Liven up your autumn with fruit pudding

With the coming of autumn, there is no better way to celebrate than to savour some of the season’s best fruits. These are not only delicious but also guilt-free, as everybody knows how healthy they are. Why not incorporate them in a quick pudding recipe, which really tastes as delicious as it looks?

Here are the ingredients you need for it:

• Half a kilo of mixed autumn fruit – try apples, blackberries, pears and plums
• 200 grams caster sugar
• 2tbsp. butter, plus some extra for greasing.
• 300g. self-raising flour
• 1 and a half tbsp. cinnamon
• 140g suet, shredded
• Zest of 1 lemon

Here are 4 steps to a wonderful autumn dessert:

1. Heat your oven to about 180 degrees Celsius (160 if it has a fan). Cut a couple of 5cm.-wide strips of parchment and place them against the sides of a pudding basin. You should have a cross on the bottom of the item. Allow some space to overhang, to be able to release the pudding when it is ready. Grease the basin and lay a square piece of foil and greased parchment on one another. Fold a pleat in the middle.
2. Chop the fruit into cubes of about 1cm. and mix them with blackberries. Break the butter into bits and add it to the fruit, along with 125 grams of cinnamon and sugar. Stir these ingredients well and put the dish to the side.
3. It is time to sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Add in the lemon zest, suet and leftover sugar. Add water as you stir the ingredients until you get a nice, soft dough. Bring it to a smooth ball by using your hand. Tip it on a surface with just a little flour on it. Tear it in two parts – one bigger (about ¾ of the whole) and one smaller (the remaining quarter). Roll the big portion to form a circle approximately 20cm in diameter. Put it into the basin, pressing the sides to create a small overhang. Tip the filling into a pastry case. The remaining quarter of the dough becomes a lid, which you will firmly press against the edges of the other part to seal nicely. Tuck the parchment flaps onto the pastry.
4. Place the foil/parchment piece (foil side facing up), squeezing to make a lid. Tie the string securely and make a double with an additional string. Put everything in a roasting tin and fill with boiling water 1-2cm. below the foil line. Cook this for 2 hours. If the water level gets too low at any point, top it up.

When it is done, unwrap the ingredients, release the edges and invert the pudding onto a plate. Enjoy!

There you have it – a great recipe, which involves fruits of the season. You will most certainly find the pudding incredibly delicious and fun to make. Be sure to try it out.

© Specialist Oven Cleaners