Boiled Christmas Pudding
Rekindle old-time Christmas traditions with this great dessert recipe. Make Christmas dinner that much more magical with this easy Christmas recipe. Give this tasty dessert recipe a try during the holiday season.
Notes
British pudding spice mixture consists of 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground coriander, 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice and 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup dark raisins, chopped
- 1 1/2 cup golden raisins
- 1 cup currants
- 3/4 cup candied lemon peel
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest, grated
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons brandy
- 9 ounces butter
- 2 gallons brown sugar, firmly packed
- 5 eggs
- 1 1/4 cup plain flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon British pudding spice
- 4 cups stale breadcrumbs, lightly packed
Instructions
- Combine fruit, zest, juice and brandy in large bowl, mix well. Cover, stand overnight or up to a week.
- Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer only until combined. Beat in eggs one at a time, beat only until combined between each addition.
- Add creamed mixture to fruit mixture, sifted dry ingredients and breadcrumbs; mix well. Boil pudding for 6 hours.
- Dip prepared pudding cloth into boiling water; use rubber gloves to protect hands, wring excess water from cloth. Have 1/3 cup plain flour close to cloth.
- Spread hot cloth out on bench, quickly rub flour into cloth to cover an area about 15 inches in diameter, leave flour thicker in centre of the cloth, where the skin will need to be the thickest. Place cloth on bench, place mixture in centre of cloth.
- Gather ends of cloth together, hold pudding up, pat into shape with hand. Tie pudding securely with string, as close to the pudding mixture as possible. Tie loop in string to make pudding easier to lift from the water. Pull ends of cloth tightly to make sure pudding is as round as possible.
- Have ready a large boiler three-quarters full of rapidly boiling water. Gently and quickly lower pudding into water, quickly replace lid, boil rapidly for specified cooking time. Replenish boiler with water as it evaporates; a tight-fitting lid will minimize evaporation of water. It is also a good idea to weight the lid with a brick or something similar. There must be enough water in the boiler for the pudding to move freely and the water should be deep enough for the pudding to float at all times.
- After required cooking time, use handle of wooden spoon to lift pudding from water; place handle through looped string. Lift carefully but quickly from water; do not put pudding down as it is too soft at this stage.
- Suspend pudding from a drawer or a cupboard handle. It is important that the pudding can swing freely without touching anything. Twist ends of cloth around supporting string to keep wet ends away from pudding. If pudding has been cooked correctly, the cloth will begin to dry out in patches within a few minutes. Leave pudding to dry overnight.
- Next day, when pudding is cold, remove from handle, cut string, loosen cloth away from top of pudding, scrape away any excess flour, leave at room temperature for a day or so (time will depend on humidity of the weather) or until the cloth is completely dry around the top of the pudding.
- Tie pudding cloth again with string, place pudding in airtight plastic bag, and refrigerate until required.
- To serve pudding hot : Remove pudding from refrigerator about 12 hours before it is to be reheated. Prepare for reheating the pudding about 3 hours before it is to be served. Have large boiler three-quarters full of boiling water, gently lower pudding into boiler, boil for 1 to 2 hours depending on the size of the pudding. Suspend hot pudding for 10 minutes, tuck ends of cloth into string, away from top of pudding.
- Have serving plate and scissors ready. Place pudding on bench, near to plate, cut string quickly, gently ease cloth away from pudding until about a quarter of the pudding is uncovered. Using a towel to protect hands, gently invert pudding onto serving plate; slowly and gently pull cloth away. Leave pudding further 20 minutes before cutting. The longer the pudding is left standing, the darker the skin will become.
- To serve pudding cold : Reheat pudding the day it is to be served. Proceed as above, then leave pudding to become completely cold, this will take at least 12 hours; cover with plastic food wrap, refrigerate pudding; or the cloth can be removed after the initial cooking. Allow the hot pudding to hang for 10 minutes then remove the cloth as instructed above. This is also the best method if a new cloth is to be used to give the pudding away as a gift. In this case, let the pudding become cold, then use a cold, dry, unfloured cloth, tie in position around pudding as instructed above.
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