Traditional Christmas Pudding Just Like Nana Used To Make
This recipe is straight from the kitchens of Nanas all across the country. Traditional, rich and sure to bring back memories of Christmases past spent with family and friends.
Cost: $$$
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
- Pudding Bowl or Calico Pudding Cloth
- Mixing bowls
- Measuring cups and spoons
Ingredients
Pudding
- 1 cup breadcrumbs I used Panko
- ½ cup Self Raising Flour
- 85 g Copha
- 1 tsp Christmas spice mix
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp all spice
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup currants
- ⅓ cup mixed peel
- ⅓ cup thinly sliced blanched almonds
- 1 granny smith apple coarsely grated
- zest of 1 lemon
- 2 eggs
- 200 ml Stout or Guinness
- ½ cup Brandy or Port I used Chocolate Port
Brandy Butter Hard Sauce
- 250 g unsalted butter + 2 tbsp
- 1 ⅓ cups icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 6 tbsp brandy
Instructions
Pudding
- Place first 17 ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir together
- Whisk together the eggs, Guinness and 2 tbsp of the Port and the pour into the other ingredients already in the mixing bowl. Stir until well combined
- Cover bowl with a tea towel and place in the fridge overnight for flavours to develop
- Next day, grease a 2L Pudding bowl with butter. On baking paper, trace around the bottom of the bowl and around the top of the bowl. Cut out these 2 circles. Use the smaller circle to line the bottom of the pudding bowl.
- Pour the pudding mixture into the pudding bowl. Cover with the larger circle of baking paper and press down gently so it it sitting on the pudding mixture
- If your pudding bowl has a lid, place the lid on. If not, cover the pudding bowl with a couple of layers of foil. Secure the foil by tying some kitchen string around the top of the bowl
- Place an egg ring or something similar in the bottom of the slow cooker to hold the pudding bowl off the bottom of the slow cooker.
- Place the pudding bowl on top of the egg ring and pour hot water into the slow cooker so that it comes about ⅔ of the way up the sides of the pudding bowl.
- Put the lid on your slow cooker, turn to low/medium and allow to slowly simmer for 7 ½ hours. You will need to top up the water from time to time to keep it at the right level. Always top up with boiling water so as not to decrease the temperature of the water.
- Once cooked, turn off slow cooker and allow the water in the slow cooker to cool for ½ hour. Remove the pudding bowl from the slow cooker.
- Store the pudding in a cool dark place until ready to serve. May be stored for a few months. When ready to serve, again place in the slow cooker and simmer for 2 hours. Serve with Brandy Butter Hard Sauce, brandy custard, cream or ice cream.
Brandy Butter Hard Sauce
- Beat the softened butter with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy.
- Add the icing sugar and vanilla and mix well until smooth.
- Add the Brandy, adjusting the amount to suit your taste.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve cold with the pudding.
Notes
This Pudding should be made at least 3-4 weeks before Christmas in order to give it enough time to develop the flavours
It can be served with Brandy, poured over the top and set alight - only use 2 tbsp of brandy at the most. Make sure it is set alight in a safe space by a responsible adult.
While this is the traditional recipe, I used 3 cups of my Mince Fruit recipe in place of the raisins, cranberries and currants as I had a batch already made up. Find the recipe here. It's perfect for my Mince Pies. Using this Fruit Mince mixture in the Christmas Pudding makes it even richer as it has a bit of dark chocolate and some extra Chocolate Port and who doesn't love a bit more Chocolate Port at Christmas time