Black bun is a tradition I'm starting this year, although I'm led to believe it is more of a Hogmanay tradition than Christmas. Just this past weekend I made one from a Scottish cookbook (I can post the recipe if anyone wants it).

It basically consists of making a rudimentary pastry lining for a loaf pan, then filling it with a gooey mixture of raisins/currants/almonds/brown-sugar/ginger/allspice/pepper/cinnamon/flour/cream-of-tartar/egg/brandy/milk. Then capping it off with the remaining pastry, and baking it for 3 hours at low heat. It's very heavy for its size! I'm giving it two weeks to mature, and will present it on New Years.