I have never been a fan of the traditional christmas pudding. Call me odd, but I have never liked dark fruit - too intense and to over-powering. So what do I do for Christmas pudding? I add in plums! Tasty but not over the top, sweet and still a little tart.

I know plums are out of season - but just get them in a light syrup and they are grand

So here's my take on a Plum pudding ready for Christmas day!

What you will need:

1 1/2 cups chopped raisins

1 cups of chopped currants

1 cup of sultanas

1 1/2 cups of cranberries

400 gm tinned plums in light syrup, drained and chopped 

1 cup of rum

250 gm of butter

melted butter to grease

1 cup of coconut sugar

4 eggs

2 1/2 cups of ground almonds

1/2 cup of self raising flour

1/2 cup of flour

1 tsp of mixed spice

1 tsp of ground ginger

1  tsp of ground cinnamon

 

What to do:

Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl

Set aside to macerate for 6 hrs

Brush a 2 Litre capacity pudding bowl with the melted butter

Line the base with greaseproof paper

Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and creamy

Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition

Stir in the ground almonds, flours, ands spices

Add the macerated fruit and stir well until combined

Spoon into the basin

Cover with greaseproof paper circles on top of the pudding mix 

Then cover the bowl with foil or greaseproof paper tie with a string if you wish

Place an upturned heatproof saucer in the base of a saucepan

Fill one third of the saucepan with boiling water and bring to a simmer over a low heat

Add boiling water as necessary

Steam for approximately 5 hours or until skewer is clean

 

Serve with a beautiful free range egg vanilla custard!  Delicious