IF a very good friend recommended a recipe for your family Christmas pudding - one that she has made every year and her guests love - you'd gratefully try it.

After all, the final course is often the piece de resistance of the festive meal - so it has to be perfect. Cooking guru Mary Berry, who has more than 60 cookery books to her name, says it wouldn't be Christmas without a proper steamed pud.

"Christmas pudding is pure tradition and everybody would miss it if it wasn't there," she said. "When you get to the end of the meal, people usually just want a little. But they expect it and they all love it."

Christmas pudding is traditionally made on Stir Up Sunday (last Sunday before Advent) at the end of November. But for the ultraprepared, Mary, who will start her pudding at the beginning of December, says you can make it now - or, if you must, leave it until the last minute.

"It's not the end of the world. You can do it the day before, but you wouldn't want to," she added. "Everybody wants the pudding to be dark and it gets dark through long, slow simmering. The longer you do this the darker it gets. I think it's better to do it all nearly all the boiling ahead, then cool it and just reheat it on Christmas Day."

The recipe is in Mary Berry's Christmas Collection (Headline, £20).