It's tradition

I leapt out of bed today, saying to myself, 'It's Christmas pudding day!' My excitement waned a little when I read the recipe and it said I should have started the day before but, hey. I did think about starting and then finishing tomorrow but ... I didn't.

Stage 1: mixing everything together. I made Younger Son come and stir and make a wish. 'I'm busy,' he grumbled. 'Why do I have to make a wish?'
'Because it's tradition.'
'But you've never made puddings before.'
'Traditions have to start somewhere. Just stir and wish!'
Stage 2: all lined up in my lovely new Lakeland plastic pudding basins.

Stage 3: being steamed. The lid on the round pan fitted well but the fish kettle lid was a bit loose, hence the weights.

Stage 4: a finished mini-pudding. Question: how do you tell if a pudding is cooked?

At the restaurant for his birthday meal, Husband chose the Christmas pudding for afters. He said it was quite nice but lacked texture.

'Texture?'

'Yes, it was very sameish.' He went on to tell me about the best Christmas pudding in the world. 'Do you remember Evelyn, the Scottish lady who used to work with me?'

'No.'

'Well, she used to bring in her home-made puddings and they used to have crunchy bits. they were the best.'

So no pressure then.

I've searched through lots of recipes and couldn't find any with nuts in, but if Husband wants nuts he shall have nuts. I threw some pecans in. Along with about twice as much rum as the recipe said. I didn't think it looked enough.

I shall let you know his verdict after Christmas.