Quick and Healthy Christmas Pudding

Ingredients

• 1½ whole organic oranges roughly chopped (include the skin)
• 300g pitted dates
• 200g prunes, pitted
• ⅓ cup coconut oil
• 1¼ cups water 
• 1½ cups dried currants
• 200g organic dried apricots, finely chopped
• 100g pitted prunes, roughly chopped
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 350g almond meal
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 1 tbs cinnamon
• 1 tsp allspice
• ¼ tsp clove
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp sea salt

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190C.
2. Grease a medium sized pudding bowl.
3. Combine dates, prunes (200g), orange and water into a saucepan and bring to boil.
4. Simmer for 10mins or until the water has evaporated and the dates have formed a thick paste (the oranges will still be intact, this is ok).
5. Stir through the coconut oil and set aside to cool.
6. Place the cooled date mix into a food processor and process until smooth.
7. Transfer to a large bowl and add chopped apricots and prunes (100g), currants, almond meal, vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, clove, nutmeg and the eggs and mix well.
8. Pour the mixture into your prepared pudding bowl.
9. Place the pudding bowl into a deep baking tray (I use a roasting tray), then pour in hot water until it reaches ½ to ¾of the way up the roasting tray.
10. Cover the tray and pudding with a layer of baking paper and foil. Make sure it is completely sealed so no steam can escape.
11. Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
12. Carefully remove the tray from the oven, but be careful there is very hot water in the tray!
13. Remove the foil and paper away from yourself to ensure you don't get burnt by the steam escaping.
14. Loosen the edges of the pudding with a knife and turn onto a serving plate.

A big thank you to Gather and Feast for this amazing recipe.