Christmas Pudding (our family recipe)

Though Christmas is a few month's away, it's coming up time to make the Christmas pudding. This has traditionally been a job only done by mum. My job has been to stir and stick my thumb in and pull out a taste of the (raw) mix for luck in the year to come. We still have a collection of silver that goes into the pudding too: for the lucky few to find once it's time for eating.

1 3/4 lb (920g) mixed dried fruit
4oz (125g) shredded dried peel
3 tablespoons rum
8oz (250g) butter
8oz (250g) brown sugar
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
4 eggs
1 medium size grated carrot
1 small grated apple
4oz (125g) breadcrumbs
2oz (60g) chopped blanched almonds
6oz (185g) plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice

(At least a day before you'd like to make the pudding, cover a tray with the dried fruits and sprinkle with the rum. - this is not in the recipe - this is something I've watched mum do every year though ...)

Cream butter and brown sugar, then add orange and lemon rinds. Beat in eggs one at a time and mix well. Mix in dried fruits, and grated carrot and apple. Fold in the breadcrumbs, almonds and other dry ingredients. (this is where the original recipe in mum's hand written book says to add the rum). Mix together well and allow to stand for at least an hour.

Fill into a greased pudding bowl. Tie floured pudding cloth securely over the top. (mum uses a layer of baking paper, and a layer of aluminium foil tied around the rim of the pudding bowl - and over the top only). Plunge into boiling water and boil rapidly for 5 hours. Top up the boiling water in the pan as required.

On the day, boil 2 to 2 1/2 hours before serving.