raspberries, icing sugar, brandy sauce and ice-cream! So, best start that diet now right?!

Christmas Pudding

1 cup currants

2 cups of sultanas

1/2 cup of raisins

small packet of mixed peel

small packet of silvered almonds

1 cup of alcohol - like brandy, whisky or kahlua

2 cups brown sugar

2 cups of suet

1 cup of milk (mix 1 tsp of bicarb soda with this)

1 cup SR flour

2 eggs

2 cups of breadcrumbs

You will also need a pudding cloth that you can get from Lincraft of Spotlight. They are only a couple of $$'s and it needs to be largish.

Put all the red list in a big bowl with a lid and let is soak for at least 24hours (a week is better)before you mix in all of the other ingredients. Pop it into the centre of your pudding cloth (after you have dunked this in the boiled water to sterilise and wet it) and then wrap it up nice and tight. Make sure you pull the fabric up and together keeping your other hand wrapped around the top of the pudding so there is no air left once it's tied up. Secure tightly with some string and pop into a big pot of continuously boiling water for 3 and half hours. Once you have done this hang it from a big hook to dry it out. It will go all dimply like cellulite, and you may need to seperate any folds as it dries. Then on Christmas Day boil it up for another hour and enjoy!