Steamed Apple Spotted Dick

Total Time: 2 hrs 20 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 175 g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
• 75 g shredded vegetable suet
• 50 g light muscovado sugar
• 75 g currants
• 1 small bramley apple, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 lemon, zest of
• 150 ml full-fat milk

Recipe

• 1 sift the flour, baking powder, spice and a bit of salt into a large bowl.
• 2 stir in the suet, sugar, currants, apple and lemon zest.
• 3 add the milk, stirring to form a sticky dough.
• 4 spoon the mixture into 6 greased 150-200ml pudding basins, topped with a disc of baking parchment and covered tightly with foil.
• 5 place in a large saucepan or deep roasting tin and add enough boiling water to come three quarters of the way up the tin.
• 6 cook for 2 hours, keeping the water on a gentle simmer and topping up occasionally with more boiling water.
• 7 carefully lift the basins out of the pan and remove the foil and paper.
• 8 turn out of the moulds and serve topped with a drizzle of golden syrup, custard or ice cream if you like (though the last choice is not as english).
• 9 you can also do this in one large 1.2 litre pudding basin. just be sure to butter it, spoon in the mixture and cover with pleated baking paper, followed by a layer of foil.
• 10 tie with string and steam for 2-1/2 hours.
• 11 goes well with a dessert wine or a late harvest.