Christmas Plum Pudding

This Christmas Plum Pudding is light in colour and texture compared to the heavier versions available and it works perfectly as a boozey pudding or as an adorable Christmas pudding with icing and holly.

In some of the older cookbooks Christmas pudding was made with all sorts of ingredients including meat in some recipes and was a very rich dish. You had to be pretty rich to eat it because it was not the most affordable of recipes.

Although the roots of this recipe are thought to be of English origin there is evidence to show that Plum pudding, originally plum porridge was listed in a Scottish cookbook before found in English cookbooks but its very difficult to define which country created it first according to The Scots Kitchen.

I made a list of items that I frequently use in the kitchen for my recipes. Most of them are similiar or identical to the ones you see in my photographs. They are listed in my page – Equipment I use in the Kitchen. I’m always adding new items to it so check it out if you are looking for something simliar to what you have seen in my photographs and videos.

If your looking for Christmas treats you may also enjoy the following recipes for Traditional Scottish Clootie Dumpling and Traditional Scottish Trifle. These are both really popular dishes around Christmas time in the Scots kitchen and on the Christmas table.

Tips for making this recipe:

This recipe is really easy to make but there are a couple of things that may help you make it run smoothly. First off make sure your pudding bowl or tin is really well greased and you pop some greaseproof paper in the bottom. This helps the pudding come out really easily and stops it sticking to the bottom of the pudding dish.
If you are using a standard pudding bowl without a lid then place some paper and tin foil over the top of the bowl, tie along the sides and create a handle on the top out of string. This will help you get the pudding out of the simmering water easier.
This pudding is packed with suet, sugar and preserved fruits and keeps really well. Its the perfect pudding to make ahead of time and warm up on Christmas day.
I have included two versions of this pudding, one is a boozey one lit with brandy and the other is alcohol free with icing on the top. Both are the same recipe just a different finish. The kids love the icing version it just looks adorable.

Christmas Plum Pudding Recipe:

120g self raising flour
1tsp nutmeg
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp ground cloves
1tsp mixed spice
120g caster sugar
120g suet
120g currants
120g sultanas
60g mixed peel
120g grated carrot
juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp whole milk
2 eggs
Brandy or Icing Sugar (Optional Toppings)

Recipe Instructions:

Mix all the dry ingredients in the bowl, the flour, spices, sugar, suet, currrants, sultanas, mixed peel and grated carrot. Mix really well together.
Add the lemon juice, whisk the egg with the milk and add to the mix. Stir through really well until it is all moist and sticky and no flour or other dry ingredients are visible.
Grease a pudding bowl suitable for cooking in and place a circle of greaseproof paper in the bottom as per my video.
Pour all of the pudding mix into the bowl and either place the lid on or tie on a circle of greaseproof and foil and make a handle out of string if nessecary. My pudding steamer has a lid so I just placed that on the top.
Place in a large simmering pan of water for 2 1/2 to 3 hrs.
Carefully remove the pudding dish from the hot water and leave to cool for a few minutes. Remove the lid and loosen around the edges of the pudding with a knife. Place a plate on the top and tip over so that the pudding is sitting neatly on the plate. If it sticks to the dish give it a few taps.
With the pudding on the plate and ready pour some brandy into a ladle and heat over a candle or heat some brandy in a small pan. When the brandy is hot light it and pour over the pudding immediately.
If your opting for the icing version make some thick icing out of icing powder and water and pour it gently over the pudding so that it drizzles nicely over the top. You can see how I did this in the video above.
Slice and serve with custard or cream. I love the boozey creams available at this time of year.