Here's a link to Delia's - which is certainly the tastiest recipe christmas pud I've made:
http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/c...s-pudding.html

But - and this is a big but - you will need several ingredients which are hard to get here - the key one being suet - I've only ever been able to get this via the expat shop online (or get it shipped by relatives). And stout. There's another thread just recently about that so have a look at that too. Soft dark brown sugar - the proper sticky stuff (also expat shop). And candied peel - you can only get the really rubbish stuff in the coop - I guess you could get some from a "special" shop?? Barley wine is in Delia's recipe too which I think is a no-no (but I think she does say it's optional).

And of course the other small thing is that you need a pudding basin - which you can't get here either (at least I've never seen one!) Obviously if you have one then it's not a problem!

And the next thing is that you have to steam the damn thing for 8 hours. Yep. Eight hours. A whole day - and 8 hours of making sure it doesn't boil dry. Before you store it that is - then you need another billion hours on christmas day to steam the damn thing again.

I have done all this in the past.... and it's a right royal pain in the butt for not much gain I have to say - apart from smugness knowing that I made it (and the rest of the family don't really appreciate my mammoth effort anyway!)

So, in recent years I have bought one - either online or got rellies to bring it over - these days even the super luxurious ones you can bung em in the microwave for 4 minutes and they will be perfectly fine!

Mince pies I don't have a recipe - I would buy ready made pastry and get out a jar of mincemeat and fill em up.... but I imagine that you'll find a recipe on delia's website above too If you want to make mincemeat yourself then again you will need the magic ingredient of suet.