This is not hard but the cooking is tedious. You could make all 8-10 in one enormous roasting pan in the oven, or each one in a crockpot (on high- start with hot water in the crockpot- same timing).

The custard sauce is pretty essential. A thick eggnog (can be commercial) with a bit of brandy or rum flavor is OK as a substitute,

A traditional English steamed pudding served during the Christmas holiday. This version calls for butter and shortening instead of suet, the traditional fat which was a solid white fat from the loin and kidney regions of meat animals.

Figgy Pudding with Custard Sauce

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large egg yolks
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons rum extract (or flavored extract of your choice)
1 apple, peeled and cored and finely chopped
1 pound dried figs, ground or finely chopped
Grated peel of 1 lemon and 1 orange
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts traditional. almonds and pecans also good)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/2 cups dried bread crumbs, plain, fine
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 large egg whites, stiffly beaten

Custard Sauce (recipe follows)
Sweetened whipped cream (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 325*F (160*C). Generously grease an oven-proof 2-quart bowl or mold; set aside.
2. Cream together butter and shortening. Gradually add sugar, egg yolks, milk, extract, apple, figs, lemon and orange peel. Add next 6 ingredients, mixing well. Fold stiffly beaten egg whites into mixture.
3. Pour into prepared bowl or mold and place into large shallow pan and place on middle rack in oven. Fill the shallow pan half-full with boiling water and slowly steam pudding in oven at 325*F (160*C) for 4 hours, replacing water as needed.

Custard Sauce:

2 cups milk
1 large egg
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon butter

1. In saucepan, scald milk and allow to cool.
2. Mix together remaining ingredients, except for butter. Add to cooled milk. Cook over low heat until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in butter, mixing well.
3. Serve pudding warm with custard sauce or sweetened whipped cream. Store unused portions in refrigerator.

Figgy Pudding (a simplified version)

One package of dried figs (10 to 12 ounces). Put them in a saucepan with enough hot water to cover, at least 2 cups. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Let sit until soft (a few hours).

Once soft, remove figs from the water and place in a bowl. Save the water, which will already be fragrant, and add a cup of sugar (optional). Bring to a boil and let reduce slightly. Remove from heat. Add a bit, perhaps 1 tablespoon, maybe more, of orange-flower water. Cool.

Chop up your figs. Chop them fine, but do not pulverize. Do this by hand.

Using a boxed cake mix for carrot cake, follow the directions, but instead of the water they request, use the fragrant sugary water from the figs. (Save the remainder of this water.) Then add oil and eggs as recommended on the carrot cake mix. Add some cinnamon (about 1/2 teaspoon) and a lot of fresh-grated nutmeg (about 1/4 teaspoon). Mix in a food processor. At the end, toss in the fig pieces and beat in a bit. Turn into a bowl and add a bunch of sliced almonds (about 1/2 cup) and some raisins (about 1/3 cup) that have been softened in brandy if you like. Add the grated peel of one orange and a big dollop (1 tablespoon) of marmalade.

Line a big metal bowl (about 4 quarts) with foil. Use enough foil that you will have a big collar around the top of the bowl. Spray the foil with nonstick spray. Pour your cake batter into the foil-lined bowl. Set into preheated 350° oven for 30 minutes, then bring the collar gently over top of cake. Continue for another hour and half. Use a skewer to test (it will come out clean when pudding is done). It will take a while because it is dense.

Remove from oven and cool overnight.

Uncover and overturn onto a big serving platter. Carefully remove foil. The cake will be a mound, its size depending on the depth of your bowl.