Christmas Pudding Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Why isn't my Christmas pudding dark? ›

The pudding will not be particularly dark in colour after the first steaming but darkens on the second steaming. If you cooked the pudding in a slow cooker then sometimes the temperature isn't high enough to fully melt the suet and you should do the second steaming in the regular way.

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.

Brandy works wonderfully well and we've added more punch by infusing it with fantastically festive flavourings.

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.

To set a Christmas pudding alight, the liquor must be warmed beforehand - otherwise there will be no vapour to ignite. Once burning, the heat generated warms the liquid alcohol in the pudding, creating more vapour until eventually there is no more alcohol left to vapourise.

To test if the pudding's cooked, pierce the foil and paper with a skewer and wiggle it to make the hole bigger, or it will be wiped clean of any mixture when you pull it out.

4. Vegetable shortening: Vegetable shortening has a mild flavor like suet and hardens in the refrigerator, making it simple to shred and add to foods that call for shredded suet. Shortening consists of sunflower oil, palm oil, and wheat flour, which create a similar, crumbly texture to suet.

There is also a slight risk that the puddings may be a little dry in comaprison with the regular Christmas pudding. As steaming is a gentle, humid method of cooking this may be less of a concern but you could try "feeding" the puddings with a little alcohol (if freezing, before you freeze them) to help them along.

If you can't find suet or you just don't want to use it, try shortening instead. One of the advantages of using vegetable shortening is that it is suitable for vegetarian dishes. Before using it, freeze the shortening until it is very firm.

Use gluten-free white flour and breadcrumbs made from gluten-free bread, and replace the stout and barley wine with the same amount of sherry.

What is a substitute for brandy in Christmas pudding? ›

We would tend to err on the side of using a spirit with a higher alcohol content (such as rum or whisky) but a fortified wine with a long shelf life, such as a sweet Marsala or Madiera could also be used.

Our answer. Nigella's Ultimate Christmas Pudding (from Christmas and on the Nigella website) can be made up to 6 weeks ahead of Christmas. Traditionally puddings are made on Stir Up Sunday, which is the Sunday before the start of Advent and this year it is on 22nd November 2015.

According to experts, the secret to Christmas pudding perfection is to heat it to precisely 71 °C. If it gets hotter than 89 °C, the sugars within the fruits in the pudding start to caramelise. So no matter how luxurious its ingredients are, your precious pud will taste bitter.

As for all puddings, it should be stored in a cool, dry place until Christmas Day. For the US our preference would be to use Pyrex mixing bowls for steaming Christmas puddings.

Completely fine. I always buy my Christmas puddings in the January sales! I think we ate one that was 8 years out of date once. Slightly shrivelled but soon plumped up again with lashings of Brandy!

If the pudding has a very big dip in the centre then it could be that it was not cooked quite thoroughly enough and this could happen if the water was not kept at a brisk simmer or if the pan was allowed to boil dry at any point.

History and recipes

While the majority of modern black pudding recipes involve pork blood, this has not always been the case. Sheep or cow blood was also used, and one 15th-century English recipe used that of a porpoise in a pudding eaten exclusively by the nobility.

How do I flame the Christmas pudding? Turn out the steamed pudding onto a serving plate with a good-sized rim around the edge to catch any spirit. The important thing is to get the spirit really hot. Pour 2-3 tablespoons of brandy, rum or whisky into a long-handled metal ladle and heat it over a gas flame until hot.

The flaming brandy is said to represent the passion of Christ. Christmas puddings were traditionally boiled in a “pudding cloth”, although today are usually steamed in a bowl. Presented on the table with a sprig of holly, they are then doused in brandy and set alight.