Mrs Beeton never though of this ....

This is adapted from someone who was talking on ABC radio who my friend Jannet heard, who then copied the recipe from ABC Online and passed in on to me and I made it last Xmas and it was just great. So I can't really properly attribute the source, but after you've had it you won't care either :)

Plum Pudding Vodka
700 mls vodka (keep the bottle)
250g dark brown sugar
100g mixed peel
250g sultanas
150g raisins
Grated rind and juice of 1 orange
1 tsp almond essence
6 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
2 vanilla beans, split and scraped
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp mixed spice

Place everything in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set aside in a cool place for one week, stirring daily. It’s ok – no, really, you don’t have to taste it. Strain through a fine sieve and pour the flavoured vodka back into the bottle. Store in the freezer.

Remove the cloves, cinnamon and vanilla beans. Stir the fruit through softened vanilla ice cream and re-freeze in one pudding bowl or individual servings.

To serve, turn out the ice cream and accompany with a shot of the vodka. This sounds a little naf, but that chocolate ice magic stuff that hardens on contact with cold ice cream is actually really nice over the top and makes it look like a Christmas pudding in reverse with dark on light.

It’s an indicator of great personal discipline if all the vodka is still in the bottle when you come to serve the pudding ice cream at Xmas.