Recipe for :

There are two recipes here for Christmas Cake and Christmas Pudding but with a difference. They come from Cookery Service Notes No. 48 for November 1943 entitled Home Front Cookery Advice.

These were published by the Margarine Cookery Service, Unilever House, London, E.C.4, to help solve your war-time cookery problems. The leaflet also stated that "Recipes approved by the Ministry of Food"

At this - our fifth wartime Christmas - we shall not be able to give our families all the good things which we associate with the 25th December, but if we have saved up our little stocks of dried fruit, it is surprising how many party dishes we shall be able to make.

In this leaflet we are giving several Christmas Pudding and Cake recipes, Mincemeat, and some biscuit and other pudding recipes too. Some of the recipes include our home-grown nuts. Not all of you will be able to obtain them, but if you have your own trees or live in districts where they grow, use them to help with your Christmas cooking. They give a lovely flavour and make your dried fruit go further. For those unable to get the nuts, an alternative recipe is given in every instance.

Fruit flans are always popular and go well with a cold supper, as they can be masde the day before. Cookery Notes No. 47 give instructions for making wartime flans, with many suggestions for the fruit filling.

Note 1. Home-grown cob or hazel nuts need not be peeled. Walnut skin is sometimes bitter, and the nuts are nicer if it is removed. Pour boiling water over the walnuts, leave them in the water for a few minutes, then remove the skin.

To use the nuts for cooking, if you do not possess a nut mill (they are now unobtainable), chop them finely with a sharp knife. You will find the best way is to slice them first, then proceed with the chopping in the same way as mint is chopped.

Note 2. In all the recipes, if you cannot use the dried fruit stated, use an equal weight of another kind.

Note 3. A little ale or brandy can be added to the Christmas Puddings if these are liked or available, but they are not essential. Be careful not to make the mixture too wet.

Note 4. Do not make the Christmas puddings before December 1st.

Christmas Pudding
(including Breadcrumbs, and Nuts, if vailable)

Clean all the dried fruit. Chop the nuts finely. Sieve the flour, dried egg and salt into a basin. Add the dried fruit, nuts, breadcrumbs, sugar, spice and grated orange rind and mix all together. Melt the margarine and pour over the dry ingredients and stir well. Add a very little milk so that the mixture is moist all through but quite stiff. Give a final stir, and pour into a well-greased basin. Cover with greaseproof paper and a pudding cloth, and steam for 2 hours. When the pudding is cols, remove pudding cloth and greaseproof, and re-cover with clean dry greaseproof and another pudding cloth: this helps the pudding to keep well. Store in a dry place. Before serving, steam again for 2 hours.

Makes one pudding sufficient for 8 persons.

Christmas Cake

Sieve flour, dried egg, spice and salt into a basin. Clean the currants and sultanas, and stone and chop the raisins or prunes. (Prunes should be soaked in cold water overnight). Cream the margerine and sugar together, and beat well. Add a little milk and sieved flour mixture alternately, a little at a time of each, until all the 10 tablespoonsful milk and flour have been beaten in. Add the dried fruit, and give the mixture a final stir. Line a cake tin with greaseproof paper and brush over with melted margarine, and pour in the mixture. Bake 1 hour in a moderate oven (Regulo Mark 4), then 1 1/2 hours in a very slow oven (Regulo Mark 1).

Sufficient for 8 -10 portions.