Let's face it, these days many people often think that making a Christmas or plum pudding is just too difficult or too time consuming, while others think that a traditional pudding is a bit too rich and heavy. Making a Christmas pudding from scratch sadly seems to be a dying art.
But I have a great solution for you: my family's Great Depression era Christmas pudding recipe is very quick and very easy to make. And unlike other recipes the pudding isn't overly rich or heavy. In fact, it's perfectly delicious.
So in the interests of making your Christmas dinner menu easier, tastier and more fun, I thought I'd share my family's easy plum pudding recipe on the blog.
If you get a set of our deluxe silver Christmas pudding coins to add to your pudding, you'll find this recipe is included, along with my Nana's very indulgent brandy sauce.
Let's get started ...
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About our Christmas pudding
This simple Christmas pudding recipe has been in my family for several generations. It originated during the Great Depression when people were poor and certain foods were scarce.
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As a result it has some unusual ingredients: tea for flavouring instead of brandy or other alcohol and (oddly enough) it's egg free.
But it tells you something about how delicious it is that even in times of plenty we're still making the very same recipe year after year. My family prefers it to heavy traditional plum pudding recipes - it's always the main highlight of our Christmas dinner.
If you're interested, learn more about the history and traditions of Christmas pudding. You may learn some surprising things.
Vegan Christmas pudding - really?
Yes, this Christmas pudding recipe can easily be made vegan if you or any of your guests are that way inclined.
While the original recipe has some butter in it, this can easily be swapped out for another oil if you or any of your guests are vegan. This results in a vegan Christmas plum pudding recipe, given the original recipe has no eggs.
Of course our recommended brandy custard is definitely not vegan: you're on your own in that regard!
Making Christmas pudding
Unlike other Christmas pudding recipes this one is best cooked on Christmas Day rather than weeks in advance.
To save time we often mix up the ingredients the day before and put it into a steaming bowl so then the pudding just needs to be cooked. That means it simply needs to be put on to cook while you're eating Christmas dinner and it should be ready in time for your dessert.
Alternatively you could instead cook it a day or two before, but I find it tastes best of all when cooked fresh on the day.
Serving Christmas pudding
How best to serve your delicious pudding?
You can serve the pudding with a sprig of holly on top and you can even pour brandy over it and set it flaming for some extra drama before serving it at the dining table - you might even get a round of applause as was traditional.
Otherwise you can keep it low key by plating it up in the kitchen and delivering steaming plates of plum pudding to each of your guests.
The Christmas pudding is perfect for pairing with indulgent brandy custard or brandy butter as the pudding itself won't overwhelm the rich flavours of these decadent sauces.
Don't forget the Christmas coins
It's a long-standing tradition to add silver Christmas coins, charms or tokens to Christmas pudding.
Why do people do this?
Well, whoever finds a Christmas coin in their slice of Christmas pudding is said to have good luck and wealth in the following year - and that can't be a bad thing.
However, only silver Christmas coins should be used rather than modern base metal currency. Also you should never serve plum pudding with coins in it to small children or without alerting your guests to their presence.
Putting coins in your plum pudding is a really lovely way to add some fun and special memories to your Christmas day. If you exchange the silver coins for real money you'll get them back to use them for years to come, making a perfect family heirloom.
Our sets of six Christmas coins are made from solid sterling silver and are large, easy to find and each one features a unique vintage Christmas card illustration - much better than the old silver threepences and sixpences.
Easy Christmas pudding recipe
Christmas pudding ingredients:
- 3 cups plain (all purpose) flour
- 2 teaspoons bicarbonate soda
- 2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1½ cups dried mixed fruit
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
- 2 teaspoons mixed spice
- 1 heaped cup sugar
- 2 cups cold tea (strained or from teabags)
Method:
Mix all dry ingredients with two cups of cold tea and the melted butter.
For good luck and in keeping with an old Christmas tradition you can ask family members to each stir the pudding mixture and make a wish.
Once the ingredients are well mixed, pour them into a greased steamed pudding tin with a lid. Alternatively use calico fabric and tie it with string and place the calico bag into a large heat-resistant bowl and cover with foil. The mixture can also be cooked as two smaller puddings if preferred.
Fill a large saucepan half way with water. Place the pudding into the saucepan and put the saucepan onto the stovetop. Bring the water to the boil and then reduce it to a simmer to steam the Christmas pudding for 1½ hours.
Once the time is up test the pudding with a metal skewer - if it comes out without pudding stuck to it, it’s ready to eat.
Serve your Christmas pudding:
We recommend you press your Christmas coins into the pudding at this point or after slicing up the pudding. Aside from avoiding scorching the silver during cooking, this method is best if you have young children as guests: for safety their slices should not contain coins.
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Serve slices of delicious hot pudding in bowls or on small plates. The Christmas pudding is best topped with dollops of brandy custard or brandy butter.
Serves 10-12 people. If there's any left it should keep in the fridge for around five days.
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Simone Walsh is an 
