Traditional Christmas Pudding Recipe

Christmas Pudding Recipe Step by Step.

Is any Christmas dinner ever complete without the traditional Christmas pudding? Christmas is the time to uphold the traditions, and the pudding is simply tradition personified. The conventional pudding dates back to the 14^th century. The original recipe was made with whole wheat and boiled in milk and seasoned in the goodness of cinnamon and the rich colour came from saffron. Over the years, the pudding has been thickened with many other ingredients like eggs, dried fruit, and breadcrumbs over the years. However, we have to thank the Victorians for the pudding recipe that we enjoy every year on Christmas.

A Look Back at the Tadition

Tradition says that the perfect Christmas pudding recipe has 13 ingredients to represent Jesus and 12 disciples. A traditional pudding is also set alight with brandy and signifies the passion of Christ. The ingredients of a perfectly delectable pudding have lemon and orange peel, citron, raisins, mixed spices, flour, currants, brown sugar, suet, eggs, milk and brandy.

The stir up Sunday- the last Sunday before advent is when the lavish ingredients are put together and stirred up. Stirring happens from east to west, and this is for a reason because it represents the journey of three wise men. Each family member gets to stir it greatly and make a wish. If a family member found a trinket in the pudding, it meant that there was a good fortune of a year ahead!

The Christmas pudding is also called the plum pudding, and this beloved pudding finds its place in Charles Dickens’ Christmas carols and Agatha Christie’s books.

The Whole List of Ingredients:

The ingredients of the pudding are all packed with goodness, nutrients and is healthy. Consider the dried fruits; even though they may be slightly higher on the sugar side, they have a low GI and is for you and your family. All the nuts, spices and currants are loaded with micronutrients and will give a boost to your festive spirit.

Ingredients for the pudding 

·        Blanched almonds, about 50grams

·        Bramley cooking apples

·        Citron / Candied peel about 200 grams

·        Nutmeg

·        A lot of raisins, almost 1 kg

·        Teeny bit plain flour- about 150 grams

·        The best white breadcrumbs that you can find – about 100gm

·        100g muscovado sugar

·        3 big eggs

·        2 tbsp brandy or cognac

·        A little more brandy or cognac to light the pudding

·        250g butter, taken straight from the fridge

For the brandy and ginger butter

·        Softened unsalted butter

·        Half an orange – grated zest

·        5 tbsp icing sugar

·        brandy or cognac

·        finely chopped pieces of stem ginger

The Preparation

Step 1 – Assemble all the ingredients 

Do the peeling and the grating. Peel the citron, chop the almonds, grate the nutmegs and chop the candied peel. Peel and chop the apples too.

Step 2 – Stir it up 

Take a large bowl and stir up the apples, almonds, nutmeg, eggs, flour, raisins, breadcrumbs, light muscovado sugar and 2 tbsp brandy or cognac.

Step 3 – Make a wish

Grate the butter into the bowl while you keep stirring. Continue till all the butter is grated. Get the family to do the stirring as they can get their wish too.

Step 4 – Added dose of butter 

Butter 2 large bowls and be generous with this, and line it up with parchment paper in the bottom. Put the pudding mixture in, cover it again with a parchment, pleat this in so that there is enough place for expansion and tie with a string. Do remove any excess paper. To make the puddings watertight, put enough of the pudding mixture and double package it. Tie this package with a string so that you can easily take it in and out of the pan! Do this step correctly so that you don’t mess the pudding!

Now it is time to bowl or steam the pudding for eight good hours and keep adding water as necessary. Once it is done, remove it from the pan and let it cool. Wrap it in a new parchment, foil, string and let it rest and cool. Do remember to put it in a dry place.

Brandy butter is easier to make, cream the butter with icing sugar and orange zest. It is essential to beat in the brandy and chopped ginger slowly. Let this rest in the fridge, and this can be kept up to a week in the refrigerator. Then, on Christmas day, you can oven-steam the pudding for about an hour, unwrap and turn out, warm the butter and put it over the pudding and light a flame to it. Merry Christmas to you and your family, and we hope you enjoy our traditional pudding recipe.