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Steamed Christmas Pudding

Ever wanted to make your own Christmas Pudding? We know that Christmas pudding is often quite cheap from the shops, but there’s nothing better than serving up a home-prepared dish on the big day, and this is one thing that benefits from early preparation – ticking one job off the list nice and early. Here we’ll show you how.

Puddings should be prepared at least 2 months before Christmas, and you should pour a little more alcohol to the completed pudding every week or so – this lets all the flavours develop into an incredibly rich Christmas pudding, and one that all your guests will remark upon.

The puddings serve 6-8 people (rich puddings can stretch round, though, so if you’ve 10 guests coming you should be alright) so make extra for 10 or more guests.

Christmas Pudding Ingredients

• 340g Sultanas;
• 340g Raisins;
• 225g Currants;
• 225g Golden Caster Sugar – TESCO do a good own brand of this for little money;
• 225g Vegetarian Suet;
• 110g Chopped Candied Peel;
• 110g Plain Flour;
• 110g White Breadcrumbs – make your own using a food processor and some old-ish bread;
• 55g Flaked Almonds;
• Zest of 1 Lemon;
• 5 Eggs – Break and beat in a bowl;
• 1 teaspoon (level) ground cinnamon;
• 1 teaspoon (level) mixed spice;
• 1 teaspoon (level) grated/ground nutmeg;
• Pinch of Salt;
• 150ml Brandy.

Christmas Pudding Method

• Grease your Pudding dishes – this recipe will make enough for either 4×1 pint (600ml) or 2×2 Pint (1.2 Litre) pudding basins – you can increase or reduce the recipe as necessary for more/less.
• Mix all the dry ingredients together in your mixing bowl.
• Add the eggs and brandy and mix well – making sure to get all the dry ingredients coated fully.
• Spoon out the mixture into your pudding dishes and cover with baking paper and foil – secure this tightly with string.
• Steam the puddings for 5-6 hours – you will need to use either a steamer, or a large pan for this. Most people don’t have a steamer, so find a pan big enough to take the pudding basin and still replace the lid (you might have to have to do a couple of puddings at a time) and turn a saucer upside down at the bottom for each pudding to sit on. Fill with boiling water to 1 third up the puddings, and place the lid on top. Boil for 5-6 hours.
• Remove puddings from steamer, and change the baking paper and foil – retie – and leave to cool. Then store the pudding in a cool place until Christmas.
• Remember to add a little more brandy each week.

Serving your Christmas Puddings

Serving these Christmas Puddings on the big day itself is quite simple:

• Steam for two hours as before, and serve with either:
  • Brandy Butter (see recipe by clicking here);
  • Rum sauce (see recipe here);
  • Double Cream;
  • Custard (see recipe here).

There you have it – a Christmas Pudding that you can be proud of. However, make sure you will have enough cooker space to steam the pudding on the day! You could even use a small camping gas cooker or similar, as the pudding just needs to simmer away for a couple of hours, and be kept topped up with water.