Until a few years ago, I hated Christmas pudding. Nothing could tempt me to munch through all that stodgy suet, bullet-hard currants and candied peel. Not even lashings of piping hot, thick, creamy custard!

But then, I stumbled upon a Mary Berry recipe for a lighter, healthier Christmas pud in an old Waitrose magazine. What made it special was that it contained butter instead of heavy suet and exotic fruits rather than mixed peel. So, I just had to give it a go. And joy of joys, my nearest and dearest loved it too and all agreed that it was the best Christmas pud they’d ever tasted. And now, they demand that I make it every year, which I do.

If you’d like to have a go yourself this year, there’s still time, even though Stir-up Sunday has been and gone. It can be made at the last minute, if necessary.

So, here’s the way I make it with Mary Berry’s fabulous ingredients but with one tiny tweak to her original method. She uses buttered foil to line the pudding basin; I butter the basin and line it with cook’s muslin instead. It works brilliantly for me every time.

Ingredients:
125g soft mango
100g soft prunes
100g soft apricots
100g dried cranberries
100g sultanas
3 tbsp brandy
Zest and juice of 2 large oranges (or 3 small ones)
75g fresh white breadcrumbs
75g plain flour
2 tsp mixed spice
50g chopped almonds
200g light muscovado sugar
100g butter, softened to room temperature
2 large eggs

Method:

The day before, chop the mangoes, prunes, apricots, cranberries and sultanas into small pieces and place in a large bowl. Then pour the orange zest and juice over everything, followed by the brandy. Mix well with a wooden spoon and make a wish. Then cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and leave overnight, so that all the liquid is absorbed by the fruit. If you prefer, put the fruity mixture in a large plastic box with a lid instead.

The next day, prepare your pudding basin before anything else. For this recipe, you can use a 1.2 litre pudding basin. Or, you could use two ½ litre pudding basins instead, which involves much less time in the steamer!

Generously butter the basin line with cook’s muslin (or butter muslin). You simply out two big squares of muslin (if you’re using the 1.2 litre pudding basin) and place them one on top of the other in your pudding basin, making sure that the fabric touches every part of the inside of the basin and that there’s lots of fabric overlapping. You’ll need to gather the fabric and tie it with string later, so don’t skimp! If you’re using two smaller basins, use four smaller squares of muslin – two for each basin.

Check that your butter is soft but not oily, then place it in a mixing bowl with the flour, mixed spice, breadcrumbs, sugar and eggs. Beat well in a mixer or with an electric hand mixer until smooth.

Add the fruit mixture, which by now will be smelling wonderfully Christmassy. Then add the chopped nuts. Fold everything together gently with a wooden spoon or spatula, so it’s all blended and the chopped fruit keeps its shape.

Pour the mixture into the pudding basin (or divide it into half if you’re using the two smaller basins).

Gather the muslin into the middle and use a generous length of kitchen string to tie everything together. You need to cut enough string, so you can hold on to it when you’re taking the hot basin out the steamer later. Tie the string tightly without letting the fabric touch the top of the pudding mixture in order to leave a bit of room for the pudding to expand during baking.

If you’re using a steamer, place the pudding basin in the separate steamer section and pour water into the bottom steamer section. Bring the water to the boil, then lower the temperature and simmer for about 5 hours for a light pudding or about 8 hours for a dark pudding in a 1.2 litre pudding basin. If you’re using two ½ litre pudding bowls, steam them both for 2 hours, 40 minutes. Remember to check the water level regularly, as you’ll need to top it up to stop it from boiling dry.

Once the pudding is cooked, remove the basin from the steamer very carefully, using the string to make life easier and leave the pudding in its basin to go completely cold. Then, lift the pudding still in its muslin gently out of the basin and put it on a cooling rack.

Next, wrap the whole thing in silver foil and store it in the fridge or freezer until needed. (It will keep in the freezer for up to two months, according to Mary Berry’s recipe.) And if freezing, make sure you thaw it completely before reheating.

To reheat the pudding on Christmas Day, steam for about 1¹/₂  hours until thoroughly hot right the way through. Then serve with your favourite Christmas pudding sauce – and don’t forget lashings of brandy cream or custard!

It’s deliciously light, moist and moreish. Mary Berry, I can’t thank you enough.

Happy baking

 Jo x