Christmas Pudding Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What alcohol is best for Christmas pudding? ›

Christmas pudding is traditionally soaked with alcohol, preferably brandy, for flavour maturation. However, many people prefer rum and whisky spirit with high alcohol content.

If you or someone in your family is a vegetarian and doesn't want to eat suet, look for a recipe that uses butter or margarine instead, such as this recipe for individual Christmas puddings.

If water has entered the wrapped pudding basin then it is likely that the pan was boiling a little too hard, and may also have been too full of water, meaning the water came up and over the top of the pudding basin which makes it easier for water to enter.

Figgy Pudding

“Now bring us some figgy pudding” is the well-known refrain of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas." So, here it is. This seasonal favorite is essentially the same as a Christmas pudding but with the sweet addition of – wait for it – figs.

You can use any other high alcohol liquor that you have to hand for flaming the pudding (though not a fortified wine, such as port) and cognac/brandy and whisky are often traditional choices. Port could be used for soaking the fruits for the pudding but make sure it is a sweet variety of port.

A sweet marsala or Madeira wine are good alternatives but if you only have a bottle of rum, whisky or brandy on hand then one of these could also be used.

If you can't find suet then we have found that grated vegetable shortening (such as Trex, Crisco or Copha) is a good substitute. To grate the shortening firstly freeze a stick or block of it until firm but not solid (this usually takes about 30 minutes).

The Stir-Up Sunday tradition dates back to the Victorian era, when families would meet to stir the Christmas pudding five weeks before December 25, read 21st November.

After the first 5 hours of steaming the puddings may not look that dark but do not worry as the colour deepens on the second steaming.

Ideally we would suggest that when the pudding is made it is steamed for 8 hours (the combined time of the first and second steamings) as the steaming is important for the flavour of the pudding. The pudding can then be microwaved to reheat it on Christmas Day.

Why shouldn't you reheat Christmas pudding? ›

Steaming is the best way to re-heat a homemade pudding and the only way we recommend re-heating Delia's Christmas pudding. Microwaved puddings are frequently ruined. They tend to overheat and get tough & sticky.

Any pudding using fresh fruit for moisture will go off more quickly, whereas a Christmas pudding soaked in booze with high sugar and dried fruit content will last much longer. Some Christmas puddings, made with dried fruit in the traditional way, are fine to be eaten as much as two years after they were made.

Christmas Pudding (also known as plum pudding or figgy pudding) is a dish as famous as it is misunderstood.

The interesting thing is, plum pudding does not contain any plum! This goes back to the Victorian practice of substituting dried plums with other dried fruits, such as raisins. Dried plums or prunes were so popular that any goods which contained dried fruits were referred to 'plum cakes' or 'plum puddings'.

Brandy is the spirit that is traditionally added to butter and served with Christmas pudding. Sometimes rum, whiskey, or sherry is added to butter in lieu of the brandy.

Main outcome measures: Ethanol concentration of each pudding; estimated BAC of health care professionals after ingestion and at the end of a 30-minute lunch break. Results: The concentration of ethanol in common Christmas puddings ranged from 0.260 to 1.685 g per 125 mg slice.

Conclusion: Christmas puddings contain ethanol that does not all evaporate during the cooking process. However, the rise in BAC after ingestion of a typical slice of Christmas pudding was negligible and unlikely to affect work performance or safety or impair a health care worker's ability to make complex decisions.