Clootie Pudding and a Bargain or Two

How to make Clootie Puddie

Now despite the word clootie meaning cloth I prefer to make the recipe in a basin rather than in a cloth.  So I guess I am a heretic.  It takes a short time to prepare, less than half an hour, but an age to cook, over three hours, but it will feed a house full. And of course it’s not really suitable for vegetarians. Unless you replace the beef suet with a veggie alternative. And enjoy it with some of the nation’s nectar on Burns Night

Ingredients

All of them you probably have in your kitchen already

 One large egg , 175g self-raising flour,  25g butter, 50g  brown sugar, a big pinch of salt, 2 ½ teaspoons of cinnamon,  1 ½  teaspoon of  mixed spice,  2 teaspoon of ground ginger, teaspoon bi-carb, big handful of currants and same for sultanas. 2 tablespoons of golden syrup, a cup of milk.  Then 200g of white breadcrumbs. You can make your own, if you can’t pop to the shops, by drying some slices on very low in the oven for 15 mins then grate it yourself.  I might slip in a tot of whisky too for the cook.

In a large mixing bowl put in the dry ingredients the flour, sugar, bi-carb, breadcrumbs, spices, fruit and add the salt. I use my hands to get a good consistency. In a different bowl mix the liquid elements, the egg, golden syrup, milk and whisk with a fork or whisk until it’s nicely blended. Then add liquid to the mix in the big bowl.  This should now make a dough.

Roll it out on a flour dusted breadboard and form it into a ball shape. Take a large ceramic bowl , like your granny used to have . Put the dough into a parchment paper wrapper like a giant boiled sweet,  I use a strong elastic band to seal the top. Then pop in your wrapped dough in the ceramic bowl and then into a large saucepan and add some water to about a third up the side of the bowl.  Cover the top of the ceramic bowl with a plate to keep the moisture in and avoid water getting in. Cover the pan. Now simmer for three hours making sure the water never boils dry, topping up whenever necessary.

 At the end of the three hours take it out of its wrapper, preheat your oven to 180 or 160 if it’s a fan, or gas mark 4 and dry the clootie pudding. Pop it in an oven proof dish and watch it get that lovely skin everyone talks about.  If it looks a bit wet give an extra five minutes.  For best results as they say, serve with custard, or cream or both and a dram.  I cheat and use Birds tinned custard!

And if all that hard work makes you tired take a breather and look at the half price offers on James Pirie. On such a night you might also want a decent half price offer. So take look at the beautiful Edinburgh Large Crystal Tumblers by Royal Scot Crystal which come with free delivery and free gift wrapping if you tick the box at checkout.

https://www.jamespirie.com/edinburgh-2-large-crystal-tumblers-presentation-boxed.html