An Economical Yet Tasteful Way To Make The MostOf The Holidays (NAPSA)—The state of the economy doesn’t have to leave you feeling like Ebenezer Scrooge this holiday season. Instead, you can celebrate with the warm and deli- cious tradition of giving gifts of great food to friends, family and guests. For example, consider a Christmas pudding Mrs. Cratchet would have been proudto serve.It's been not only a highlight of holiday meals for centuries, but it can also be very economical. The pudding is generally prepared using breadcrumbs, raisins and other fruits and spices available around the house. Given the investment many holiday bakers make in ingredi- ents, such as nuts and dried fruits, it’s usually wise to invest in fresh ingredients to help your holiday treats turn out as intended. April Osburn, Culinary Class- room Manager for Clabber Girl, stresses that using outdated or For a taste of tra jon, serve or give an elegant Christmas Pudding during the holidays. It could make your get-togethers more fun than the Fezziwig’s ball. This holiday season, impress everyone with the Christmas pudproduct. “The holiday season is a ding that can makea greataddition time when you are baking to to a neighborhoodcookie exchange, near-date ingredients in your recipe can dramatically affect the finished impress, and time, as well as money, is at a premium. Thelast thing you want to do is let an expired ingredient cause your recipetofail. Using old baking powder can make your bakeditem flop. Not onlyis the rise of the product affected, but using old ingredients can compromise taste and the integrity ofyour baked goods.” It’s important to be sure all your ingredients are fresh, especially baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch, flour and spices. Replace any that are a yearold or more. If in doubt, start anew and date each item to be sure you'll know each time you bake. % cup margarine, softened 2 eggs Mix and sift dry ingredi- ents. Add fruits and stir until a visit with family or as dessert for they are well coated. In a sep- Christmas Pudding brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs and add flour/fruit your ownholiday dinner. 24 cupsall-purposeflour, sifted 1 teaspoon Clabber Girl Baking Powder 1% teaspoons baking soda % teaspoonsalt teaspoon cinnamon teaspoon cloves 1 cup milk teaspoon nutmeg 14 cupsraisins % cup currants % cup choppedcitron 1 cup packed brown sugar arate bowl, cream butter and mixture alternately with milk. Mix well. Turn into greased 1% quart mold. Cover and steam 2 hours. (To steam, set mold on a rack in large kettle/saucepan. Keepboiling water to half the depth of the mold, adding water during steaming pro- cess when necessary.) Makes8 servings. Learn More You can find morerecipes and food ideas at www.clabbergirl.com.
