Usually around this time of year some new cooking tools or appliances find their way into my kitchen… guess I am easy to buy gifts for!
A yogurt and cheese maker, a flavour injector and a cupcake corer are some of the new pieces of kitchen jewellery that I have acquired ( 🙂 ) and I look forward to putting them through some culinary testing and posting some recipes soon… !
Best Wishes for the New Year 2012!
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HAPPY CHRISTMAS and BEST WISHES!
My daughter and a friend decided to do something therapeutic (de-stress from work) and fun for a change, and ended up going to Cafe Ceramique in Bahrain to do a bit of painting. Mr snowman was painted , glazed and then baked. They really enjoyed the whole experience while managing to de-stress and I ended up with this very happy looking snowman!
This very festive looking plate will come in handy for serving different kinds of olives or chocolates to nibble on!
Christmas pudding is a must have on Christmas Day… even if it’s only a spoonful. Making  Christmas pudding is also part of the ritual of Christmas baking and one of my favourites. Some years ago I fell in love with round spherical moulds and now use them every year when making my Christmas puddings.  I’m not always on top of my Christmas baking and sometimes end up making the pudding a week or so before the big day, so this pudding recipe comes in handy. I much prefer using butter instead of suet with my recipes as it produces a lighter pudding. Boiling the fruit beforehand means you don’t  have to leave the pudding mixture to sit overnight before steaming. So no worries if you haven’t made your pudding yet… !
Ingredients:
How to make:
Add the first 10 ingredients into a saucepan and place over a gentle heat, stirring to melt the butter and dissolve the sugar. Bring the contents of the saucepan to a gentle simmer and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and leave to cool for about 15 minutes.
Stir in the almonds, egg and apple. Sift in the flour and spices. Add the nutmeg and breadcrumbs and thoroughly mix all the ingredients together.
Spoon the mixture into a buttered heatproof pudding bowl (600ml) and smooth the top. Cover with a large round circle of double thickness greaseproof paper with a pleat in the center and tie down with a string. Over wrap the top with some foil.
If you have a spherical pudding mould, follow the included instructions for preparation as there are different sizes, otherwise use the normal pudding bowl.
My favourite pudding mould for Christmas pudding.
Lower the pudding into a large deep saucepan and pour in some boiling water from the kettle,  about 5cm up the side of the pudding bowl. Cover the saucepan with a tight-fitting lid and steam for three hours, make sure the water does not boil off during this time and top up with boiling water when necessary.
Note: This pudding can be served straight away after steaming or cooled and re-heated by steaming for an hour when needed. Double this recipe if you need a larger pudding.
Warm Christmas Pudding served with a dollop of fresh whipped cream and some Brandy Butter…roll on the 25th!Â
This post is part of the Austrailan Festive Favourite blog hop!
