If you’ve made our delicious Christmas cake and have a few leftover bits and pieces, put them to good use in this easy Christmas steamed pudding recipe. It’s quick to put together and then you can just leave it to steam away for a few hours.
Make it in advance and keep it in a cool, dark place until Christmas. A reheat on Christmas day will make it piping hot and begging for ladles of custard, cream and vanilla ice cream.
For a one litre pudding container –
Ingredients
Spray oil or butter for greasing
1 cup flour
75g butter, diced
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
450gm mixed fruit, or any combination of dried fruit you have
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp mixed spice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
Grated rind of one small lemon or lime
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbsp brandy or sherry
Method
Grease a metal pudding bowl with the spray oil or butter.
Using the tips of your fingers, rub butter into flour in a bowl, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in fresh breadcrumbs, fruit mix, citrus rind, baking soda, mixed spice, ground cloves and brown sugar.
In a small bowl, whisk egg, brandy or sherry and milk. Add this to the flour mixture, and fold through until incorporated.
Spoon mixture into pudding bowl. Cut a round of baking paper that will fit inside the lid of your pudding bowl, place this on the top of the bowl before fastening the lid. Cover the bowl tightly with foil.
Place pudding bowl in a pot that has a lid. The pot needs to be large enough that there is space around the pudding bowl for pouring water.
Boil a jug, and pour the water into the pot until it comes three quarters of the way up the side of the pudding bowl.
Place the lid on the pot and bring water to a simmer. Set a timer for three hours.
When the timer sounds, carefully remove the pudding bowl from the pot and allow it to cool. Place in a cool, dark location until Christmas. Flavours will develop over 4-6 weeks. If Christmas is more than six weeks away, it is best to freeze the pudding.
Reheat by placing the pudding bowl back in a pot of simmering water for 1-2 hours, or leave it in the base of your slow cooker with a small amount of water until you are ready for Christmas pudding. Yum!
