Catholic Recipe: St. Nicholas Pudding

A typical English pudding, subtly flavored with orange.

DIRECTIONS

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then add the grated orange rind. Add the eggs gradually to the butter mixture. Sift the flour with the baking powder, mix with the bread crumbs and fold into the mixture. Stir in the juice of the orange, the plums and prunes and the cinnamon.

Grease a bowl with butter, coat the bottom of the bowl with golden syrup and arrange the halves of the 6 plums or prunes on top in a circle. Carefully spoon the pudding mixture into the bowl.

Cover with foil and waxed paper, secure with string and steam for approximately 2 hours.

Turn the pudding out and serve with its special plum sauce poured over it.

Plum Sauce: To make the sauce, cover the bottom of a saucepan with a little water and slice the plums into it. Simmer gently to prevent sticking. Remove pits, then puree the cooked plums in a blender before straining.

In a separate pan dissolve the sugar slowly with 4 or 5 tablespoons of water. When the sugar is dissolved, stop stirring and turn the heat up to full. Boil until golden brown, then remove from heat. Carefully stir in 6 tablespoons of water--the caramel can spatter. Put back on low heat until the lumps have dissolved. Add the pureed plums and cool a little.

Pour over the pudding.