The very thought of Christmas evokes visions of happy laughter with the whole family,

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bright twinkling lights, excited children, presents under a decorated tree and delicious treats to eat. But all the fun and festivities also need a bit of planning as every hostess wants to make something special. So here are a few easy-to-make traditional treats that you must try this Christmas.

Christmas cake

Preparation time: 1 hour

Cooking time: 3 hours

Flour: 125 g Carrots: 500 g

Orange Peel: 100 g Raisins: 100 g

Black currants: 150 g Milk: 480ml/ 2 cups

Butter: 50 g Sugar: 200 g

Cinnamon powder: 112 tsp Nutmeg powder: 114 tsp

Soda-bicarb: 114 tsp Salt: 112 tsp

Bread crumbs: 100 g

Method

l Wash, scrape and grate the carrots.

l Caramelise sugar by heating it in a pan on low heat, stir to prevent it from burning. Pour in one cup of milk and dissolve the caramelised sugar. In a separate pan, heat a teaspoon of butter add flour and sauté till it turns light brown.

l Remove from heat; add rest of the milk to the browned flour

and mix to make a paste. Bring pan to heat, add milk and caramelised sugar mixture, stir all the time till it is well mixed and comes to a boil. Then add all the ingredients, except soda-bicarb, and mix thoroughly. Add soda-bicarb. Stir and allow to cook till the moisture is absorbed. Apply butter to line the pudding mould. Transfer the mixture to the mould.

l Cover the mould with a piece of foil and secure very tightly with a thread to prevent steam or water from entering the mould.

l Bake in a tray filled with water in a pre-heated oven at 375 F. Or it may be steamed in a large covered pan for two to three hours. Cool and refrigerate.

l Serve with whipped cream or custard of pouring consistency.

This pudding will keep for two months without freezing.

Walnut cake with Apples

3 eggs sugar/butter and flour: wt. of eggs

2-3 apples

2 tbsp. raisins

2 tbsp. rum

1 cup chopped walnuts

Method

l Beat the sugar, butter and eggs, mix in flour and then add two coarsely grated apples and one cup chopped walnuts and

two tbsp raisins soaked

in rum.

l Bake for 40 minutes. Serve with cream and brandy sauce.zz