Kitchen Organizer

There's something SO Christmassy and SO authentic about a traditional steamed pudding.  It's not something that's often done apart from at Christmas, so I guess that adds to its appeal!  I think I've only ever made one steamed pudding before, so I was really keen to try another one this year - plus the fact I went and bought myself my very own pudding basin from K-mart ($9, what a bargain!!!)  I searched around in a few books and found this one in a Coles Magazine.  I love apricots, so I knew this one would be delicious.  It's actually really easy to make the pudding itself, just very time consuming to cook it!  But totally worth it, and served with custard - yum!!!  I think I'll definitely be making a pudding every year from now on :-)

Ingredients

2 cups Mixed Dried Fruit

1 ½ cups Dried Apricots, chopped

1 ½ cups Raisins

1/2 cup Blanched Almonds, chopped

1/4 cup Orange Juice

finely grated zest of 1 Orange

250 g Butter, at room temperature

1 cup Brown Sugar

4 Eggs

1 cup Plain Flour, sifted

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon

2 cups Fresh Breadcrumbs

1/4 cup Apricot Jam

2 tbsp Brandy

Cream or Custard, to serve

Method

Place fruit, almonds, orange juice and zest in a saucepan. Heat until hot and steaming, but not boiling. Remove from heat and set aside to cool, stirring occasionally.

Spoon into prepared basin, packing down lightly as you go. Cover with a circle of greased baking paper and two sheets of foil. Tie securely around rim of basin with kitchen string (or use a pudding basin with a lid!) Stand pudding inside a large saucepan or stock pot. Fill with enough hot water to come two-thirds up side of basin.

And as you can see, I had a little "helper" during the photo shoot for the pudding!