How To Make The Perfect Christmas Pudding

It might be cutting it a little fine to make your own amazing Christmas pudding for this year’s celebrations, and you may already have caved under the pressure and bought a Christmas pud from the supermarket. However, even at this late stage, there’s still time to rustle up a pudding that holds its own with the best of the store-bought offerings, and we’ll cover how to make it in this blog post.

We’ll also run through a more traditional approach, so that you can be prepared in good time next year. If you’ve seen the Royal Family in the news this week making Christmas puddings for next year, you’ll already have learned that there’s no such thing as too early, when it comes to traditional Christmas puddings. So grab those pudding basins and let’s get started with a recipe for a last-minute Christmas pud!

Quick & Easy Christmas Pudding

Ingredients:

• 300g mincemeat
• 150g marmalade
• 200g self-raising flour
• 200g brown sugar
• 5tbsp golden syrup
• 3 large, free-range eggs
• 100g butter
• 4tbsp brandy or whisky

Method:

• In advance, freeze the butter and then grate it
• Grease a pudding basin and place a circle of greaseproof paper in the base
• Add all of the ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir together well, until everything is fully combined
• Pour the mixture into the pudding basin and smooth the top. Then cover with a piece of greaseproof paper, tied on with string
• Microwave the pudding for about 20 minutes, until it is cooked through. Test that it is cooked by inserting a skewer - if it comes out clean, the pudding is cooked
• Leave the pudding to stand for a few minutes, and then serve with your choice of cream, brandy butter, custard or ice cream

We recommend our range of Mason Cash pudding basins for this job - and once you have a suitable pudding basin, there’s no excuse not to try out some other awesome puddings, both sweet and savoury, throughout the year.

Traditional Christmas Pudding

If the thought of popping your Christmas pud in the microwave just doesn’t feel like Christmas to you, you might prefer to try a more traditional approach, making the pudding well in advance of December 25th. Here’s our favourite recipe for a traditional pud that can be made a few weeks in advance.

Ingredients:

• 125g currants
• 125g sultanas
• 125g chopped prunes
• 150g plain flour
• 75g breadcrumbs
• 150g suet
• 150g dark brown sugar
• 3 free-range eggs
• 1 cooking apple
• 150ml sherry
• 3tbsp honey
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1tsp baking powder
• Zest of 1 lemon

Method:

• Add the currants, sultanas and prunes to a large bowl, and pour over the sherry. Allow to soak for at least a day, but up to a week
• In a mixing bowl, add all of the other ingredients and then add the mixed fruit and sherry mixture. Stir it well to combine all the ingredients
• Pour the pudding mixture into a large, greased pudding basin (Mason Cash pudding basins are recommended!). Cover the pudding basin with a pleated sheet of greaseproof paper, and then with a pleated sheet of tin foil, and tie firmly with string
• Place the pudding basin carefully in a large saucepan of boiling water, and steam it gently for 4-5 hours. Check periodically to see if you need to add more water to the saucepan
• Once cooked, lift the pudding basin carefully from the saucepan and allow to cool a little. Once it’s cool enough, remove the greaseproof paper and tin foil, and reapply another covering of greaseproof paper
• Place the pudding, still in the basin, in an airtight container, and store in a cool, dark place until Christmas
• On Christmas Day, add a fresh tin foil cover, and steam again for around 3 hours
• Serve with cream, custard or brandy butter

So, whether you decide to give our last-minute Christmas pudding a try this year, or you plump for your tried and tested recipe, with the intention of trying our 8-hour steamed pud next Christmas, we hope we’ve given you some festive food for thought.

One word of caution - if you decide to try the microwave recipe, don’t be tempted to add coins or charms to the pudding mix, as you could end up with a very expensive problem, since microwaves and metal items don’t mix! Save those old sixpences and lucky charms for the traditional steamed pudding next year.

And don’t forget that pudding basins are for all year round, not just for Christmas. Check out our range of Mason Cash pudding basins and mixing bowls and start planning some great-tasting puddings for 2020. From sticky toffee pudding to treacle pud, and from Spotted Dick to jam sponge, there’s a steamed pudding to suit everyone and they are all guaranteed to please.

If you have any favourite recipes, whether they’re festive or not, feel free to share them with us via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!