Christmas Pudding Recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Christmas, Desserts | 83 comments
Everyone wants to make the perfect Christmas pudding. The pressure is on from November 1st. Even if you make yours then, you are bound to hear of someone’s cousin’s friend who makes the pudding to die for, just after Easter.
Don’t worry. We have the recipe for a perfect pud. We’ve made this the week before Christmas and it still tasted great. It is better if it has a few weeks to mature.
Our recipe was initially inspired by Myrtle Allen’s recipe from The Ballymaloe Cookbook
A bit lighter than the traditional English Plum Pudding, this pud is always a hugely enjoyable finale to any Christmas feast.
Christmas Pudding Recipe
Ingredients:
- 170g beef suet
- 2 tablespoon of self raising flour
- 170g of soft brown sugar
- 200g of soft, fresh white breadcrumbs
- 150g of currants
- 150g of raisins
- 150g of sultanas
- 110g of crystallised cherries chopped in half
- 2 flat teaspoon mixed spice
- half teaspoon of salt
- 3 eggs
- 75ml of the baked flesh of a cooking apple
- Zest of one large lemon
- 75ml of Irish whiskey
Method:
- Take a large bowl and add all the dry ingredients, one at a time and mixing well before adding another.
- In a separate bowl beat the eggs together and add the apple flesh and the whisky.
- Stir this into the dry ingredients and stir very well. Remember to make a wish.
- Grease a couple of 1.5 pint pudding bowls and divide the mixture between them.
- Cover the top of each pudding with a round of greaseproof paper tying it under the rim with string and making a handle across the top of the bowl.
- Steam the puddings for eight hours, a large saucepan of water (the water level half the depth of the bowls).
- Be careful not to let the water boil over the top of the bowls or boil dry. After the first half hour, I check the puddings every hour or so and top up with boiling water if necessary.
- Store the puddings somewhere cool and dry. Steam for a further couple of hours before you want to eat them.
Serve with Brandy butter, fresh cream or home made egg custard (or all three).
Tips and Tricks:
- I make the puddings first thing in the morning, on a weekend, so that they can bubble away all day whilst I am around to keep an eye on them.
Leave a reply
I’ve just made my pudding and put the basin on an upturned tin in a large pan of water. I had some of the mixture left over so put it in a small basin. Will it cook properly if I rest it against the other pudding and the side of the pan, i.e. not in the water? I don’t want to use a microwave.
Hello Margaret
I don’t know the answer to that. It should cook as the steam is very hot. I’d love to hear how you get on.
Hi Joe
I make this Christmas pud at the begining of December. It’s not the sort that you mature.
Hi Kim
I store them in the pudding basins that I cooked them in – with a new greasproof lid. They stand in the larder.
hi, i’ve just made my xmas cakes and have decided to try your recipie for puds. Am so excited, i’ll make them tomorrow so they have plenty of time to mature. only thing is how do i store them until the big day?
I have also noticed that prety much everyone has there own way of making them ect. But i want to know how long should i leave the pudding to mature, 1 week, 1 month, 2 months?
i want to mature it for as long as possible with out it going of
Hi Joe
Our recipe includes Irish Whiskey.
You could use port – try soaking the dried fruit in port overnight.
I’d love to hear how you get on.
This is a great website and i will be making my pud this weekend – i would like to know if its possible to use any alcholl? like port?
Hi Sarah
Thanks so much for taking the time to make a comment. Hope that you like the puds.
Hi, i just wanted to say how helpfull this site is!! i am makeing my very 1st christmas puddings today!! the comments left have been very helpfull!! Thank you!
Sarah.
Hi David
Thanks for the great feedback. These puds are delicious but they are designed not to be matured. One year we kept one til Easter and it tasted just like an ordinary Christmas pud 🙁
I make mine a couple of weeks before Christmas.
BTW our Christmas cake recipe is the same – really tasty and lighter than the traditional brick. I make this a couple of weeks before Christmas and it lasts until the end of January
https://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=152
Each year, I make my own “not suitable for vegetarians” Christmas Puddings with beef suet and last week stumbled upon your site. I made my puddings this weekend and, having enough mix left over for 3 small ramekins, did a taster for myself, my Wife and my Daughter. Even though they were not matured, they were beautiful and light with a smashing taste. The absence of nuts was not noticed and as this was the first time I had used whiskey in a pudding receipe, I was delighted at how the taste complimented the pudding. I have passed on this recipe to my friends and will be taking my best friend in Germany one of the puddings when I visit later this month.