Traditional Christmas pudding recipe
Fancy making your own Christmas pudding this year? This classic steamed Christmas pudding recipe is rich, fruity and totally worth the effort. Get ahead and make it up to 6 weeks before serving, so you can let the flavours mature. Serve with a dollop of brand butter, cream or custard for a deliciously decadent festive dessert. Find out how to make Christmas pudding with our tried-and-tested recipe.
See method- Serves 10-12
- 20 mins to prepare and 10 hrs to cook
- 355 calories / serving
Ingredients
- 110g suet
- 110g white breadcrumbs
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- 225g dark brown sugar
- 1 clementine, zested
- 1 lemon, zested
- 25g blanched almonds
- 25g candied peel
- 100g sultanas
- 100g raisins
- 250g currants
- 50g dried cranberries
- 1 Bramley apple, cored and diced
- 150ml Guinness
- 2 tbsp brandy
- 2 eggs
- 50g self-raising flour, sifted
Each serving contains
- Energy
- 1500kJ 355.0kcal
- Fat
- 11g
- Saturates
- 5g
- Salt
- 0.3g
- Sugars
- 52g
of the Reference intake
Carbohydrate 63.8gProtein 4.1gFibre 1.1g
Method
- Place the suet, breadcrumbs, spices, sugar, citrus zest, almonds, dried fruit and apple in a large bowl and combine well.
- Whisk together the Guinness, brandy and eggs, then pour this into the fruit mixture and mix again really thoroughly (this is where you can get the family involved, each member stirring and making a wish!) Cover and leave to stand overnight.
- Sift in the flour and mix thoroughly before spooning in to a 1.2 litre basin. Cover the top with a circle of greaseproof paper and then cover with another larger piece that has a fold in the middle, which enables the pudding to expand. Tie round the rim of the basin with string. Repeat with a piece of foil, tying with string.
- Put in a large pan. Use a trivet or, if you don’t have one, something small such as a saucer to prevent the pudding from touching the base of the pan and getting too hot. Then pour in boiling water to at least halfway up the side of the basin. Steam for 8 hrs, over a low heat, checking from time to time as you will need to top up the water.
- After 8 hrs, remove from the pan and store somewhere cool until Christmas.
- When you wish to eat the pudding, steam as above in step 4, for 2 hrs. Carefully remove from the pan, then remove the foil and paper and invert onto a plate to serve.
- See more Christmas dessert recipes
