Page 18 of Christmas at Rachel’s Pudding Pantry

‘Yes, but he couldn’t have helped it,’ added Rachel.

‘Well, he could have been sick somewhere else!’ That was Maisy’s final proclamation on the matter.

Rachel and Jill couldn’t help but smile.

Rachel listened to the dinner table chatter with warmth and appreciation for her little family. And with the new Pudding Club plans came a new sense of hope and purpose between them. Though times were still tough at Primrose Farm, the Swinton girls were a team and they were trying to plough forward – they were all in it together.

The Fourth Bake of Christmas

Blackberry and Apple Jam Sponge Pudding – Grandma Isabel’s Recipe, circa 1946

This handwritten poem had always been tucked into the Baking Bible as a loose leaf next to a recipe of Rachel’s grandmother’s:

Autumn days, the sky a blue haze.

Blackberry picking,

Hedgerows thick with brambles,

Watch out for the prickles.

Purple-stained fingers and mouths,

Ripe dark berries sweet with juice,

Baskets laden.

Ready for home, pass on to Mum,

With crumbles, jams and puddings to come!

Recipe:

100g/4oz self-raising flour

Pinch of salt

100g/4oz caster sugar

100g/4oz butter

2 eggs, beaten

2tbsp whole milk

45ml/3tbsp homemade or good quality Blackberry and Apple Jam (or other flavour if you prefer)

Sift flour and salt into a bowl. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs a little at a time with a spoonful of flour, beating well until eggs are mixed in. Fold in remaining flour alternately with the milk.

Grease and base-line a pudding basin, add the jam to the bottom. Spoon over the pudding mix up to ¾ full. Cover with buttered greaseproof paper, and secure with string. Using extra string to make a handle for ease of removal.

Steam for 1 ½ to 2 hours in a covered pan of boiling water, keeping water topped up to half way up the pudding bowl sides, until a wooden skewer comes out clean at centre. Allow to stand for 3 minutes before turning out.

Delicious with custard or cream.

8

‘Morning, ladies.’