Buckfast Christmas Pudding

Place all of the dried fruits into a bowl and pour the Buckfast over - cover well and leave for a couple of days in the fridge.

Strain the soaked fruits, keeping the Buckfast.

In another (large) bowl mix the suet, flour, breadcrumbs, sugar, spices and salt - mix well.

Then mix in the zests, peel, nuts, apple and finally the drained soaked fruits.

In another bowl beat the eggs with the reserved Buckfast pour all over the dry mixture and stir - this is a big job to do so you can cheat by using a machine, but as its Christmas everyone in the family should give the pudding mix a stir for good luck - the mix should be a dropping consistency if it's a touch dry add a little more Buckfast.

Cover bowl with cling film and put in the fridge overnight for the flavours to develop.

Grease your chosen (size) pudding basin with plenty of unsalted butter.

Pack in the mixture and level off evenly, cover with a circle of greaseproof paper then a pleated piece of tin foil sealing around the rim of the basin/s well.

Steam pudding/s for 8 hours minimum, check from time to time that the pan you're steaming in doesn't boil dry!

When done - cool and store (best made in late October/early November)

When needed (I suggest Christmas day - Ha!) steam for 2 hours and serve with a drizzle of Buckfast over the top of the piping hot pudding and a good dollop of Devon (obviously) clotted cream.