The Great PhD Pudding Stir-Up

Today was The Great PhD Pudding Stir-Up

What a way to celebrate the final post in a month of blogging every single day; with a post about 20 people getting together to make Christmas puddings!
That's right, today I brought the tradition of homemade Christmas puddings to an international group of pudding novices. We had Americans, Canadians, Germans, Portuguese, Thai, Malaysian, and even a couple of token Brits. It was such a laugh. Who knew such hilarity could be had by communally measuring ingredients, grating apples, beating eggs, and stirring a massive pan of pudding mix, whilst sipping mulled wine and making wishes.
It was the perfect way to welcome the beginning of the festive season. By the end of the afternoon everyone had a pudding to take away, having had their turn stirring and making a wish. The washing up was quite a task, and explaining the intricacies of steaming somewhat difficult to justify ("What? You steam it twice?! You cook it once now and again on Christmas day?!") but hopefully when people tuck into their homemade PhD pudding on Christmas day, and can share a little bit of traditional goodness, it'll all be worth it.
Today to make 19 puddings we used:

3.4kg dried fruit soaked in 500ml brandy (sultanas, currents, figs, apricots, candied peel, cherries and cranberries)
6 apples, grated
zest and juice of 6 oranges
18 eggs, beaten
750g suet
750g breadcrumbs
1kg muscovado sugar
525g self-raising flour
6tsp mixed spice
3tsp nutmeg

That's a whole load of pudding mix and it took some strength to stir it all together!I certainly had a fantastic time and can't wait to organise the next PhD baking social get together. Cupcakes at Easter anyone?p.s. As of midnight NaBloPoMo is over. No more frantic dashes to the computer at the last minute in the hopes of finding some inspiration. I've really enjoyed it, and I have to admit that I'm rather proud of the fact that I've managed it. I never thought I had this much writing and baking in me, and we're not even part-way into the proper Christmas cooking! I hope you've enjoyed it too, and tomorrow I should have a little reveal to add some icing to the NaBloPoMo "cake." Daily posting might be over, but watch this space!