Stir up Sunday has been and gone, so if you haven’t yet done your Christmas Baking, then Sorry, you are too late!

Stir Up Sunday, this year was on November 24. But what does it mean? Actually I had absolutely no idea about Stir Up Sunday until about 10 years ago, when we were invited to an Inns of Court. ( These are professional associations for Barristers in England and Wales, and are located in the City of London). We went to Lincoln’s Inn and to their church and sat behind Cherie Blair, wife of our former Prime Minister, along with their daughter, both of whom are Barristers registered there.

It was Stir Up Sunday and , I therefore needed to find out exactly what it all meant! Well of course it has everything to do with both Anglian and Catholic Churches ,( and is always the last Sunday before Advent) but has come to mean the making of the very British Christmas pudding. The pudding which is made from nuts, raisins, currents, all sorts of dried fruits, is rich and heavy and boiled in a pudding basin and not to be confused with Christmas Cake, which is basically made with the same ingredients, and baked and is also peculiarly British. We have been eating these gourmet delights since 1714 and apparently imported from Germany by George1.

So needless to say , I haven’t made either pudding or cake! Once upon a time, living in Houston Texas, I made the cakes for sale in a shop in an upmarket area of town, but here there is only one person who eats them and that is himself! The other thing I made in Houston was English Wedding cakes and yes, they are rich fruit cakes, along the lines of Christmas Cakes. English wedding cakes are usually layered with the top layer, traditionally being kept for the Christening of the first born child, and yes they kept and without freezing! I also made my wedding cake ( and wedding dress) but I digress

For a smallish pudding ( about a litre sized basin) you will need

• 125grms suet, this is a type of fat available packaged in most grocery stores and nowadays there is a non meat version available.
• 50 grms of plain flour or wholemeal flour
• A combination of ground mixed spice, nutmeg, and cinnamon, about 1/2 teaspoons in all.
• 4 Oz of soft brown sugar
• And a mixture of the following :- sultanas, raisins, currants, candied peel finely chopped, chopped dried apricots, chopped soft dried dates, to make about 250 grams in total.
• 75 grms of chopped nuts, almonds or walnuts
• A small apple peeled, cored and grated
• Zest and juice of a lemon or orange
• 2 eggs
• 75 mls of a dark beer something like Guinness better still brandy, cheap will suffice!

Start by preparing your basin, grease it well and line the bottom with greaseproof paper and grease that as well.

Then for the fun part and especially for kids as the mixing of the pudding is best done by hand! In a large bow, simply throw it all in and mix it thoroughly with your CLEAN hands.

Fill the basin to about 1 cm below the rim, cover this with another bit of greased paper, grease side down and then wrap with some aluminium foil and traditionally a clean old mens handkerchief or cloth tied around with a piece of string not too tightly to allow the pudding to expand a bit. Steam the pudding for about 3 hours, so you have to watch that there is always some water in your pan, but to top up always do it with some already boiling water. Once cooked take care when lifting the pudding out and leave to cool! Once cool wrap in clean greaseproof paper and store in a cool place. A bit more difficult these days, given that most have central heating !

It is possible to steam your pudding in a microwave, it is much faster, only about 30-40 minutes but much more care needs to be taken. However, I would thoroughly recommend reheating in a microwave, especially if serving individual portions. Simply put a portion on a microwave safe plate, uncovered, cook on high for1-1/2 minutes. Very fast and very safe ( but don’t put the money in until it has been reheated)!

Again traditionally, Brandy is poured over a Christmas pudding and lit so a bit like flambé , however no need to say care must be taken when doing this! And yet again, the pudding is very often served with Brandy Butter,

Brandy Butter

• 150 grms unsalted butter at room temperature
• 75 grms sifted icing sugar
• A good splodge of Brandy ( 4-8 tablespoons)

Simply, whisk ( easiest with an electric whisk) the butter and sugar together and when amalgamated and cream like slowly add the Brandy whilst still whisking, The butter should be white and like whipped cream, store covered in the refrigerator!

Christmas pudding is not to everyone’s taste, a bit like Marmite, you love it or hate it! As children we were enticed to eat it by usually my favourite Aunt hiding silver coins in the pudding and making sure we always got one ! Unfortunately, nowadays I’m sure that the monetary amount would be too large to hide in a pudding !