Christmas Pudding is an integral part of British Christmas celebrations. It’s a deliciously dark, sticky, dried fruit studded dessert with a complex, warming flavour often served with brandy custard, brandy butter or cream. My recipe for Christmas Pudding has been in the family for 4 generations and it’s a tradition we all look forward to. It’s also absolutely scrumptious.
You may have seen illustrations in the classic novel, ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens, depicting a flaming pudding being carried proudly to the table. Similar imagery is still used in advertisements in the UK today. Christmas pudding is still a seriously big deal over here.
What is Christmas Pudding?
Traditional Christmas Pudding is more like a heavy cake than what you might think of as a pudding. It is made with raisins and other dried fruit and flavoured with brandy or stout (a very dark beer). Sometimes it contains nuts as well. My husband’s family recipe does not contain nuts – and woe betide anyone who tries to add them. Believe me, I know! People get very passionate about their family recipes for Christmas pud.
At the end of Christmas lunch or dinner, the pudding is garnished with holly and doused in brandy or other alcohol which is then lit. Not only does this create a spectacle, it may also flavour the pudding. That said, I favour vodka for flaming as it seems to light better, flame for longer and leaves the flavour of the pudding unaffected.
After the flames go out, the pudding is sliced in small slices (a little goes a long way as it is very rich). It is then served with brandy custard, brandy butter or cream. (Please note, holly is poisonous, and should be removed before cutting or serving. Even better, use some artificial holly instead!)
Stir Up Sunday
Christmas pudding is traditionally made a few weeks before Christmas, often on Stir Up Sunday. It is then stored in a cool place for the flavours to develop. This year Stir Up Sunday is Sunday 26th November. While the day is just tradition, the pudding does need at least two or three weeks to mature.
Everyone in the family is meant to have a go at stirring the pudding mixture. Many families will have a recipe they use year on year, and our family is no different. The recipe we use comes from my husband’s late step-Grandmother, Dorothy Harris, whom we called Nana. It’s about as authentically Victorian as you can get. Let me tell you why.
Looking for more Christmas treats and recipes?
Authentic Victorian Christmas Pudding
Before she married my husband’s Grandpa Joe, Nana was head cook in a stately home. Joe became a widower when my husband’s father was just 3. Nana brought a steadying presence to the then motherless household, along with all her recipes from her days as head cook. Although this would have been in the 1930’s, we know Nana inherited the recipe from the previous (long-serving) head cook – so it must be a pretty close approximation of the pudding Charles Dickens describes in ‘A Christmas Carol’.
The original recipe makes 4 one pint – or 2 two pint – puddings, and called for a pound of most of the ingredients. When I make it, I halve the recipe for ease, and this is the recipe I’ve shared below.
A one pint pudding will easily serve 6 to 8 people, perhaps more if they have eaten a lot of Christmas dinner. If there are only a few of you I suggest you choose the option of two smaller one pint puddings as they do taste better if they are only re-steamed once.
The Christmas Pudding Contest
When Nana and my Mother-in-Law were alive, every year there was a Christmas Pudding Contest, initiated by my late Father-in-Law. Nana and my Mother-in-Law would both make the same recipe – the one I’m sharing with you today – and we were all given some of each in a blind taste test. Then we had to say which we thought tasted best. I found it incredibly stressful, particularly as Nana grew frail. My Mother-in-Law would try desperately to surreptitiously signal us as to which pudding Nana had made so we would say it was best. She had to do this without my Father-in-Law seeing, as he took the competition very seriously!
Tips for Making Old-Fashioned Christmas Pudding
There are some ingredients in Christmas Pudding which may be unfamiliar. Suet is shredded animal fat but there are also vegetarian versions available. Suet isn’t widely available outside the UK, but I have heard that you can use grated frozen butter or shortening instead. I haven’t tried this but cannot see why it wouldn’t work.
If you can possibly make the recipe as it is written in ounces, this always seems to work better. (Metric measurements are available in the recipe.) It would be very difficult to convert this recipe to cups, although it’s on my list to try at some point!
Mixed spice is a combination of fragrant spices like cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and coriander. If you can’t buy it locally, you can make it yourself.
It’s important to wrap the pudding properly for steaming and storage. The method is described in the recipe below, but here’s a helpful video to make it even more clear.
April Talks All Things Christmas Pudding on the As We Eat Podcast
I was thrilled to discuss all things Christmas Pudding with Leigh Olsen on the As We Eat Podcast. If you would like to have a listen, please click here.
Our Family Christmas Pudding Recipe
This recipe is challenging but definitely worth it! It’s fun to make on a rainy day, and a great history and cooking project for kids. I like to wrap the presents or do some decorating on the day I make the pudding so I’m close by but doing something productive.
The fruit needs to be soaked over night, and someone has to keep an eye on the pudding for the whole eight hours it steams.
It is, however, incredibly satisfying to make. I had such a proud moment when I carried the first Christmas pudding I made to the table. If you really want to experience what Christmas in England is like, there just has to be Christmas pudding.
Old-Fashioned Christmas Pudding Printable Recipe
Old Fashioned Christmas Pudding
Ingredients
- half a lemon, rind and juice
- 8 ounces currants
- 8 ounces raisins
- 8 ounces sultanas
- 3 ounces brandy
- half an orange, juiced
- 8 ounces suet
- 8 ounces moist brown sugar
- 8 ounces cooking apples, peeled and grated grate the apples at the last minute or they will go brown – or toss the grated apple in a little lemon juice to stop this happening
- 4 ounces mixed peel also known as candied peel, this is widely available in the UK and Europe and available in the baking aisles of some North American grocery stores
- 4 ounces flour
- 4 eggs
- 4 ounces fresh white breadcrumbs
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon mixed spice
Instructions
- Soak the currants, raisins and sultanas in the brandy, lemon and orange juice overnight.
- In the morning, in a seriously large bowl, mix the suet, flour, sugar, salt, spices, mixed peel, breadcrumbs, apples and eggs with the soaked fruit and any juice/liquor remaining in the bowl.
- All the ingredients should be included at this point. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon until completely combined.
- Grease one 2 pint pudding basin or 2 one pint pudding basins.
- Fill to about three quarters full with this mixture.
- To wrap the pudding for steaming you need to lay a sheet of aluminium foil over a sheet of greaseproof or waxed paper.
- Pick up both and make a pleat down the centre. Put this on top of your pudding bowl and wrap round firmly.
- Then use a long piece of string to tie the paper and foil tightly round the bowl, leaving a couple of nice long ends of string.
- Bring the extra string back up over top of the bowl and tie it under the string on the other side to make a handle so you can get the pudding out of the steamer easily.
- Trim round the edges of the paper and foil with scissors to ensure that none of it drips into the water you will put round for steaming or it will seep into the pudding and ruin it.
- You need a large steamer or saucepan for each pudding bowl – it needs to be much larger than the bowl itself. Place a small heatproof saucer upside down on the bottom of each saucepan, and place your prepared pudding bowl on top of the saucer.
- Carefully fill the edges of the saucepan with water about half way up the pudding bowl. Put the lid on the saucepan.
- Bring the water to a slow boil so the pudding can steam gradually. You will need to top up the water very regularly (sometimes as often as every forty-five minutes or so) so that the pudding does not boil dry. If it does, the saucer and pudding bowl will break and all will be lost.
- After eight hours of steaming, remove the saucepan from the heat and let it cool down a bit before carefully removing the pudding from the saucepan using the string handle.
- It’s good to have a tea towel close by as the pudding bowl will be wet.
- Dry the bowl off, remove the paper, foil and string and sit the pudding in its bowl on a heat proof surface to cool down.
- When the pudding and bowl are completely cool, remove the greaseproof paper and foil and then tie a fresh piece of greaseproof paper and foil over them just as before.
- The pudding improves with age, so store in a cool place away from draughts until Christmas. (The top of a cupboard works well.)
- At least two hours before your Christmas dinner, repeat the steaming process. To serve the pudding, carefully remove it from the pudding basin (it will be very hot) by inverting on to a serving plate.
- Traditionally the pudding is flamed, but this step is optional. If you want to flame your Christmas pudding, just pour a small amount (a couple tablespoons) of brandy or vodka over the pudding and light it with a match (be careful and make sure kids stay well out of the way!)
- When the flames go out, serve the pudding in small slices with brandy butter, cream or custard.
Notes
did you make this recipe?
Make sure to tag #apriljharris on Instagram and follow @apriljharris for more.
More Christmas Recipes
Orange Gingerbread Crinkle Cookies
Comments & Reviews
I’m always fascinated with cultural traditions for the holidays. This Christmas pudding sounds like a delicious way to explore that!
http://www.lucismorsels.com/2013/11/diy-holiday-gift-homemade-seasonings.html/
Me too, Lucy 🙂 Hope you enjoy the recipe if you try it!
Yum pudding. What is sultanas? I will make this recipe for christmas.
Thank you, Pooja. Sultanas are a kind of raisin, normally a bit more golden in colour than ordinary raisins. But you could substitute ordinary raisins if you can’t find them. The pudding would be just as delicious.
yum!
Thank you, Kristina.
Family traditions are so important! Your pudding looks amazing. Picturing it flaming from the brandy! WOW
They really are, Linda, and thank you! I know it’s going to be especially poignant this Christmas as my father-in-law just passed away and he did love his Christmas pud.
Dousing anything in brandy is a winner in my book, this looks delicious!
I have to agree with that, Derek, brandy is always a good thing 🙂
ALWAYS! lol
I have never seen a recipe for Christmas pudding with beer or brandy but sign me up. This dessert has everything in it to make my belly happy. It may take time to make but I’m sure totally worth the time it takes.
It really is worth it, Ali 🙂 There’s something really special about good old-fashioned Christmas pud!
I never knew what a pudding is! What a great Christmas dessert. You had me at currents. 🙂
It’s not all that common in North America, Amy, although I had a version of it growing up in Canada. It was lighter though, with less dried fruit.
Wow! This is super interesting! I’ve never heard of this, but I love the idea! Thank you so much for posting!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Kristine. Thank you 🙂
I love the history behind this recipe! I’m a Dickens fan and would get such a kick out of having this for dessert. Thank you for sharing!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Andrea. It really is a good way to get a flavour (please pardon the pun!) for what food in the Dickensian era was like 🙂
I have never had anything like this, I bet it smells wonderful when it’s being made and what a wonderful tradition!
Thank you, Kristi, it really does make the house smell very Christmassy!
April, my mother just called it plum pudding, and she always found a source for suet, though most people here in the US probably don’t know suet. It’s been many years since I made one, but I always used butter. And, because it’s called plum pudding (despite the absence of plums!), I always included some prunes!
We called it Plum Pudding in Canada as well, Jean, although I’ve since found out the version we had used carrots and no plums! I love the idea of including prunes, they are fabulous in baking.
So one could use butter instead of suet? the only suet I ever see is seeded suet for bird feeders.
I have heard of people using shredded butter instead of suet, Mardie. They apparently use a grater to shred cold butter (softened butter would be impossible I think). I don’t know if that is what Jean did or if she used butter in a different form.
I have only ever used suet in the recipe. We have suet which we buy in the grocery store over here (both beef suet and a vegetarian version). We can also buy suet for birds but that sort isn’t suitable for human consumption.
I found this article on suet which I hope might help.
https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-suet-and-alternatives-to-suet-in-british-food-435414
thank you for your reply! So quickly. Right now getting anything “special” at a meat counter in our grocery stores is pretty much impossible. They can’t guarantee anything they special order will be available. I do thank you for that article. It is extremely helpful. I hadn’t even thought of using frozen solid shortening! Silly me! of course I could use that. Wouldn’t have the same rich muted flavor I suppose but probably a better idea than using grated frozen butter. You have been extremely helpful. Thank you!!!!!
I’m so glad I could help, Mardie! Please let me know how you get on with the recipe 🙂
Look for Atora Shredded Beef Suet on Amazon. That’s what I bought last year to use in my first ever Christmas Pudding.
Great! Thanks!
Atora is the brand we find in our local supermarkets here in the UK, Mardie, so it is what I have always used as well. 😀
I use Atora brand suet as well. It’s available in our local supermarkets in the UK. I’ve never actually seen another brand though, I just bought Atora in the first instance as it was all that was available. It works very well though. 😀
Thanks so much for linking up with Full Plate Thursday! We will have an early Thanksgiving Edition on 11-22 -16, hope to see you there!
Miz Helen
Thank you so much for letting me know, Miz Helen 🙂
Apirl, I so enjoyed reading the story of Nana, your husband’s late step-Grandmother, and the Christmas pudding contest held annually. Family traditions and reunions are priceless – memories that will last a lifetime! The Christmas pudding looks so good! Pinning and tweeting!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Hadia, thank you so much! And thank you for pinning and tweeting as well 🙂
April you are correct as to your ingredients, but for a sauce I go to a good class store and buy a can of Birds Custard Powder ( it is an English thing ) All the instructions are on the can and you serve it very hot over the pudding.My mother served the sauce/custard
like this in the thirties, forties and fifty’s. I served it the same way from the sixties until the next christmas, god willing. My great grand children love it this way
Hi Vic, I’m really familiar with Birds Custard as I live in England 😀 I’ve always got a can in the cupboard, and I agree, it’s a must-have ingredient in British kitchens. You will see in the recipe I recommend serving the pudding with brandy butter, cream or custard – and by custard I did mean Birds 😉 Our family brandy custard is simply the Birds custard you mentioned with brandy added (about 2 – 3 tablespoons to a batch of custard). We did even serve it to the kids when they were little as it’s acceptable over here…but I think it’s probably best to stick to straight Birds custard for little ones 😉 I’m really glad to know that you can get Birds custard. When I was growing up in Canada we could only get Harry Horne’s custard powder, and I have to say I think Birds is best! I’m so glad to know you are continuing the Christmas pudding tradition with your great grand children.
I’ve read about Christmas puddings and seen old movies and tv programs that have Christmas scenes with the pudding. I’d love to see it aflame and have a taste. Love the post.
Thank you so much, Carol! It really is a fun and impressive dessert 🙂
Thank you, April, for sharing your special family recipe and the wonderful history behind it! Tradition, family, and love all in one Christmas pudding! My favorite foods are the ones that bring loved ones to mind. I would enjoy making a pudding, just for the challenge!
Sounds SO good! Would love to try it.
Thanks for sharing your family recipe and tradition .
I’d like to try this some day. It reminds me of our Fruit Cake.
🙂 gwingal
I’m sure you would like it, Nikki. It’s similar to fruit cake but more moist and heavier. It kind of sticks to your ribs 😉 We have fruit cake here in the UK as well – although in many cases it’s heavier than the North American versions too. It’s rich and delicious, but I miss the lighter, pineapple and cherry studded cakes my late Dad used to get for us in Canada 🙂 Have a great week!
This looks incredible! Yum!
I’ve seen them, but I had no idea it was so…involved! What a truly great Christmas tradition! Thanks for the peek in April!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Jaxx. Christmas pudding really is a labour of love – but the family enjoy it so much, it’s well worth the effort 🙂 Hope your week is going well!
Ooooh! Your pudding has me drooling… I’m excited to try your recipe! My mother was a Blades, and we are descendants of John and Priscilla Alden, two of the original Plymouth, Massachusetts pilgrims, so very much English! Thank you for another wonderful recipe, April! <3
Thank you, Barbara, I’m so glad you like it! What an interesting family history you have 🙂 I’m fascinated by genealogy and where we all come from. It’s wonderful how food ties us all together too!
Ooh, how lovely a traditional Christmas pudding. Commenting as BritMums Baking Round-up Editor.
Thank you so much, Julie 🙂
April, I have never tasted a traditional Christmas pudding and really appreciate the time and effort it took for you to share this special confection with us. I hope you are enjoying the holiday season my dear friend!
Thank you so much, Linda! I hope you are enjoying the holiday season too, my friend! xo
Is it ok that store in the fridge before the streaming Xmas day? Nervous about the eggs or the pudding going bad.
Hi Kate, I know it’s terrifying, but I promise they won’t. I was horrified by the idea of keeping the pudding at room temperature when I first came to England over 25 years ago, but honestly, the pudding will dry out and/or go mouldy in the fridge. For some reason, it keeps at room temperature. It’s beyond me how, but I promise it does! Unless you are somewhere that it is really super warm (over 80F) you don’t need to worry. My mother-in-law used to make an extra pudding every year and keep it for a whole year (well wrapped) in a cupboard – and it really was fine. It’s one of those great mysteries of life! Merry Christmas!
Hi April, I am in Australia and as far back as I can remember our family too has made boiled Chrissy pudding with a three pence inside. If we are lucky enough to have any left over my grandma and mother would have some fried in butter for breakfast. Very rich but delicious.
Hi Tracey, I love how traditions spread around the world – and What a great way to use the leftover Christmas pud! I have never heard of that before, but I definitely want to give it a try. It sounds like a real treat! Merry Christmas to you and yours!
coming from the uk, i have spent 65 years munching christmas pud on the day, once tried your hooked, its part of christmas and always will be, the old receipes are by far the best, with custard, cream, or brandy sauce its a dream part of xmas dinner
I agree, Brian, Christmas Pud really is such an important part of Christmas lunch! I do like the old recipes. As well as all the history behind them, they seem to taste the best as well!
I’m stoked to make Nana’s pudding! Sorry if you already answered this question but you mentioned that with one pint puddings you only have re-steam it once, so if I’m doing a two pint pudding, do I need to steam it a third time and if so, when does that happen and for how long? Thank you! You’re great!
Hi Devon, No you only need to re-steam the pudding once, regardless of the size. Basically you are just heating the pudding up to serve it, but you need to re-steam it to heat it through. If there were leftovers, my mother in law would often re-steam them to serve them the next day. I’m not sure how safe that was to be honest, but we all survived! I hope all goes well!
Thank you!
It’s a pleasure! I hope you enjoy the recipe 🙂
My nan used to make xmas puddings for the family (my dad is one of 6) including my mums parents and every year my mum and her dad would jokingly fight over who got more/brought an extra basin in the hope both would be filled. Sadly my nan and grandad have both passed so this year I scoured tge internet for a recipe that looked closest to hers – most online looked dry or the wrong consistency but yours looked perfect! Today I’ve just made 5 and that look and smell just like my nans so thank you so much for bring brack those precious memories. I can’t wait to dish them out over Christmas
Thank you so much for your lovely comment, Jo. I’m sorry to hear you lost both your nan and granddad this year. Family food memories are so important, they really do connect us to our loved ones, even after they have gone. I’m so glad you enjoyed making the recipe and that it brought back lovely memories. I am really pleased that the recipe looks and smells like your nan’s and I do hope it tastes very similar to it as well! Thank you again for letting me know. Your comment has made my day!
They went down ab absolute storm and finally filled the void my nan’s left. Today is the day I make this years batch. Will absolutely be a tradition that we can continue so thank you so much.
Oh Jo, I am so pleased to read this! Thank you for your lovely comment, and I hope you enjoy your pudding making (and the puddings!) this year.
My sister-in-law was born in Ireland and always makes a Christmas pudding! She serves it with hard sauce. So good and very festive!
My late Mom used to make wonderful hard sauce, Pat! Thank you for reminding me of it. It’s so delicious! I’m glad you get to have Christmas pudding too 🙂
hello again! about to soak my fruit and i’m noticing there’s enough to fill my pudding bowl already… now i’m wondering, are these volume ounces or weight ounces? and if the suet is volume ounces, should i mash it down to measure or not?
Hi Devon, They are weight measures so you will need a scale. Volume ounces are only for used for liquids. Hope this helps!
Right, that’s what I assumed tho 24 ounces of the three fruit mix (what the recipe calls for) is equal to 4.5 cups packed in (already more than the bowl holds). So just confused but I’m just gonna fly by the seat of my pants! Thanks for your speedy responses!
woo hooo! figured it out – the opening comments say this is nana’s recipe halved but i think this is nana’s original which is good for two 2-pint bowls. cheers!
Hi Devon, I’m so pleased you were able to figure this out. You’ve highlighted something I have edited in the recipe. I believe you are in the US? British (Imperial) pints contain 20 ounces, as opposed to US pints which contain 16 ounces.
The recipe I posted is indeed Nana’s recipe halved, so it fits in one – 2 pint British pudding basin or two – 1 pint British pudding basins.
However if you were making the recipe in a bowl measured to US pints it would not be big enough because the recipe I posted makes 40 ounces of pudding – 2 British pints. No wonder you needed two bowls 🙂
I’m really sorry for this omission, I should have remembered about the difference in measurements UK to US! I’m so glad you were able to sort it out, and thank you for bringing it to my attention so I could edit the recipe to include this information.
I wish I had scrolled through the comments before I started making this. I have a 2 pint (40 ounce) metal pudding mold that an English friend gifted me years ago, but I’ve never had time to make a pudding early enough in the year to have at Christmas. But thanks to the pandemic, I finally had time this year to give it a go. Like Devon, I didn’t realize until I was assembling the ingredients that.I would end up with way more batter than my 2 pint mold would accommodate. Rather than letting what I had already prepped go to waste (I had to shred my suet and make my own candied peel), I made the full recipe. I ended up with two 2 pint puddings. The second one didn’t quite fill the mold, but it was close. I did deviate a little bit on ingredients – I could not find currants, so I ended up using raisins, sultanas, figs, orange-flavored cranberries, and a bit of candied ginger. I also threw in some chopped almonds, and soaked my fruit in brandy and Cointreau. I hope it tastes as good as it looks, because I now have a pudding for this year AND next! Next time I’ll cut the recipe in half.
The recipe does make a lot of pudding, Lisa, that is for sure. I’ve always managed to fit it in 2 one pint (British/Imperial) pudding basins, but I do find that even though they are all supposed to hold the same amount, some of my one pint pudding basins are bigger than others!
Your additions/substitutions sound delicious. I have every confidence your puddings will taste as good as they look. My late mother in law always swore that the pudding she kept over until the following year tasted even better than the year it was made, so hopefully you will have the same experience with your second pudding 🙂
Your pudding looks amazing, and now you have inspired me to get busy and make my grandmothers recipe. I must try adding currents and when you say mixed spice, is that like cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves mixture?
Im excited about Christmas this year, I have gone all out decorating, I have never been so early!!
Thank you for hosting, wishing you a Happy Holiday!!
xo
Karren
Thank you so much, Karren! Yes mixed spice is a spice mixture using those spices. There’s a link to a recipe for Mixed Spice in the the pudding recipe if you want to make it 🙂 I’m very excited about Christmas too – we are planning to decorate on Sunday but I have my wreath up already! Happy Holidays to you too xx
Hi April and fellow bakers, I had the thought about making a traditional Christmas pudding for an upcoming potluck. I am glad to find your post. I can not access the video on assembling the steaming pot (some sort of geographic region restriction?). I am not too worried as I am a chemist and so the kitchen is my lab away from work. I am in the US but already have in mind a few specialty markets to find as authentic ingredients as possible. a couple of questions/thoughts are the following. 1) is the pudding bowl something like a ceramic souffle dish or more like a pyrex glass mixing bowl? 2) I am interested to hear about anyone’s innovative ideas to assemble the steaming pot. Mine, thinking as a chemistry and lab technician, is to layer the bottom of the steaming pot with marbles, broken chopsticks, wire grating, or some stone/glass chips/pebbles used in fish tanks (clean/sanitized), all to act as boiling chips for a gentle simmer and not a bumpy boil. If I manage to make it soon then I hope two weeks is sufficient time for its incubation period before serving.
Hi Greg, I’m sorry about the video restrictions, it’s a BBC video so I guess it is geographic. There are some other videos on YouTube but I don’t know if they will be restricted as well, and I don’t know about their content so can’t vouch for them. So 1) A pudding basin bowl is more like a pyrex bowl 2) To steam the pudding you need a large saucepan, a sturdy saucer (from a tea cup that is not bone china) and your pudding. Turn the saucer over and pop the pudding basin on top. I cover this, as well as how to cover the pudding for steaming, in more detail in points 6 to 14 of the recipe. I hope this helps. And yes, two weeks for the pudding to mature will be absolutely fine. Good luck!
I’ve never actually had Christmas pudding. Maybe that’s because I’m from California, far, far away from England and Europe in general. I’m intrigued to try this recipe and give my family a new tradition in addition to my recent love of panettone. Thanks for sharing! Going shopping now for the ingredients. #Blogcrush
Ooh, I like Panettone too! I hope you enjoy the Christmas pudding, Alice. I love establishing new traditions with my family 🙂
My grandma had a set of recipe cards that are a closely-guarded family secret. My mum was sworn to secrecy after she married my dad (grandma’s son) that she could have copies of the recipe but must not share them with anyone else. One of my favourite secret recipes was our traditional Christmas pudding. Mmmm! There is also an AMAZING toffee recipe which grandma used to make every year on Toffee Sunday.
Anyway someone else really enjoyed this trip down memory lane that you’ve described and chose to add this post to the BlogCrush linky for you. Hurray! Feel free to pop over and grab your “I’ve been featured” blog badge 🙂 #blogcrush
I love this story, Lucy! How wonderful that your family had these secret recipes. I love the idea of a toffee pudding. I have a serious weakness for toffee.I’m so happy to discover #blogcrush. It’s a bit manic at the moment but I would love to join in. Look forward to visiting your lovely blog again soon.
YUM! Thanks so much April for partying with us at the #WednesdayAIMLinkParty and Giveaway! We hope to see you at our next party on Dec-19-2018.
Thank you, Dee!
Love hearing about the history behind this recipe! Happy to have you join us at the #WednesdayAIMLinkParty and Giveaway!
Thank you, Sylvia!
I made the mistake of not reading through all the comments and questions before making my pudding earlier this month. I saw you had told someone keeping it in the fridge would mess it up. I had put mine in the fridge because I thought my apartment was kept to hot to leave it out. 🙁
Would you even try resteaming it or should I just give up on this one and try again next year?
Oh definitely try steaming it, Rachel! You’ve put so much work in, do please give it a try! Try taking it out of the fridge for a few hours before you steam it so that it heats up gradually. And please let me know how you get on. It was my husband’s Nana said not to put it in the fridge, I just took her word as the rule. However I never have put one in the fridge, so it may work after all. Good luck, and regardless of how it turns out, I wish you a very Happy Christmas!
This has always been a Christmas tradition in our house.
It’s lovely to hear that others still keep this tradition as well, Anita. I’m so grateful to have my husband’s grandmother’s recipe. One of these years I’m also going to try making the carrot pudding that was our ‘plum pudding’ when I was a kid in Canada. We used to serve it with butterscotch sauce. It was gorgeous but my husband has his doubts! 🙂
Found your recipe and made it yesterday. But it never fails – I missed something and this time it was greasing the pudding containers. Any idea how difficult it will be to get these out when I serve them? Anyway they look really good and now I wait. I’ve never had Christmas Pudding before (I’m in the USA) but excited to try this!
Hi Shirley, It may stick a little but with the amount of suet in the recipe, I think you will be okay. Before steaming the puddings to serve them, I suggest running a dinner knife carefully around the edges of the pudding basins. I’d do this again after the steaming is finished (be careful not to burn yourself, the containers can get very hot). When you are running the knife round after steaming and before turning the puddings out, just gently push into the pudding, sort of coaxing the edges away. I’m pretty sure it will be fine. Worst case scenario, if the puds fall apart a bit, just kind of press them back together. The mixture is fairly ‘shapeable’ (again be careful as it will be hot!). And very worst case, if they actually fall apart (which I’m sure won’t happen), just pour a bit of the custard over top before bringing the puddings to the table. The puddings will still taste lovely. Please let me know how you get on. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you! 🙂
April, I think I want to be at your house for Christmas dinner! 🙂
Thank you, Donna! You’d be made very welcome 🙂
Hi April,
I am trying your recipe out this year for Christmas. I live in Ontario, Canada and ate store bought Christmas pudding every Christmas with my Dad. This morning I am soaking the raisins, currants and sultanas in the brandy, orange juice and lemon juice. After a couple of hours the liquid is pretty much soaked into the currents etc. already. Will the recipe be too thick once I add the rest of the ingredients or will it be OK still? I’m concerned that since the liquid is pretty much soaked in there won’t be enough once I add everything else.
Thanks!
Hi Jennifer,
It will be fine, the fruit will just be lovely and boozy 😀 Sometimes more liquid absorbs than others, I’m not sure why. I hope you enjoy the recipe!
PS – I grew up in Ontario 🙂
Hiya
When you say a 1 or 2 pint pudding basin, do you mean UK or US Pints?
Soaking the fruit now and the smell is amazing!
Fingers and toes crossed for that Christmas x
It’s UK pints, Tanya, as I’m using an old British family recipe. That said, I didn’t ever check the exact sizes of the pudding basins I used and I may well have both in my cupboards as I do have measures and containers from all over the world.
I am pretty sure you would be okay using the US sizes, particularly if you use the two – 1 (US)pint basins. (A US pint is about 3 ounces smaller than a UK pint.) I haven’t tried it though.
My advice would be to be sure there is a bit of room (at least an inch) left at the top of the pudding basins, so don’t over-fill them. You could use three- 1 pint basins, or 2-two (US) pint basins, although if you divide the mixture evenly the puddings will be quite small.
I hope this helps. Please let me know how you get on! Definitely have my fingers and toes crossed for a lovely Christmas x
Thank you! I made the mistake of buying in US sizes (I’m British and didn’t even know there was a difference 🤦🏻♀️)
Anyway, the inch from the top guide really helps so I will give it a bash.
Thanks for taking the time to reply x
No worries, Tanya. I’m glad I could help. I am thinking I should perhaps amend the recipe to read UK pints. I should have thought of it because I grew up in Canada, not too far from the US border so I knew about the difference (Canada uses UK measurements for pints, gallons etc). So thank you for bringing it to my attention! Please let me know how you get on. x
I don’t like a really ultra sweet pudding, but this pudding wasn’t sweet enough even for me…not as good as others I have made…think needs bit more spice/cinnamon or nutmeg too. Wouldnt make again.
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it, Lynda. It’s definitely a favourite with our family and has been for four generations, but life would be very boring if we all liked the same things.
Did you make the pudding recently? If so, I’m surprised you ate it so soon after making. As the recipe states, it really does need to be aged for at least 4 weeks (preferably longer). This deepens the sweetness and the flavour. Failing that, of course, one can always add more sugar and increase the spices. That said, there are lots of Christmas pudding recipes out there, and you may prefer one that is more modern. Thank you for your comment. Have a lovely Christmas.
Can you please delete my partly negative comment….as you say I probably tried too soon, so I think unfair
Oh bless you, Lynda, that’s very kind of you. I always welcome feedback, whatever it is. I will delete the comment though, and my reply. It is important to let the pudding sit for a number of weeks – in fact, my late mother in law always made an extra pudding which she kept until the following year. It used to horrify me that she kept it so long, but they always tasted amazing! Take care, and thank you. Best wishes to you and yours.
I made this last week – on Stir Up Sunday, when I always make my Christmas puddings. We hate candied peel and love nuts and cherries, so I did a bit of substitition, and also added about three times as much spice as suggested: grated nutmeg, cinnamon and mixed spice. The recipe made a 2 pint pudding, a one pint one and a small one: you’d never get the mixture in two pint size basins! The puddings look and smell great and are maturing in the spare room. I usually do the Delia Smith recipe, but I think I prefer this one. But next time I’ll have the quantities!
Hi Christine! I’m so glad you like the recipe and the puddings turned out well. I like nuts and cherries too, but Guy’s family are so used to this recipe, they were horrified when I commented on their absence one year! I’m glad you added them and that it turned out well 🙂 The recipe dates from the Victorian era (Guy’s Grandmother used to work in a stately home as the cook and the recipe was passed down from her predecessor.) I think the quantities of spices in this recipe may be smaller as some spices were very expensive in the Victorian era. I often bump the spices up as well. Anyway, I’m so glad you like the recipe, it’s definitely a favourite in our family even to this day. Thank you for letting me know. Wishing you and the family a very Happy Christmas!
I made this last year and it was a big hit with my American family. I have been working English Christmas traditions into our celebration quite successfully! My question is have you ever kept a second pudding for 2 years? I have the second one from last year but unfortunately we won’t be doing the big celebration this year. I’d like to save it for next year if that would work. It’s too much for just me to nibble on.
Hi Shirley,
I’m so glad the pudding was a hit with your family! It’s really fun to implement new traditions 😀
In answer to your question, I’ve never kept a pudding for two years, so I honestly don’t know how it will keep. I know fruit cakes will keep very well. We served the top tier of our wedding cake (re-iced by the original baker) 2 years later at our son’s Christening and it tasted pretty good. I suppose you could experiment, or if you prefer, maybe try this recipe from the lovely Nigella. I’ve never made these cute little bonbons before, but they look like fun, and you could perhaps give them as foodie gifts. https://www.nigella.com/recipes/christmas-puddini-bonbons
Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas!
Ohhh interesting! I will definitely check out that recipe. I’ll have to decide between a 3 year test or making those!! Thanks for your thoughts and the link! Merry Christmas to you too!
Thank you, Shirley! 🙂
Such a wonderful tradition! It looks delicious.
Thank you so much, Elizabeth!
An excellent recipe and instructions and it is great that you can prepare this ahead of time and let it cure!
Thank you, Amanda! It is good for the pudding to have a nice long rest before the big day, but I have made it as late as 10 days before Christmas and it still tastes good. It’s better with a longer cure though 😉
Hi, This recipe sounds wonderful and I’m going to give it a try as we are going to have a belated christmas celebration with friends at the end of February. I’m in the UK and my questions are:- can this pudding be cooked and/or heated up in a microwave and will your recipe above fit a 1 litre pudding basin? Many thanks
Hi Susan,
Thank you so much!
I have never made the pudding in a microwave so I honestly can’t say whether it would work or not. I know many commercial puddings can be re-heated in a microwave, but I’d hesitate to actually make the pudding in it. Even if it worked, the pudding would have very different texture from the original and I’m not sure how good it would taste. I would risk re-heating it in a microwave, but not actually cooking it the first time.
I am in the UK too, the recipe is in pints because it is a vintage recipe from when Imperial pints were used more commonly in the UK 🙂 The recipe makes enough to fill one 2 pint pudding basin or 2 one pint pudding basins. A pint is .56 of a litre so two pints is going to be a little bit more than a litre (about 1.13 litres).
In this case I would recommend two smaller pudding basins just to be sure the 1 litre basin doesn’t overflow. That said, if you just have the one litre basin, I would just fill it to within an inch of the top. There won’t be that much batter left over. I don’t normally recommend wasting batter, but I don’t want you to have to buy another pudding basin!
I hope you enjoy the recipe!
Hi April,
Thank you for your prompt and helpful reply. Well I made the pudding last night (didn’t remember it needed 8 hrs steaming so got to bed in the early hours!) and way more than enough for my 1 litre bowl, in fact I had enough mixture over so there is a 1 pint bowl steaming away again now. I also had about three-quarters of a pint left over so decided to experiment and try microwaving what I had left over (after all, there’s only so much christmas pudding you an eat!). Anyway, I can confirm, it’s not a good idea to microwave this recipe. As expected, it looks quite anaemic and a but rubbery (I gave it 6 minutes on medium, rested then 2 minutes) . I’m hoping it will taste okay but if not, the birds will have a bit of a chew on it! Looking forward to tasting the real thing in late February! Thanks again for your help.
Hi Susan,
Thank you so much for letting me know how you got on! I’m really glad you had good results – and thank you for letting me know how it went in the microwave too.
Maybe my conversions are incorrect but it seems this recipe makes 2 L of pudding instead of one 1 L / two 1 pints. Regardless, extra pudding to go around! Thanks
It may be the difference between UK and US pints…but those measurements have always worked for me. However as you said, Charles, extra pudding is no bad thing! Thank you for your comment 🙂
How does this differ from Clootie Pudding?
Something similar to your presentation I want to design. Excellent.