Christmas Pudding: step by step
Righty ho, then, so two days to Stir-up Sunday, which gives me carte blanche to get all Christmassy even though it’s still not December. Bonus.
This is a two-day kind of Christmas pudding so I’m not sure about the logistics involved – do you start on the Saturday then finish on the Stir-Up Sunday? Or do you start on the Sunday and finish on the Monday?
Anyhoo, I’m sure there’s no Stir-Up police or anything, so you should be fine whatever you decide. I thought I’d get you going today just in case you need to pop out for any supplies before you start.
As with the Christmas Cake, this recipe is a guide. Nobody’s going to hunt you down and shoot you if you don’t follow it to the letter. Substitute orange juice or cranberry juice if you don’t like alcohol, and as usual if you eat peel (you monster, you), add that in place of something else. As long as you don’t mess with the quantities too much you’ll be fine. Here goes, then:
500g dried fruit – sultanas, raisins, dried cranberries, chopped dates… whatever you like.
1 tbsp Maraschino cherries, halved (optional, but it’s nice to see a little glistening bit of red when you cut it open)
1 lemon
100ml black tea (I used Earl Grey)
100ml Morgan’s Spiced Rum (or whatever booze you like), plus extra for the cook
1 cinnamon stick, snapped in half
100g self raising flour (or rice flour for gluten free – thanks as always to the lovely Pippa for this addition)
100g fresh white breadcrumbs (or again, ground almonds if you need to keep the recipe gluten free)
150g veggie suet
150g dark muscovado sugar
25g almonds or pistachio nuts, finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground mixed spice
3 eggs, beaten
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp black treacle
1 Bramley apple, grated
Weigh out the dried fruit, then have a good pick through and get rid of any stems, they’re yucky if you crunch on them. I let them fall through my fingers into the bowl a handful at a time. If you’re using larger dried fruit like prunes or apricots, make sure they’re stoneless and snip them into small pieces.
Finely grate the lemon zest (as usual, don’t push too hard – you want to avoid the bitter pith), then juice it as well. Add the zest and juice to the fruit then brew up the tea (one tea bag is fine for that amount of water) and pour it over the fruit, along with the rum. Add in the cherries and the cinnamon stick and stir it all up. Cover with a plate and leave the whole shooting match to steep (make sure it’s not a metal bowl) overnight, stirring occasionally if you remember.
The next day, then, weigh out all the dry ingredients and combine them in a huge bowl. The muscovado sugar can be a bit lumpy so you might need to sieve it to break up any lumps.
Take the steeped fruit and remove the cinnamon stick pieces. Add the eggs (give them a quick mix with a fork first), honey, treacle and grated apple (leave the peel on).
Stir well, then you can add all that into the dry ingredients. Give it a really good stir (get everyone to take a turn to stir and make a wish).
Now butter one of those big, lidded plastic basins (3 pint/1.7 litre) or two small ones and bung in your mixture. Put on the lid, then cover it in foil. If your basin doesn’t have a lid you’ll need to use buttered greaseproof paper, then foil, then tie it tightly with string (or you can tie it in a muslin, or use one of those special circular moulds).
To steam it, you can use a steamer if you’re posh, but I haven’t got one so I just use a huge saucepan and balance the basin inside it on a circular metal pastry cutter so it isn’t sitting on the bottom of the pan. This will also stop it burning if you inadvertently let it boil dry (as I did yesterday – oopsy). Add boiling water about halfway up the basin and put the lid on the saucepan. Steam for 5 hours, making sure you go back every so often to top up the boiling water.
And that’s it, you’re done. Let it cool then stash it away (don’t unwrap it!) for Christmas day when it’ll need to steam for about another 2.5 to 3 hours (don’t worry if it gets a bit longer, it won’t ruin it).
BTW: If you want to make these cute little mini puddings instead, remember to put a teeny piece of buttered greaseproof paper in the bottom of your ramekin, otherwise you’ll never get the buggers out. Then you can just cover them with foil, put them on a deep baking tray, add boiling water to half way up the sides of the ramekins, and bake in the oven for 30 minutes on 180/gas 4.
BTW 2: Nigella advocates vodka rather than brandy to flame a pudding – apparently the flame is better and lasts longer. Just mind your eyebrows
Off you trot then. Give everybody a stir, let them make a wish, and then make them do the washing up. You deserve a break.
For one day only, Sainsbury’s baking agony aunts will man the UK’s first dedicated helpline for first time bakers or victims of previous cake baking disasters to coincide with Stir up Sunday – 21st November.
Traditionally a day used to bake the family Christmas cake, Sainsbury’s is encouraging bakers across the UK to get baking safe in the knowledge that help is at hand to produce Christmas cakes and puddings to delight the whole family.
Phone 020 7695 6191/2 or log on to www.facebook.com/sainsburys on the 21st November to get expert advice from a select committee of baking ‘agony aunts’ who will be able to provide answers to your festive baking dilemmas, suggest shortcuts and share priceless tips used in their own kitchens.
This looks like a fab recipe: cinnamon sticks and Earl Grey = yum!
And that ramekin is sooo cute
Yes, they’re diddy Le Creuset ones, I blimmin’ love them xx
[...] 17. English Mum’s Step by Step Christmas Pudding [...]
Wasn’t going to bother making a pudding at all this year, but think I might give this one a go. Just have to go and buy a pudding basin!