Sunday, December 13, 2015

After the Christingle...

Being a vicar brings with it all sorts of problems and dilemmas, one of which is what to do with the Christingle oranges which children have abandoned in church after the service.
Strangely they never seem to abandon the sweets in the Christingle (!) but every year after the service I find half a dozen forlorn looking oranges lurking in the church. I hate to throw them away, but they have been chopped about, and generally man-handled, or rather child-handled, which is possibly worse, so there's no way they will keep, and the idea of eating them raw never seems that appealing...

One answer to this dilemma is to freeze them and use them for cooking throughout the year, which I do, but a regular fixture on our Advent dinner table is what I have come to call "Microwave Christingle Pudding", usually made on the day of the Christingle.
In case any of you also have a stray Christingle orange, here is the recipe!

MICROWAVE CHRISTINGLE PUDDING
(Amounts are a bit approximate- it doesn't seem to matter too much.) 

2 oz sugar (I like to use dark brown, but any sugar will do)
2oz butter
1 Christingle orange  (Grated rind and juice - take the red sticky tape/ribbon off it before grating it!).
1 egg
3 oz self-raising flour
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder

Beat the sugar, butter and orange rind together.
Beat in the egg.
Beat in the flour, cocoa powder and orange juice.

Spoon into a microwaveable bowl (or several - I usually use a couple 1/2 pint bowls - you could also use mugs or tea cups.) Don't fill more than about half-way.
Loosely cover the bowl/cup with a plate or some microwaveable clingfilm and microwave for a couple of minutes until the pudding is cooked. Smaller puddings will cook more quickly than big ones. You can also freeze them uncooked, and microwave from frozen.

Turn out and enjoy. We eat it with yogurt because that seems vaguely healthier, but of course, since the Christingles are holy things which have been used in an actual service of worship there are no calories in this pudding anyway...








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