Ray’s Spanish-Irish Christmas Pud

I’m a bit late putting this recipe up now that we’re in Jan already, but perhaps it would make a good Xmas in July dessert and there’s no doubt that Christmas puddings always get better with time, so make it ahead.  It was Raymondo’s turn this year to make the pud and I have to say that this was hands down the best I’ve had.  For once, this Christmas, I didn’t feel like I was eating a heavy pudding with no room left to spare, it was absolutely delicious and I was contemplating seconds…I decided on a mince pie with some brandy butter atop instead 🙂  Don’t get me wrong, it is rich, but the fruit could be tasted for what it was, the Guinness adds a great Irish twist and the Pedro Ximenez counters with some Spanish influence.  Serve with plenty of brandy butter and some custard, or if you’re not that greedy, some whipped cream would suffice.  Not very kid-friendly this one, but that leaves more for the grown ups!  Mmmmm!

Ingredients

110g cold butter chopped

50g self raising flour

110g white bread crumbs

1 tsp salt

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cloves

220g soft dark brown sugar

225g currants

110g sultanas

110g raisins

110 g prunes (chopped)

a packet of glacé cherries, left whole

25g candied mixed peel

25g almonds

1 apple, peeled and roughly grated

zest of 1 lemon, finely grated

2 eggs

150ml Guinness

2 tablespoons Pedro Ximenez sherry (Ray used 4 tbsp plus a good extra splash!)

“There is no sincerer love than the love of food.” – George Bernard Shaw

Method

Sift the flour onto the cold butter in a large bowl, add breadcrumbs, salt, spices, and sugar – mix well by hand.

Then gradually add the almonds, mixed peel, and dried fruit, apple and lemon zest and keep mixing – no electric mixers please!

Add eggs, Guinness and Pedro Ximenez and mix together well, again by hand – reward yourself with a sip of the sherry or polish off the remaining Guinness according to your fancy.

Leave overnight in a cool spot or in the fridge if the weather is warm.  Stir occasionally – in fact, whenever you think of it stir to keep the flavours combining.  If mixture seems a bit dry add a bit more sherry.  Add a splash anyway!

Grease a 2 litre pudding bowl and then sprinkle caster sugar all around the bowl to coat and tip the excess.  It’s a good idea to cut a round of baking paper and put this in the base of the bowl to avoid the possibility of the pudding sticking to the bowl.

Give the mixture a final stir and then pack it into the bowl.  Cover the mixture with a round of baking paper and put a lid on the bowl or cover with a couple of layers of foil and tie with string.

Place the bowl in a large saucepan and fill with boiling water to about ¾ up the side of the bowl.  Steam for 7-8 hours making sure the water level is maintained throughout.

After cooking leave the pudding in the bowl until it has cooled and then remove and wrap in baking paper and finally in a couple of layers of foil. Store pudding in fridge.  Remove from fridge early on Xmas Day. You can either put the pudding back in the bowl and heat in a saucepan of hot water or warm it up in the microwave, which is much quicker. Serve with custard and brandy butter.  Delicious!

Serves about 10