Christmas Pudding
September 5, 2023
Christmas pudding. The annoying refrains of a Christmas song "Now bring us some figgy pudding....and bring it right here!" and the famous part in Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol" where the Cratchit family is anticipating their pudding...I wanted to get it made, and said I made it on Labor Day. Couldn't get all of the ingredients until LATE on Labor Day - since it needs to steam for 6 hours, so the Day After Labor Day, it is.
Christmas Pudding, steaming
"Oh, a wonderful pudding!" Bob Cratchit said, commenting that it was his wife's greatest accomplishiment during their marriage. I went with a "Scottish" Christmas pudding recipe - it has raisins, pitted prunes, candied rinds and other festive ingredients that is producing a pleasant, festive aroma permeating my home. It resembles fruitcake, and we all know the horrible reputation that fruitcake has.
I hope it will be good - it will age in my fridge until Christmas. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients
2/3 cup Plain flour
1/3 cup Brown sugar, firmly packed
2/3 cup Breadcrumbs
¾ tsp Allspice
½ tsp Ground cinnamon
1/6 tsp Ground nutmeg
1 pinch Salt
1/3 cup Butter
¼ cup Mixed candied peel
1 cup Raisins
¾ cup Sultanas (GOLDEN RAISINS)
2/3 cup Peeled and grated or chopped apple
¼ cup Pitted prunes, chopped into raisin-sized pieces
½ large Lemon, juice and rind
2 Medium eggs
1/8 cup Golden syrup (Can use Karo or maple syrup)
¼ cup Scotch whisky
Description
It's pretty easy, really. Much easier than your Christmas Cake recipe! Note that the original recipe used mixed candied peel, but I just add more dried fruit, particularly chopped apricots and cranberries. Sometimes blueberries or dried cherries too.
Directions
Makes one 2-pint pudding, or two 1-pint puddings, 1 pound each.
Notes: Composition of spice or fruit ingredients can be varied to own taste, but ensure over-all weight is same (390 grams); use Lyles Golden Syrup.
- Mix the flour, brown sugar, breadcrumbs, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Blend in the butter and mix in the peel, raisins and sultanas.
- Peel the apple and either grate it down to the core or chop it up finely and add it to the mixture. Chop the prunes into pieces about the size of raisins and mix them in.
- Add the lemon juice, finely grated lemon rind, eggs, golden syrup and whisky. Mix thoroughly but do not overmix and pulp the fruit.
- Pour into suitable basins, leaving space for expansion of the pudding. Cover the basins and steam for 6 hours. When cooked, remove it from the basin, take off any coverings to avoid condensation on the pudding, and put it aside on a wire tray to cool. You may wish to leave it in the basin to be handy for reheating and serving.
- When completely cool, wrap it in cling film and/or foil and store it in a cool, dry place.
Before serving, steam the pudding for ½ hour. Then turn it out onto a hot plate and sprinkle it lightly with fine sugar. You may wish to pour a spoonful of whisky over the pudding and flambé it. Then serve the pudding hot with whisky butter sauce, whipped cream or custard.
Properly prepared and stored this pudding will keep at least a year. It should be sealed in an airtight container and kept in a cool dry place, refrigerated or frozen. This pudding matures and improves with keeping.