Pudding day!

Today was set aside for making my Christmas pudding. It has become my task for family Christmases since my Mum is no longer around to make it.

This is her recipe, made in the mixing bowl she gave me one Christmas, many years ago.

She always made it in a cloth, usually it steamed away Christmas morning so it was ready after lunch. I'm not that confident!

I am getting better at it with practice, but I always make it ahead of time in case something goes wrong. One year I left out all the ingredients which give it the dark, fruity colour and it looked so anaemic, I had to make another one.
Anyway, as they say, 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating', but we have to wait a week for that!

Advent blog-a-long - Day 20

Well, today was pudding day. I had intended to do it last weekend but was overcome by lethargy and a general out-of-sorts feeling. All better now.
Last night the fruit was set to soak in rum.

 This morning all the other ingredients were combined...

...and into the boiler it went for three hours. Ahh, the smell!

Here it is just out of the boiler, before being turned onto a plate. I haven't taken a photo of that because somehow it doesn't look as attractive as the ones you see in recipe books. I had a tiny taste (cook's privilege) and it's not too bad.

Tuesday Treasures

My treasure today is my mother's Christmas pudding recipe.
She almost always waited until Christmas Day to make it and the smell of it cooking while we put together lunch for the hordes (I have a large family) is something that is with me still. It took a lot of coaxing to get the recipe as Mum had made it so often she didn't need to consult a recipe book. At one stage I even sat down while she was making it and wrote the recipe down. She did eventually write it herself and the picture shows a copy in her handwriting.
After she died I took on the mantle of pudding maker for the family, and have made one most years since. I have to halve the recipe because not so many gather together these days. It took a bit of trial and error at first, because it is cooked in a cloth, but I have made progress.
I will be making this year's later in the week... no way am I confident enough of success to leave it until Christmas morning!!!
Why not visit with Melody to see who else is sharing today.