desserts – Page 3 – Food and Tools

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… !

christmas pudding

Last Minute Christmas Pudding

Ingredients:

25g glace cherries, quartered
75g pitted prunes, chopped
50g dried soft apricots, chopped
75g raisins
25g sultanas
2 tablespoons brandy or port
zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
zest and juice of 1/2 orange
50g butter
50g light muscovado sugar
15g blanched almonds, chopped
1 egg, beaten
1 small granny smith apple, peeled cored and grated
45g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon mixed spice
2 pinches of freshly grated nutmeg
50g fresh white breadcrumbs

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!

This post is part of the Austrailan Festive Favourite blog hop!

Having my own ice cream machine has given me much more flexibility when making different types of ice creams and frozen ices. Without the machine, the method of hand stirring and still freezing ice cream was very time-consuming with some recipes. Home-made ice cream without all the additives is a big plus. Children love to cook and I know that making their own ice cream will be a big hit with them… it was with mine!

Rock salt and ice used in the freezing process of ice cream

Some years ago I decided to buy my first ice cream machine and the only one I could find at the time was the type requiring rock salt and ice which you had to layer around the inside container of the machine, chilling and freezing the mixture inside while being churned … at least the churn was electric and not hand-cranked!

Crushing and layering the ice was a bit of a hassle plus keeping an eye on the salt and ice levels (living in a hot climate) posed another challenge. Over time, excitement and enthusiasm of making home-made ice cream began to melt away (pun intended) and the machine ended up in the store-room gathering dust…eventually given away.

Churning the ice-cream with an electric paddle helps break up the ice crystals and incorporates air, resulting in a lighter and smoother ice cream

When traveling, visiting kitchen shops are always high on my list… so it wasn’t long before I had a new ice cream machine wrapped snugly inside my suitcase… bound for Bahrain .

The freeze bowl type with the electric churn is the most popular and the one I use, light in weight and taking up very little space on my kitchen worktop. The bowl houses a special liquid freezing solution (hurray no ice and salt) insulated inside its walls which then needs to be placed for a minimum of 10 hours (depending on model) in the freezer before use. Before buying you might want to check that your freezer, especially drawer types can accommodate the size of the bowl.

Make sure when drying the bowl that you use a lint free cloth, taking care to dry all the little nooks, if they get blocked with ice the motor head will not attach properly, plus chipping the ice away may damage your bowl.

Tip: After making a batch of ice cream I always return the bowl (washed and dried) back to the freezer compartment where it is stored all the time, making it always available for use.

The larger and more expensive ice cream machines contain their own freezer unit and work independently. The big advantage is that they can churn out one batch of ice cream after another. Heavy and taking up a much bigger space on a kitchen worktop.

Other uses: Need to chill a bottle of wine fast…use the freeze bowl!

Pumpkin Ice Cream coming up …!