Steamed Apple Pudding Recipe

Before starting:

• Get waxed paper (or grease-proof paper) and tin foil out of the cupboard and have them handy.
• Find a pudding basin or heat-proof bowl (with a capacity of 2 pints / 40 oz / 4 cups / a little over a litre.)
• Get the pan that you are going to steam the pudding in, put the water in, cover and start it boiling.
• Butter the insides of the pudding bowl.
• Put some cold water in a cup and keep it handy.
• Crust
• The short directions are: cut the butter and shortening into the flour, baking powder and salt, add enough water to make it feel like a pie dough, roll out the dough and line the sides of the pudding bowl, leaving enough to later make a cover for the top.
• If you aren't an old hand at making crusts and want more detailed step-by-step directions, see the steamed pudding guidelines.
• Filling
• In a new bowl, mix the chopped apple, the sugar, the whole cloves, and the raisins.
• Assembly
• Dump this into the dough-lined pudding bowl. Roll out a top and cover. It's okay if the apples mound up a bit beneath the top dough cover, as they will collapse a bit while cooking anyway. But do trim off any loose bits hanging over the rim of the bowl, and press down the edges of the lining and of the cover to seal the edges.
• Cooking
• Cover with waxed paper, then with tin foil (or just tin foil is also fine.) Crimp the edges of the foil to make this cover snug, or tie it with a string.
• Steam for 2 hrs; you may want to check on the water level half-way through to see that it hasn't evaporated away.
• Serving
• Remove the waxed paper and foil. Take a knife and loosen it around the edges (without gouging into the crust.) Turn it out onto a plate. Cut into slices and serve.