Stir-up Sunday happened to fall on my birthday this year, so I prepared my Christmas pudding on the following Monday instead.
I’m a bit of a fussy eater, so I often prefer to prepare my own food – like the mincemeat for mince pies and Christmas pudding. That way, I know that it’s made using vegetarian suet and contains no orange or lemon zest/juice, no candied peel and no whisky – none of which I like.
I had various packets of dried fruit and nuts already in my store cupboard so made a mixture containing raisins, sultanas, dates, dried apricots, almonds and pecans. Any dried fruit and nut combo will work – there’s no right way or wrong way. Also, I had a bottle of dark rum gifted to me by my sister last year; but brandy, sherry, Calvados or Armagnac would also be fine alternatives to the more traditional whisky and stout.
The pudding needs to be tightly sealed using a layer of parchment paper and pleated tin foil (to allow for expansion) and secured using string. A nifty little string handle is optional, but very useful for extricating the hot pudding. You can see how it’s done here.
I have a useful vintage aluminium pudding basin that has hinged fasteners and a handle incorporated into its design.
If you don’t have a steamer, put an upturned (heat-proof) saucer in the bottom of a saucepan, sit your pudding on top of it, fill the saucepan with hot water to about halfway up the sides of the basin and cover the saucepan with a lid. As the pan will be simmering away gently on the stove for about 5 hours, lift the lid every so often to check and see if the water level needs topping up.
Once cooked, the pudding should be stored away somewhere cool and dark until the big day. Some people prepare their puddings a year in advance; i.e. the one they prepared on this year’s Stir-up Sunday will be put away until Christmas Day 2020. They swear by the superior flavour that develops from giving the longer resting time.
There are as many preferred accompaniments to Christmas pudding as there are Christmas pudding recipe variations; brandy butter, pouring cream, clotted cream, custard or ice cream. Lots of people comment about having leftover pudding on Boxing day, fried in butter, with bacon or with cheese (a Northern thing, apparently).
Save my Christmas pudding recipe to Pinterest by clicking here
- 75g/2⅔oz raisins
- 75g/2⅔oz sultanas
- 200g/7oz dates, finely chopped
- 50g/1¾oz dried apricots, finely chopped
- 50g/1¾oz almonds, chopped
- 50g/1¾oz pecans, chopped
- 150ml/5¼fl oz dark rum
- 2 eggs
- 75g/2⅔oz muscovado sugar
- 50g/1¾oz butter
- 1 lime, zest & juice
- 50g/1¾oz self-raising flour
- ½tsp mixed spice
- a little fresh grated nutmeg
- 25g/¾oz vegetarian suet
- 100g/3½oz wholemeal breadcrumbs
- small cooking apple, peeled & grated
- Generously grease a 1.5 pint pudding basin with a little butter. Cut out a small disc of parchment paper an lay it on the bottom of the basin
- Spoon the mixture into the pudding basin, pressing the contents down firmly with the back of the spoon
- Lay a circle of parchment paper over the top of the filled pudding bowl so that there’s a 2cm overhang
- Cover the parchment paper with a pleated layer of tin foil, also with a 2cm overhang
- Secure the parchment/tin foil overhang with string tied around the circumference of the pudding bowl, under the lip
- Attach another piece of string to act as a lifting handle
- Simmer the pudding in a steamer (or lidded saucepan with a trivet/upturned saucer and hot water that reaches halfway up the sides of the bowl) for 5 hours topping up the water level when necessary
- When cooked, allow to cool completely, remove the parchment & tin foil cover and string and replace with new. Store in a cool dry place, ready for reheating on Christmas day. Reheating will take about 90 minutes, steaming using the same method
- Once reheated, invert on to a serving plate and remove the disc of parchment paper. Just before serving, pour over a couple of tablespoons of rum that has been warmed in a little saucepan. Carefully set it alight
- Serve with thick cream, rum or brandy butter, custard or vanilla ice cream
Cakes & Bakes: Yule log
Continuing with the seasonal Cakes & Bakes recipes, this week I made a Christmas Yule log. It’s the perfect sweet course alternative for people that don’t like dried fruit-filled Christmas pudding, Christmas cake or mince pies.
This cake is basically a chocolate Swiss roll with chocolate filling and chocolate icing on the outside. Apparently, a Yule log can trace its history back to the time of the Druids. It was later taken up by Christians: “As the fire grew brighter and burned hotter, and as the log turned into ashes, it symbolized Christ’s final and ultimate triumph over sin.”
I still don’t have a proper Swiss roll tin, so I used a rectangular, loose-bottomed tart tin. So that the sponge didn’t turn out too thin and biscuity, I didn’t allow the batter to spread all the way into the corners.
The trickiest part of the process was rolling up the still warm sponge with a clean, damp tea towel. It helps stop the sponge from cracking when rolling it up after filling. Don’t worry if it does though – it will be getting covered up with buttercream… which can hide a multitude of mistakes!
Serve it sliced with whipped or brandy cream. Save the recipe to Pinterest here.
- 3 eggs
- 75g caster sugar
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 50g plain flour
- 50g butter, softened
- 75g icing sugar
- 1 tbsp cocoa
- 75g butter, softened
- 75g icing sugar
- 75g dark chocolate
- Pre-heat the oven to 200°C, 180°C (fan), 400°F, Gas mark 6
- Line a 23x32cm/9x13" Swiss roll tin with parchment
- Separate the eggs into two bowls and beat the whites until stiff
- Add the sugar to the yolks and beat until thickened
- Sieve the cocoa powder over the yolks and beat again
- Gently fold the egg whites into the yolks with a metal spoon, using a cutting and turning action
- Sieve the flour into the bowl and gently combine by cutting and folding with the spoon
- Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, spreading it out to the edges
- Bake for 10-12 minutes
- Slightly dampen a clean tea towel
- Slide the hot cake, still on its parchment, onto the tea towel
- Roll up the sponge, on the parchment, in the tea towel and leave to cool
- Put the filling butter into a bowl and beat it until it is light and fluffy
- Sieve the icing sugar and cocoa powder into the bowl and beat until combined and soft
- Gently unroll the cold sponge and loosen it from the parchment paper
- Spread the filling evenly over the inside of the sponge
- Roll up the filled sponge
- Put the topping butter into a bowl and beat it until it is light and fluffy
- Sieve the icing sugar into the bowl and beat until combined
- Gently melt the chocolate and mix this into the bowl
- Spread the topping over the rolled up sponge
- Drag a fork or skewer through the icing to create a log texture effect
Cakes & Bakes: Luxury mince pies
My home-made luxury mincemeat has been ‘resting’ nicely for a month. It’s now just about ready for me to make my first batch of mince pies.
We’ve got the luxury mincemeat, so how about a bit of luxury pastry too?!
I’ve gone for a buttery shortcrust pastry flavoured with almond. The flavours work so well together – and make for the perfect Christmas treat.
Compliment them with a cup of tea or glass of mulled wine, comfy chair and real fire (sleeping dog optional). It’s what Christmas (in fact, winter in general) is all about for us.
Click here to save my recipe to Pinterest for later!
- 180g/6⅓oz plain flour
- 70g/2½oz 'tant pour tant' (35g/1¼oz icing sugar + 35g/1¼oz ground almonds)
- pinch of salt
- 125g/4½oz very cold butter, cubed
- 1½-2tbs cold water
- A little beaten egg
- Put the flour, icing sugar, ground almonds and salt in a food processor. Pulse a couple of times to combine
- Add the butter and pulse again until you get to the fine breadcrumb stage
- Whilst still pulsing, add the ice cold water until the mixture begins to get lumpy - like dry scrambled eggs
- Empty ⅔ of the pastry on to 2 lengths of cling film layered one over the other at right angles
- Form the dough into a ball by lifting & bringing together the 4 ends of the cling film. Repeat with the remaining ⅓ of the pastry
- Chill in the fridge for ½ to 1 hour
- Once chilled, preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
- Grease a 12-hole or two, 6-hole muffin tins
- Lightly flour your work surface, remove your larger ball of dough from the fridge, unwrap and divide it into 12 equal pieces (about 20-22g each)
- One by one, roll each piece of dough into a ½cm thick round shape. Cut into perfect circles with a cookie cutter (or upturned drinking glass if you don't have one) that's slightly wider than the hole of your muffin tin. **Rolling each pie case individually means that you don't overwork the pastry by re-rolling over & over again**
- Gently press the pastry rounds into the muffin tin holes (handy hint: use a small lump of pastry to do this if you have long fingernails!)
- Spoon mincemeat into each pastry case and press down gently to level. Don't overfill
- Get the smaller batch of dough out of the fridge and again divide into 12 equal pieces (about 11g each)
- One by one, roll each piece of dough into a ½cm thick round shape. Cut into shapes with a cookie cutter. I used a star-shaped cutter but you can make other Christmas-y shapes like holly leaves, snowflakes, fir trees and the like!
- Top each pie with the shaped pastry before brushing the tops with a little beaten egg
- Bake for 12-15 minutes
- Allow to cool in the tin completely before removing
- Put on a cooling rack or serving plate and sprinkle/dredge with icing sugar
Copyright © 2007-2025 · All rights reserved · H is for Home