STIR UP SUNDAY

Stir up Sunday is the last Sunday before Advent and because the dating of Advent varies a little from year to year, it can fall anytime between November 20th and 26th. In 2016 it will be on Sunday November 20th.

I thought I would do this one week before the 20th to give you time to buy your ingredients for your christmas pudding (if you have not made it already). I have included a poem/pray below which is all part of the christmas traditions.

Aparently this little pray/poem is said in church and unintentionally reminds churchgoers that it’s time to make the Christmas pudding! Stirre up wee beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithfull people, that they plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded, through Jesus Christ our Lord. (it is Advent after all).

So here is a recipe for an irresistibly tipsy passion fruit and Cointreau-laced pud that steams in half the time of a traditional Christmas pudding

PREP: 1 HR - 1 HR, 15 MINS plus 3 hrs steaming

SERVES 10

Ingredients

250g packet dried mixed fruits with apricot and passion fruit

175g ready-to-eat stoned dates, roughly chopped

85g dried cranberries

1 tbsp freshly grated root ginger

grated zest and juice of a large orange

100ml/3½ fl oz Cointreau or Grand Marnier

100g butter, at room temperature

100g dark muscovado sugar

2 large eggs, beaten

50g self-raising flour

85g fresh white breadcrumbs

1 tsp ground cinnamon

85g pecan nuts, roughly chopped

Pecan topping and sauce

100g butter

100g light muscovado sugar

50g pecans

50g dried cranberries

1 orange

3 tbsp Cointreau or Grand Marnier

sprig of fresh holly

icing sugar, for dusting

thick double cream, to serve

Method

Put the dried fruits, dates, cranberries and ginger in a pan with the orange zest and juice, and the orange liqueur, then warm gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the juices are absorbed and the mixture looks sticky. Set aside to cool.

Lightly grease a 1.3 litre/21⁄4 pint pudding basin, and line the base with a small disc of greaseproof paper. Beat the butter, sugar, eggs and flour together in a food mixer or large bowl until creamy, then stir in the cooled fruits, breadcrumbs, cinnamon and nuts.

Spoon the mixture into the pudding basin, cover the bowl with greaseproof paper and foil, and tie on securely with string. Put a long strip of folded foil under the basin and bring it up round the sides so that you can use it as a handle to lift the pudding in and out. Put the basin in a large pan and pour a kettle of boiling water into the pan so it comes halfway up the bowl, then cover and steam for 3 hours, topping up with boiling water every now and then. Leave it to cool, then store in a cool place for Christmas. You can freeze this instead of leaving it in a cool place.

To serve: Steam the pudding in a pan of boiling water for 1 hour, to warm it through. (don't forget to take out of freezer the day before, if that's what you did with it)

The sauce can be made up to a day ahead. Melt the butter and sugar together in a frying pan. Tip in the pecans and cook, stirring, for a minute or two to toast them. Add the cranberries, orange juice and liqueur and continue to bubble until rich and syrupy. Cool, then tip into a bowl, cover and chill until ready to eat.

To serve

Put the pecan sauce in a pan, and gently warm through until melted and bubbling. Meanwhile, turn out the pudding. Peel the lining paper from the pudding and pile the nuts and cranberries from the sauce on top, and then generously spoon over the buttery sauce. Decorate with holly and dust lightly with icing sugar. Serve the pudding with the sauce and cream.