Old Fashioned Plum Pudding
Plum pudding, a Christmas pudding, has been served on Christmas day for centuries. The traditional plum pudding is served in a blaze, with a sprig of holly stuck on top. For the plum pudding sauce, a little brandy is poured over the Christmas pudding and lighted at the last moment to produce the desired effect.
Plum pudding is best when made four or five weeks prior to Christmas and can be stored for months. During the Victorian era, a silver coin was baked in the pudding, with a promise of wealth in the coming year.
Many households have their own recipe for Christmas pudding, some handed down through families for generations. Essentially the recipe brings together what traditionally were expensive or luxurious ingredients, notably the sweet spices, that are so important in developing its distinctive rich aroma, and usually made with suet.
Ingredients:
1 Cup light molasses
3/4 Cup melted butter
1/2 Cup warm milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 Cup all-purpose flour, plus more to toss fruit
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 pint candied mixed fruit
1 Cup raisins
1 1/2 oz. brandy, plus 1 oz. for sauce
Holly sprig, for garnish
1/4 lb. butter
1 Cup sugar
1 pinch salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Prepare wet and dry ingredients
In a mixing bowl, combine the molasses with the melted butter, milk and eggs. In another, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves. Add one third of the dry ingredients to the molasses mixture at a time, combining thoroughly.
Add fruit and bake
Coat the candied fruit and raisins with a little flour by tossing, then add them to the batter, along with the one and a half ounces of brandy. Mix well and pour the batter into a greased, sugared steamed pudding mold. Place a rack into a large pot of water and stand the pudding mold on it. The mold should be half submerged in the water. Cover the pot and steam for 2 hours, adding more water if necessary.
Prepare the hard sauce and serve
Allow the pudding to cool in the mold for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, beat together the quarter-pound of butter, the sugar, a pinch of salt, the vanilla extract and the remaining ounce of brandy. Turn out the pudding and garnish with powdered sugar and the holly sprig before serving with the hard sauce.
