Recipe - New England Baked Plum Pudding

22 Common crackers, rolled fine
One half cup Sugar
1 cup Molasses
4 Eggs
One half cup Melted shortening
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Clove
1 teaspoon Soda (baking soda)
One half teaspoon Nutmeg
2 qt Milk
1 pound Seeded raisins
One half pound Seedless raisins
One half pound Dried currants
One fourth cup Citron
One fourth cup Orange peel
One fourth cup Lemon peel

Info: from Early American Recipes collection, 1953, by Heloise Frost from
Nana Swain

Preparation:

Soak rolled crackers in milk two hours or more. Add sugar, molasses,
spices, salt. Add beaten eggs, then fruit and last melted shortening and
soda.

Pour into well buttered earthen pudding pan. Bake at 400 d one hour. Stir
pudding thoroughly and reduce heat to 300 d for two hours. Stir again and
continue to bake one hour. Pudding will be solid when done. Run a knife
around edges, but do not remove from pan until cold.

Slice and serve with hard sauce (or whipped cream).

Will keep in refrigerator for a long time.

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini