Christmas Pudding recipe : delicious and very easy

Here I am AGAIN today, blogging away and it's because I was thinking about traditions and families and handing recipes down etc etc. Then I thought it will be OK if I blog it because it will be out there in the ether.... And then: how long for? Will there be a day when blogland is full? When bits get deleted? Will we be charged for what's out there?
Will my children read this when they are in University, have their own homes, when they/if they become parents, will grandchildren read this? How will we be living in 40 years time?
I could go on.......
We had a tradition in Holland, where I grew up that mum would be given a Christmas pudding from Fortnum and Mason's every Christmas. We would celebrate St Nicolas on or around the 5th December and Christmas was a quiet affair, mostly about eating, trekking to Rotterdam for the Christmas service at the Anglican Church for Seamen and coming home to open a few presents from English relations of my mother's. Mum would roast a turkey in an oven she had insisted had to be big enough for the Christmas turkey although we did not eat roasts very often at all.

I had never eaten homemade Christmas pudding until 2004. In that year nuts were BIG. They were EVERYWHERE. And I'm allergic to nuts. In a ''call the ambulance she's turning blue'' kind of way. As a family were not that keen on mince pies and we can kind of take or leave Christmas cake, BUT we all love Christmas pudding!!! So what to do? Waitrose came to our aid as they were still distributing free recipe leaflets in those days( they don't anymore- don't ask me why) and here follows the recipe that is now a firmly rooted TRADITION in our household.
It was made: In June 2004, June 2005, August 2006,October 2007 and October 2008.
I stuck it into our Fruit Desserts Cookbook so as to not lose it! And it's beautifully illustrated in steps. We'll do step 1 today together with the ingredients list: OK?
For us it makes 2 puddings:a small one and a large one: diameter of oudding basin: 5'' and 7'' respectively. The recipe says it does one 1.2l pudding.

INGREDIENTS:

75G semi dried cherries ( but I have also used part of a berries and cherries pack or the Asda 5 fruits pack)

150g cranberries( dried)

150g raisins

150g sultanas

finely grated zest and juice of a large orange

0.5 teasp nutmeg( which I leave out- allergy again)

1 teasp cinnamon

1teasp ground mixed spice

200ml STOUT such as Murphy's or Mackeson ans this year I found a local double stout see below.

2 tabsp brandy or rum or madeira. Plus 100ml for serving au flambee for which I always use a bit of Courvoisier.

125 g Atora light vegetable suet- and don't use the full fat one as I did in 2005 as it didn't work!!!

50 g self raising flour

100g fresh white breadcrumbs- make them yourself from slices left to dry for a day and then process into crumbs

1 Bramley apple peeled,cored and grated( medium)

225 g dark brown soft sugar

2 large eggs beaten.

It's the brown ingredients that you put in a large bowl and soak overnight covered by a damp clean tea-towel.

Every year I have a job understanding what is stout! In the Netherlands it's all one thing: BIER!
But here there is ale and bitter, lager and stout: sooo confusing! So every year when wandering around Waitrose reading beer labels I enlist the help of someone- usually male. NOT this year as for once a bottle actually SAID stout on it! AND it was local!!! Right up the road in our County.

Where progress is measured in pints it says on the cap....

I always use RUM in the pudding as we have it to hand- I'm a bit partial to rum, especially dark rum or Jamaican rum.And how cool is it to have a CROCODILE on your logo?!!!It's on the trade mark. This was taken 11 October 2007, so I'm a bit late this year...It started getting later when I was working, I was a fulltime mum in 2004 and 2005.

Ooops I have a confession to make: look at the piccie above and then below.

We can play ''spot the difference''?!!This year's is more red, probably because I did use some 50 g of Asda's 5 fruits pack and the cherries and berries has even more cranberries in it, whereas the dried cherries pack in 2007 was just cherries and they look large and a purple/brown.

AND oops, yes AND I forgot to buy extra oranges!!! So no orange until tomorrow for the zest and the juice. My family have eaten this week's oranges ....

This went into the fridge at 8 pm covered to avoid any drying out.( or any alcohol escaping!)

Still the scent is WONDERFUL!!! The whole kitchen and fridge smell of CHRISTMAS!!!!

That fruity spicy cinnamoney comforting scent....

AND I made the first gown today! They can be decorated so we added a few smiley faces...

And Lucy couldn't keep away as I laid it for a photograph...3 Bows out of sewn bias binding on the back. Easy Peasy. The girls tie dyed this in one of the holidays and it's never been worn, it's new.

And for the history books what did I do on a grey dull Saturday in October 2009 in the UK?

Will this be turned into a HORRIBLE HISTORIES BOOK one day? Sooo beloved by Miss Y!!

I have walked 2 dogs on a field with the eldest daughter.( Miss E)- 1 hour

Sorted and put away washing. Put the school uniform/white wash on and hung it to dry when it finished.

Found 9 or more tshirts in the attic for making gowns as above.

Blogged the Lucy antics on the stairs in the morning.

Fed family: breakfast, lunch and dinner- all eaten in our kitchen together.( fed dogs too of course!)

Marked KUMON maths for Miss Y.

Chased and cajoled re homework for both and piano and cello playing for each of the daughters.

Played a little piano myself.

Debated ''what to wear ''to Wembley for her first pop concert with Miss E.

Ensured ''dad'' knew where and when to take her before setting off to go the rollerdisco with Miss Y.

2 hours of inline rollerskating which was actually enormous fun as it makes me feel about 8 years old again. I can also pretend it's ice skating which I absolutely LOVE and did a lot as a child .

Praised and hugged Miss Y a lot as she doesn't like excercise much, but she did very well!!

She's now engrossed in the inevitable: X factor TV programme....

E-mailed friends and answered a few too.

Logged the post and updated diary for next rollerdisco dates. Need to invite a few friends and make halloween costumes.

Shopped for the cranberries, which although bought, were EATEN by Miss E before they made it to the pudding!!!Also bought stout. Ate the rest of the packet of berries and cherries: Yummy!

Made the soaking part of the pudding and blogged the recipe.

Read a few of my favourite blogs.

Cleaned Kitchen and sewed a gown.

Chatted and planned progress for our marketing company with JJ.

Agreed where ensuite fittings should go on Monday, plumbers are finally finished. Electrician is to finalise .

JJ has put a new stairgate up!!! Lucy is NOT impressed.

Cuddles with JJ and with dogs.

Researched times for family movie: to go see UP.

Also planned and discussed what we'll do during half term. Agreement between the parties is almost reached....

And now it must be time for:

dishwasher unload/load, crochet with a bit of i-player catch up as TV is monopolised and at 11 pm we'll go pick up Miss E from the railway station.

THAT'S LIFE TODAY!!!

Dutch applecake or APPELTAART # 1.

Dear diary: do you remember when you wrote things like that? When I was about 6 I wrote in my journal every day and always started in time- honoured tradition: Dear Diary:....

I feel a bit like that now so here it goes: Dear Diary : yesterday started inauspiciously but worked out a really GOOOOOD day for the family.

At about 9 am I opened my washing machine to find my blues wash( lots of jeans) more dirty than when it went in!!!

This is despite it being a BOSCH and a lovely machine but being 5 years old or more it has these hissy fits every 8-10 washes or so only this time it was only 5 washes ago...
Yes I've cleaned the filter and no I didn't put it on ''reduced time'' but it seems to be able to ''find'' all sorts of dirt and griity stones to deposit ONTO my wash! Luckily halving the load and re-washing always ( fingers crossed!!!) sorts the problem.

So that was the ''bad ''bit over and no I didn't get the rewashed jeans into the sunshine because by then it was raining AGAIN.

We went to KUMON by car as we were running late ( girls had lovely lie-ins) and while they did their maths I managed 3 personal bests on the braintraining so I was well chuffed as I believe the expression is?!! I mean triangle maths in 18 seconds can't be bad for the old brain now can it? Still can't quite beat Izzles on the X20 though but I do on the X100: no stamina these young ones...

Sun being out we all cycled back into town for purchasing yummy fruit and veg on the market and back again to have a late lunch.

Then the dogs being desperate we walked them at the Long Crendon playground and chose books at the library for our imminent holiday in the Yorkshire Dales.
Izzles' lunch before going off to cylce with friends as baking was way too boring for a primary school graduate...
Then a photo of Lucy but she turned too fast and Pippa was pleading for attentiontoo- isn't she lovely?
So here is our Lucy at 5 months old exactly!!!! HIP HIP HOORAY!!!!!

And onto the BAKING!!! Today we are trying to make a dish that was a favourite as I grew up in Holland: my mother always made it from a ''kit'' a premixed packet and I must confess so did I : when I could get it from the Netherlands....

It was Koopmans or Dr Oetker I think and is called ( in Dutch) APPELTAART.

Now this is NOT a tart of any kind as there is no pastry it is Dutch for cake: but it's filled with apple pieces.

I googled the word and found a fabulous site in the NL region of the web run by a lovely 23 year old Dutch lady who has been collecting all sorts of recipes for this all together: there are dozens of variations - and I mean DOZENS OR MORE!!!- and I though we'd simply try the first one - the most popular- and then work our way down until we found the one most like my childhood favourite....

Please note I'll translate the recipe at the end?!!!

Here's my assistant chef with hair tied back- her insistence I was sooo impressed!- apron on, hands washed and ready to goooooo. She will be making the dough.

It uses LOTS of creamy unsalted butter and it needs to start off cold so you can chop it small as above. Then we had the flour and sugar and cinnamon and vanilla ready to rub in the butter.... OOOOOOH It smelled so good: delicious!!!

Rub until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs: didn't she do well?!!! And it wasn't easy it was so very sticky and buttery!

Mum was in charge of the apples: peeling and chopping and adding some sugar and lemon juice and yet more cinnamon.

Adding 3/4 of a beaten egg to the ''breadcrumbs'' turned it into dough: TA DAH!!!

This then went into the fridge for an hour or so while we had a break: chocolate frozen yoghurt icecream and part of a kid's movie.

Then we rolled it all out and adding some flour cut a circle for the base, strips of 6cm by 23 cm for the sides and then lots more 2cm strips for the top.

We had added- almost forgot but not quite!- the raisins to the apple mixture and after adding the apples into the cake tin we laid the thinner strips in a lattice pattern over the top, brush with left over beaten egg and pop into pre-heated oven ( 175 degrees Centigrade) for 78 minutes....
TAH DAAAAH!!! Except I took this out after 58 minutes as the fan hadn't switched off when I thought it would and it looked so ready....
The recipe says and I quote: Leave the taart in the fridge for 2 days for best flavour and it can be kept up to one week from baking day..... 2 DAYS????!!!Does anyone EVER wait THAT long???? Mine cam out of the oven after 7 pm and by 10 pm well.......

And we all had some scrummy yummy applecake...!!!!I don't think it will last even one day let alone 2 days.....

It's great but not quite the same so the quest continues...... Could be it needs more dough round the sides and less long to cook? Or try some more of those recipes!!!!

Here is the RECIPE

For the Dough:

300g Self-raising flour

200g cold butter

160g castor sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

dash of salt

1 egg: mixed with a fork

The Apple Filling:
1kg of chopped apples- I suggest Bramleys or Granny Smiths

15 ml or more of lemon juice

cinnamon to personal taste( we like loads!)

15 g castor sugar or to taste.

60g raisins( but I may have used about 50% MORE..)

For the apples I used 5 medium Bramleys and 3 Braeburns.

Instructions:

1. Cut up the butter and mix into the flour and sugar mixture with the vanilla and the cinnamon.Rub until it looks like breadcrumbs.

2.

Add the egg slowly and form a dough. Do not use all of the egg and add a bit more four if too sticky or not forming a dough. Put dough in fridge in clingfilm for at least 1 hour.
3. Meanwhile: preheat oven to 175 Centigrade and peel and chop the apples.

Mix the lemon juice and cinnamon to coat the apples and add sugar to taste and the raisins.

4. Roll out the dough and fit it to the base of a 9'' or 23 cm greased springform. Then fit strips around the sides too: about 6cm high. After lining the base I had 430 g dough left and used 230 g for the sides leaving 200g for the strips of the lattice.

I think I could have used more for the sides and less for the lattice.

5. When you have a base and sides: fill with the apple mixture and cover the top with the lattice strips.

6. Brush the lattice with the leftover beaten egg.

7. Bake in the centre of the oven for up to 78 minutes but check at 40 and 50 minutes as mine seemed a little overcooked...and I did 58 minutes in a partially fanned oven...

GOOD LUCK and EET SMAKELIJK!!!

The latter is ''enjoy this tasty food'' in Dutch.

AND thank you- DANK JE WEL to Saskia in Holland who is the 23 year old fabuolus lady who put this recipe on the internet!!!

At least 40 variations to date....

At http://www.appletaarten.web-log.nl/