There's nothing more traditional than a Christmas Pudding. And I made one. Actually I made two. I do feel very Christmasy indeed!

Things you should know about Christmas Pudding:

It is not the creamy stuff you get in a little cup or fill a pie with. It is a solid spongy cake.
It's traditional, but that doesn't mean gross and fruitcake-like. I put in all kinds of tasty dried fruit and delicious spices.
It does take time. Between the soaking, the mixing, the boiling, and the aging, you have to plan well in advance if you want to make this for Christmas.
Boiled. Yes it is boiled, well actually steamed in a boiling pot of water for several hours.

With that knowledge, I present to you my official Christmas Pudding recipe, adapted from one shared with my family by AN ACTUAL BRITISH PERSON!

THE RECIPE

Yield: 2 medium sized puddings | Prep Time: 10-15 minutes | Inactive Time: 24-48 hours | Cook Time: 7 hours

Ingredients

500 g of mixed dried fruit-- I used cranberries, cherries, raisins, golden raisins, and pineapple
1 small apple, peeled and chopped
Juice of 1 orange
Juice of 1 lemon
125 ml brandy
227 g flour
113 g fresh breadcrumbs
567g dark brown sugar/white sugar
170 g beef suet, shredded
1 1/2 t baking powder
2 t ground cinnamon
1 t ground coriander
1 t ground nutmeg
1 t ground allspice
1 t ground ginger
3 T crystallized ginger, minced
zest of 1 orange
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 pint brown ale

Directions

If you are making this for Christmas supposedly you need to start a year in advance and make your pudding right after Christmas. Then you age it until the following Christmas. I chose to shorten the process and made the pudding in mid-November to serve in December.

Soak the dried fruit in the brandy and citrus juice overnight or a couple of days to make sure you infuse the fruit with all that brandy and fruity goodness.

The next day, shred the suet very finely with a grater or food processor. Suet is beef fat and looks a bit gross, but it doesn't really smell like anything so don't be too worried about it. Just worried enough to make sure it is shredded small enough. You don't want to find a random piece of unmelted suet in your Christmas Pudding.

Stir all the ingredients including the fruit, but not the beer in a large bowl. Once it is well mixed, add in the beer and continue to mix. This is when you get to pass the bowl around to everyone to give it a couple of stirs for good luck.

Pour the batter into a greased oven safe bowl, pudding basin or pudding mold. cover with a layer of cheesecloth then the top and/or a layer of foil. Tie with kitchen twine as in the picture, so that the pudding mold is easy to remove from the boiling water.

Place the pudding in a pot big enough to fit the mold without touching the sides or top. Fill with water about 3/4 of the way up and cover with a pot lid. Steam the pudding using medium heat (the water should be boiling, but not too rapidly) for 7 hours. Replace the water as it evaporates.

After 7 hours, turn off the heat and let the pudding cool. Once it is cool enough to handle remove the foil and cheese cloth and replace with new foil and cheese cloth. Store the pudding in a cool place until you are ready to serve. Steam the pudding for 2-3 hours in the pudding mold and serve warm with custard, whipped cream, or brandy butter.

Enjoy, my little wombats!