Christmas for under £5 per head: Before Christmas

Delia’s Christmas Pudding with Brandy Sauce

This is my original recipe. If you don’t think you like Christmas Pudding I’m quite confident this one will convert you!

75g (3oz) fresh white breadcrumbs
75g (3oz) shredded suet
¾ level teaspoon mixed spice
good pinch freshly grated nutmeg
good pinch ground cinnamon
175g (6oz) soft dark brown sugar 
75g (3oz) sultanas 
75g (3oz) raisins
200g (7oz) currants
20g (¾ oz) mixed chopped peel
20g (¾ oz) blanched almonds, finely chopped
1 small Bramley cooking apple (150g / 5oz), cored and finely chopped (no need to peel)
grated zest of ½medium orange
grated zest of ½ lemon
1½ tablespoons brandy (or dark rum if you have some)
4fl oz (110ml) stout
2 medium eggs
40g self-raising flour, sifted

You will need a 1 ½ pint (850ml) pudding basin, lightly greased.

Begin the day before you want to steam the pudding. Take your largest, roomiest mixing bowl and start by putting in the suet and breadcrumbs, spices and sugar. Mix these ingredients very thoroughly together, then gradually mix in all the dried fruit, mixed peel and nuts followed by the apple and the grated orange and lemon zests. Don't forget to tick everything off so as not to leave anything out. Now in a smaller basin measure out the brandy (or rum) and stout, then add the eggs and beat these thoroughly together.

Next pour this over all the other ingredients, and begin to mix very thoroughly. It's now traditional to gather all the family round, especially the children, and invite everyone to have a really good stir and make a wish! The mixture should have a fairly sloppy consistency – that is, it should fall instantly from the spoon when this is tapped on the side of the bowl. If you think it needs a bit more liquid add a spot more stout. Cover the bowl and leave overnight.

Next day stir in the sifted flour quite thoroughly, then pack the mixture into the lightly greased basin, cover it with a double sheet of baking parchment and a sheet of foil and tie it securely with string (you really need to borrow someone's finger for this!). It's also a good idea to tie a piece of string across the top to make a handle. Place the pudding in a steamer set over a saucepan of simmering water and steam the pudding for 8 hours. Do make sure you keep a regular eye on the water underneath and top it up with boiling water from the kettle from time to time.

When the pudding is steamed let it get quite cold, then remove the steam papers and foil and replace them with some fresh ones, again making a string handle for easier manoeuvring. Now your Christmas pudding is all ready for Christmas Day. Keep it in a cool place away from the light. Under the bed in an unheated bedroom is an ideal place.

c Delia Smith 2011

Traditional Christmas Fruit Cake

This a brand new, hot-off-the-press Christmas Cake, which we devised to make use of the excess vine fruits. And guess what? It’s gorgeous.

Makes about 20 slices

4 tablespoons brandy
4 tablespoons port
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
good pinch salt
300g (11oz) raisins
250g (9oz) currants
250g (9oz) sultanas
75g (3oz) chopped mixed peel
10g (½ oz) almonds, chopped (skin-on)
½ orange zest
½ lemon zest
 175g (6oz) self-raising flour, sifted
175g (6oz) soft-dark brown sugar
175g (6oz) butter, softened
4 medium eggs

You will need a 20 cm round cake tin, greased and lined with a double thickness of baking parchment. Tie a band of brown paper round the outside of the tin for extra protection.

The day before you intend to bake the cake, measure out the brandy and port, into a large saucepan. Then add the cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, dried fruits, mixed peel, nuts and zest’s. Now stir and bring the mixture up to simmering point, then, keeping the heat low, simmer very gently for 10 minutes. After that allow everything to cool then pour the mixture into an airtight plastic container and leave it in a cool place overnight. Remember to take the butter out of the fridge so it will soften.

When you are ready to bake the cake, pre-heat the oven to 140°C, gas mark 1. All you do is measure out the flour, sugar and softened butter into a very large mixing bowl then add the eggs and with an electric whisk, beat until everything is evenly blended. (Use a wooden spoon if you don’t have an electric whisk).

Now use a large metal spoon to gradually fold in the fruit mixture until it’s all evenly distributed. Then spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, levelling the surface with the back of the spoon.

Finally cover the top of the cake with a double square of parchment paper with a 50p-size hole in the centre (this gives extra protection during the long slow cooking).

Bake the cake in the centre of the oven for 4 hours until it feels springy in the centre when lightly touched.

Cool the cake for 45 minutes in the tin, then remove it to a wire rack to finish cooling. When it’s completely cold, wrap in double greaseproof paper and then foil and store in an airtight tin or polythene box.

This cake eats very well as it is but if your want to use some of the brandy from your storecupboard, you can ‘feed’ it by making small holes in the top and bottom with a cocktail stick and spoon in a couple of tablespoons of brandy then it wrap it in double baking parchment and foil or store in an airtight tin.

You can now ‘feed’ it at weekly intervals until you eat it as it is or ice it. 

c Delia Smith 2011

Home-made Christmas Mincemeat

Home-made mincemeat is dead simple to make though in the past people used to have trouble storing it. This was because the high percentage of apples oozed too much juice and the juice started to ferment. In the following recipe the mincemeat is placed in a barely warm oven and so the suet gradually melts and as this happens it coats all the fruits, including the apples, sealing in the juices. Vegetarians can make this mincemeat happily, using vegetarian suet.

Makes 2 x 350ml (1lb) jars

150g (5oz) Bramley apples, cored and chopped small (no need to peel)75g (3oz) shredded suet 

125g (4 ½oz) raisins 

75g (3oz) sultanas 

75g (3oz) currants 

75g (3oz) whole mixed candied peel, finely chopped 

75g (3oz) soft dark brown sugar 

grated zest and juice 1 medium orange
grated zest and juice 1 small lemon
20g (¾oz) whole almonds, cut into slivers 

1 slightly rounded teaspoon mixed ground spice 

good pinch ground cinnamon
good pinch freshly grated nutmeg 

2 tablespoons brandy

You will also need 2 x 1lb (350ml) preserving jars and 2 waxed discs.

All you do is combine all the ingredients, except for the brandy, in a large heatproof mixing bowl, stirring them and mixing them together very thoroughly indeed. Then cover the bowl with a clean cloth and leave the mixture in a cool place overnight or for 12 hours, so the flavours have a chance to mingle and develop. After that pre-heat the oven to 120°C , gas mark ¼. Cover the bowl loosely with foil and place it in the oven for 3 hours. Then remove the bowl from the oven. Don't worry about the appearance of the mincemeat, which will look positively swimming in fat. This is how it should look. As it cools, stir it from time to time; the fat will coagulate and, instead of it being in tiny shreds, it will encase all the other ingredients. When the mincemeat is quite cold, stir in the brandy. Pack in sterilised jars (see below), cover with waxed discs and seal. It will keep in a cool, dark cupboard indefinitely, but I think it is best eaten within a year of making. 

c Delia Smith 2011

NOTE: To sterilise preserving jars, wash them in warm soapy water, rinse and dry, then pop them in a medium oven for 5 minutes.

Absolutely Homemade Mince Pies

I will always cherish fond memories of my mother's and my grandmother's cooling trays piled high with freshly baked mince pies on Christmas Eve, ready to be packed into tins and brought out whenever friends popped in for Christmas drinks. The following is the traditional family recipe.

Makes 18

450g (1lb) home-made Christmas mincemeat
250g (9oz) plain flour
60g (2 ½oz) lard
60g (2 ½oz) butter
Pinch of salt

For the top:
A little milk
Icing sugar

You will also need one (or two) trays of 6cm (2½ inch) patty tins, one fluted 7.5cm (3 inch) pastry cutter and one 6cm (2½ inch) cutter.

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6.

Make up the pastry by sifting the flour and salt into a mixing bowl and rubbing the fats into it until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Then add just enough cold water to mix to a dough that leaves the bowl clean. Leave the pastry to rest in a polythene bag in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes, then roll half of it out as thinly as possible and cut it into eighteen 7.5cm (3 inch) ounds, gathering up the scraps and re-rolling. Then do the same with the other half of the pastry, this time using the 2½ inch (6 cm) cutter.

Now grease the patty tins lightly and line them with the larger rounds. Fill these with mincemeat to the level of the edges of the pastry. Dampen the edges of the smaller rounds of pastry with water and press them lightly into position to form lids, sealing the edges. Brush each one with milk and make three snips in the tops with a pair of scissors. Bake near the top of the oven for 25-30 minutes until light golden brown. Cool on a wire tray and sprinkle with icing sugar. When cool, store in an airtight container.

These can be made ahead and frozen (without the icing sugar). Then defrosted for 45 minutes at room temperature.

c Delia Smith 2011

Christmas for under £5 per head: Christmas Eve
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