Edit!! This is a fast forward image on Christmas day of the finished pud. Looks so good, I was really chuffed and it tasted amazing, I may use less sugar next time as very sweet, but everybody else loved that!
Why buy when it is easy to make a Christmas pudding yourself.
I was googling for info and read that 90% of people buy Christmas pudding now.
I was one of them and having made it a few times not really sure why as it is one of the easiest things to make.
Its literally stir and cook.
Stir It Up Sunday is today the last Sunday before Advent, churchgoers will hear an unintentional reminder from the Book of Common Prayer that it’s time to make the Christmas pudding. “Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord…” starts the Collect of the day.
The tradition of Stir-up Sunday, with the whole family gathering in the kitchen to stir the mixture and make a wish is a good start to the countdown to Christmas.
I have a slight intolerance to some nuts, so looking for nut free Christmas puddings is tricky, they all seem to be alcohol free too. To me a good Christmas pudding has to have the brandy. For some people its, ale, cider, rum, for many its alcohol free. The great thing about making this yourself is yo can add or takeaway ingredients.
Mine is a suet free Christmas pudding good for vegetarians.
I omitted the nuts in the recipe below and substituted with more flour.
M and S have all the ingredients to make a great pud. They gave me their recipe and sent me the goodies to help.
They do have a range of great puddings to buy this year too, I have my eye on the Sugar Plum Pudding.
They do have a range of great puddings to buy this year too, I have my eye on the Sugar Plum Pudding.
If you are reading this and thinking you missed the day, it can be eaten straight away, so its not too late to Stir It Up!
Ingredients:
225g/8oz Caster sugar
340g/12oz Sultanas
340g/12oz Raisins
225g/8oz Currants
50g/2oz Glace cherries
110g/4oz Plain flour
1 lemon, zest only
5 Free Range eggs, beaten
1 level tsp Ground cinnamon
1 level tsp Mixed spice
5g/1 level tsp Ground nutmeg
Pinch of salt
150ml/5fl oz French Brandy (
55g/2oz Flaked almonds
A step by step photo guide to Christmas pudding may help, hopefully to show how easy it is.
Soak fruit in brandy overnight. The aroma is gorgeous.
In the morning you will have a lovely bowl of plumped up fruit and then its just a case of adding the Christmas pudding ingredients to the fruit and stir it up.
A big stir of the pudding, now is the time for the family to have a stir and make their wishes.
Nest spoon the mix into a pudding basin.
This recipe was not given with size of bowl I used a two pint basin which I filled to the inside lip,not the rim and not having a smaller bowl, I filled another with the remainder.
Put a circle of baking parchment on your pudding or puddings.
Next place foil over the top press it around the rim and trim of excess.
Make a string handle. Note my make shift garden string, I forgot to buy white string.
Most recipes will as this one did say steam the Christmas pudding for 6-7 hours. There are pudding steamers and all manner of ways to steam, but if you just have large pans these will do. You just need a lidded pan to ensure the temperature of the water is kept boiling to create the steam that cooks the pudding.
To try to make it easier I will tell you how I did this, I got a large sheet of foil to make a bed for the basin.
Once the water is boiling in a pan I pop in the foil and lower the pudding into the pan, pressing down so the pudding has a comfy non movable base. Puddings should not come into contact with the base of the pan and the water needs to be halfway up the pan at all times, so will need topping up.
You can use a heatproof plate upturned, it works as well, but I do not like the constant rattle of plate hitting the bottom of the pan.
Steam the pudding for 6-7 hours.
Remove pudding from steamer completely cool, replace the parchment with another circle and cover with foil or a lid if buying a plastic pudding basin.
Store in a cool, dry place until Christmas day. On Christmas day reheat the pudding by steaming again for 1-2 hours. Serve with brandy butter, rum sauce or custard.
I will post a picture of my pudding at Christmas and let you know what it tastes like, I can sort of tell it will be good as it smells divine!!
I am also adding the link to The Diary of A Jewellery Lover's
I am also adding the link to The Diary of A Jewellery Lover's