Preparation Notes: plus marinating for at least six weeks for optimum flavour
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Yields:
8 - 10
Prep Time:
40 mins
Cook Time:
5 hrs
Total Time:
5 hrs 40 mins
Ingredients
Butter for greasing
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon
75g (3oz) chopped mixed peel
225g (8oz) each seedless raisins, currants and sultanas
225g (8oz) suet (see tip)
225g (8oz) fresh breadcrumbs
225g (8oz) soft light brown (muscovado) sugar
75g (3oz) plain flour
21/2ml 2.5ml (1⁄2 level tsp) mixed spice
1.25ml (1⁄4 level tsp) salt
4 large eggs
150ml (1⁄4 pint) brandy, dark rum or medium sherry
100ml (4fl oz) milk
Directions
Step 1
Grease and baseline a 1.6-litre (23/4-pint) pudding basin (see tip).
Step 2
Place the finely grated lemon rind in a bowl with the mixed peel, raisins, currants and sultanas, suet, breadcrumbs, brown sugar, plain flour, mixed spice and salt. Whisk together the eggs, 100ml (4fl oz) brandy, rum or sherry and the milk. Stir the egg mixture into the fruit mixture until well blended, then spoon into the greased and lined pudding basin. Press the mixture down, cover with greaseproof paper and foil and secure with string.
Step 3
Lower the basin into a large pan. Pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the side of the basin. Cover, bring to the boil and bubble gently for 5hr (see tip).
Step 4
Lift out the basin; allow to cool. Re-cover with fresh greaseproof paper and foil and secure with string. Store for at least six weeks in a cool, dark place.
Step 5
To reheat, follow step 3, but allow the pudding to bubble for only 2-3hr. Lift the pudding out of the pan, remove the covering, run a palette knife around the inside of the bowl and turn the pudding out on to a warmed serving plate. Warm the remaining brandy, rum or sherry in a pan or ladle and ignite it. While it's still flaming, pour it over the Christmas pudding and serve.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
