Yes I know it’s only September but Christmas Puddings are best if they’re made early. The reason for this is you can “feed” the pudding alcohol for months so by Christmas it’s absolutely delicious and is the perfect excuse to get everyone drunk without anyone truly realising why they feel so tipsy. Nothing like months of alcohol cleverly concealed inside a delicious Christmas pudding! There are lots of recipes out there, they all vary slightly but product similar results, I prefer the recipe below.
The situation that got me thinking about this was getting milk from Morrisons. My local store already has a full isle dedicated to Christmas food, gifts, advent calendars etc. But the part that stood out to me was the section devoted to ingredients to make a pudding with recipe ideas. So here you’ll find the recipe I did last year, the only difference is, this year it will be a lot more alcoholic.
225g/8oz golden caster sugar
225g/8oz vegetarian suet
340g/12oz sultanas
340g/12oz raisins
225g/8oz currants
110g/4oz candied peel, chopped
110g/4oz plain flour
110g/4oz fresh white breadcrumbs
55g/2oz flaked almonds
1 lemon, zest only
5 eggs, beaten
1 level tsp ground cinnamon
1 level tsp mixed spice
5g/1 level tsp freshly grated nutmeg
pinch of salt
150ml/5fl oz brandy or rum (any alcohol you want to try really, these 2 work best)
- Lightly grease 4x600ml/1 pint or 2×1.2 litre/2 pint pudding basins.
- Mix together all the dry ingredients.
- Stir in the eggs and brandy and mix well.
- Spoon the mix into basins. Put a circle of baking parchment and foil over the top of each basin and tie securely with string. Make a string handle from one side of the basin to the other so it is easier to pick the basin out of the pan after cooking.
- Put the basins in a large steamer of boiling water and cover with a lid. Boil for 5-6 hours, topping the boiling water up from time to time, if necessary. If you do not have a steamer, put the basins in a large pan on inverted saucers on the base. Pour in boiling water to come a third of the way up the sides of the pudding bowls. Cover and steam as before.
- Cool. Change the baking parchment and foil covers for fresh ones and tie up as before. Store in a cool cupboard until Christmas Day.
- Optional – feed alcohol to the cake every week or so, just a bit at a time so it fully soaks in.
- To serve: steam for 2 hours and serve with brandy butter, rum sauce, cream or homemade custard
Without a doubt, the thing that makes this pudding recipe great is the constant alcohol feed – I know I’ve said it a few times but it’s the best bit!
