Christmas Pudding

The tradition of serving pudding during the festive season of Christmas dates back to many years. Christmas puddings are traditionally made with a wide variety of dry fruits, including almonds and fruits, including plum. They are steamed for a long time. The sweet dish has a very long shelf life. Some puddings, if made by following the instructions correctly, can be stored for about 1 year. Every time you take out the dessert to offer to your guests, be sure to steam it an hour or two hours before serving it. In this article, we have given a couple of recipes for Christmas pudding.

Christmas Pudding Recipes

Traditional Christmas Pudding

Ingredients

• 1 cup Suet
• 1 cup Currants
• 2 cups Raisins
• 1 cup Sultanas
• 1 cup Mixed Peel
• 6 level tbsp Sugar
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 6 heaped tbsp Plain Flour
• 1 tbsp Almonds, blanched and chopped
• Juice and rind of 1 Lemon
• 3 Eggs
• 2 cups Breadcrumbs
• Pinch of salt
• 4-5 tbsp Brandy
• Milk (to mix)

Method

• In a large bowl, stir together all the dry ingredients of the recipe.
• Beat eggs well in a separate bowl. Add the beaten eggs to the mixture, made in the above step, and then stir in brandy and lemon juice.
• If the mixture seems to be too stiff, add a little amount of milk to it. Stir continuously, so that all the ingredients blend well.
• Pour the mixture into three 1 ½ pint pudding basins.
• Cover each pudding basin with greaseproof paper or foil. Now, tie a cloth over the top of the pudding basins, by fastening it around the rim of the basin with a length of the string.
• Take the four corners of the cloth. Now, tie them to make the handle of the pudding basin.
• In a saucepan, steam the puddings for about 8 hours. Another option is to make use of a steamer.
• After the puddings are steamed well, serve them immediately. You can also store them in air tight containers. In case you want to preserve the pudding for later use, steam them 2 to 4 hours before serving.
• Serve the pudding in serving plate, with a teaspoon of brandy poured on it. You may also serve the pudding with Cumberland rum.

Raisin Pudding

Ingredients

• 2 cups Raisins
• 2 cups Brandy
• 1 1⁄2 oz. Candied Fruits (including pitted apricots, cherries, and melon
• 1 1⁄2 oz. Citrus Peel, cut into thin strips
• 5 tbsp cold Beef Suet, diced
• 1 3⁄4 cups day-old Bread Crumbs
• 1 cup Blanched Almond Meal
• 1⁄4 cup Dark Muscovado Sugar
• 3 tbsp All-Purpose Flour
• 2 tbsp Shredded Unsweetened Coconut
• 1⁄2 tsp Lemon Zest, finely grated
• 2 tbsp Peeled Carrot, finely grated
• 1⁄4 tsp Orange Zest, finely grated
• 2 tbsp fresh Orange Juice
• 3⁄4 tsp fresh Lemon Juice
• 1⁄3 cup Guinness stout
• Pinch Ground Cinnamon
• Pinch Nutmeg, freshly grated
• 1 Egg
• 1⁄2 tsp Molasses
• Brandy Butter (optional)
• Whiskey Cream (optional)

Method

• Cut raisins into fine pieces and then put them into brandy for about 1 hour. Drain the almonds and reserve about 1/3 cup of the brandy, for later use.
• Put the soaked raisins, suet, bread crumbs, candied fruits, sugar, coconut, carrots, zests, cinnamon, nutmeg, all-purpose flour and almond meal into a large bowl and mix together well.
• In another bowl, combine molasses and egg. Beat well and then add beer, juices and the reserved brandy into the mixture. Fold in the fruit mixture and stir well.
• Grease two glass bowls with butter and put half the batter into each of them.
• Cover each bowl with buttered paper, and then foil. Secure the foil and buttered paper with twine.
• Transfer the bowl into a wide deep pot. Pour boiling water to the pot in such a way that it reaches 2" up sides of the bowls. Now, cover the pot with a lid and then steam the puddings in an oven that is preheated up to 450 degrees F, for about 4 ½ hours.
• Remove the bowls from the pot and allow them to cool, completely. Store the puddings in a cool, dry and dark place, away from direct sunlight. Every time you take the pudding, steam it by still covering the bowl with foil, for about 1 hour.
• You may serve the pudding with brandy butter.