Christmas pudding is a must have on Christmas Day… even if it’s only a spoonful. Making Christmas pudding is also part of the ritual of Christmas baking and one of my favourites. Some years ago I fell in love with round spherical moulds and now use them every year when making my Christmas puddings. I’m not always on top of my Christmas baking and sometimes end up making the pudding a week or so before the big day, so this pudding recipe comes in handy. I much prefer using butter instead of suet with my recipes as it produces a lighter pudding. Boiling the fruit beforehand means you don’t have to leave the pudding mixture to sit overnight before steaming. So no worries if you haven’t made your pudding yet… !
Last Minute Christmas Pudding
Ingredients:
- 25g glace cherries, quartered
- 75g pitted prunes, chopped
- 50g dried soft apricots, chopped
- 75g raisins
- 25g sultanas
- 2 tablespoons brandy or port
- zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
- zest and juice of 1/2 orange
- 50g butter
- 50g light muscovado sugar
- 15g blanched almonds, chopped
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 small granny smith apple, peeled cored and grated
- 45g self-raising flour
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice
- 2 pinches of freshly grated nutmeg
- 50g fresh white breadcrumbs
How to make:
Add the first 10 ingredients into a saucepan and place over a gentle heat, stirring to melt the butter and dissolve the sugar. Bring the contents of the saucepan to a gentle simmer and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and leave to cool for about 15 minutes.
Stir in the almonds, egg and apple. Sift in the flour and spices. Add the nutmeg and breadcrumbs and thoroughly mix all the ingredients together.
Spoon the mixture into a buttered heatproof pudding bowl (600ml) and smooth the top. Cover with a large round circle of double thickness greaseproof paper with a pleat in the center and tie down with a string. Over wrap the top with some foil.
If you have a spherical pudding mould, follow the included instructions for preparation as there are different sizes, otherwise use the normal pudding bowl.
My favourite pudding mould for Christmas pudding.
Lower the pudding into a large deep saucepan and pour in some boiling water from the kettle, about 5cm up the side of the pudding bowl. Cover the saucepan with a tight-fitting lid and steam for three hours, make sure the water does not boil off during this time and top up with boiling water when necessary.
Note: This pudding can be served straight away after steaming or cooled and re-heated by steaming for an hour when needed. Double this recipe if you need a larger pudding.
Warm Christmas Pudding served with a dollop of fresh whipped cream and some Brandy Butter…roll on the 25th!
This post is part of the Austrailan Festive Favourite blog hop!
Food and Tools 
I’ve never seen the spherical pudding basin before! How awesome. I have my pudding all ready for next weekend too! I LOVE it! Great tip on the fruit, that’s the hardest part of the pudding – leaving the fruit in the brandy overnight!
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While I’m not a lover of plum pudding, I love the smell of plum pudding cooking. Weird I know! Your’s looks fantastic. I love the spherical pudding basin!! I want one!
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These spherical pudding moulds are available from amazon and are made by a company called Silverwood… I love them!
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Your pudding looks incredibly rich and fragrant.
I do enjoy pudding at Christmas time although lately we’ve been substituting with pavlova. I think I’ll have to start a movement to bring the pudding back!
Thanks for joining this blog hop 😀
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Look forward to the next blog hop. 🙂
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Jennifer, I am the same, being European, plum pudding just wasn’t on the menu. But I do love the aroma from a good pudding… and this one definitely looks good enough to eat!
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I’ve not stumbled across the spherical pudding basin before either, but I have to say I’m impressed!
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That pudding looks very rich! Perhaps, I need to try xmas pudding again!
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I do love Christmas pudding and even though it may be rich (but not as rich as some) in taste, a little goes a long way! Worth a second chance!
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A spherical mould 🙂 Love it!!! Thanks so much for joining the hop!
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I have eaten this delicious pudding and it is fantastic! A must try! 🙂
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Where did you get your Pudding Steamer ? It looks scrumptious and DELICIOUS.
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