Our best Christmas pudding recipes ever (2024)

FAQs

What alcohol is best for Christmas pudding? ›

Traditionally Christmas pudding is made with brandy, but I also love using Cointreau. Many others enjoy the flavor of cider and rum as well. If you are going to "feed the Christmas pudding" after cooking then you'll need extra alcohol, about two tablespoons every week you feed it.

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What can be used instead of suet in a Christmas pudding? My family recipe for Christmas pudding has melted butter instead of suet and it is flourless. It replaces all the flour with fine breadcrumbs. It is a great keeper and I've kept puddings in a cool dry place for 3 or 4 years.

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.

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.

Essentially the recipe brings together what traditionally were expensive or luxurious ingredients — notably the sweet spices that are so important in developing its distinctive rich aroma, and usually made with suet.

The tinned pudding is believed to be one of the oldest in the world. A 120-year-old Christmas pudding given to Royal Navy sailors fighting in the Boer War has gone on display.

The flavour is more likely to have diminished than improved. However, I wouldn't discard it. I would open it up, check that everything looks and smells ok then slice a small piece of the base and taste it. If it tastes ok cover it and steam it for Christmas and enjoy it.

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

When was Christmas pudding banned? ›

It wasn't until the mid-seventeenth century that this pudding became associated with Christmas which led to it being banned in 1647 by Oliver Cromwell who believed that it and other festive traditions led to drunken revelry instead of sombre reflection.

The Christmas pudding originated in the 14th-century as a sort of porridge, originally known as “frumenty”, which bears little resemblance to the dessert we know today.

What Is Figgy Pudding Made Of? Traditional figgy pudding is a holiday dish made with flour, suet (a type of hard animal fat), figs, and other dried fruits. Some more modern versions, like this one, are made without suet.

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. Once frozen, grate on a large holed grater so you get more chunky pieces.

Shortening consists of sunflower oil, palm oil, and wheat flour, which create a similar, crumbly texture to suet. Like suet, shortening is a solid fat that is useful for baking and deep-frying foods because it has a high smoke point.

Once turned out of its basin, decorated with holly, doused in brandy (or occasionally rum), and flamed (or "fired"), the pudding is traditionally brought to the table ceremoniously, and greeted with a round of applause.

Whip 250ml cream until it holds a figure eight shape and stir it into 250ml of cold custard. You can make this yourself or buy it pre-made. Pour in 35ml (one shot) of Irish Whiskey (or brandy) and add a pinch of grated nutmeg and stir until smooth.

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.

You can use rum, brandy or whisky for spice, or if you like citrus flavours, try an orange liqueur. Cherry brandy and amaretto will also work well if you prefer these.