English Plum Pudding Recipes

OLD-FASHIONED PLUM PUDDING AND HARD SAUCE

Steps:

• Generously grease 1-quart mold or ovenproof glass bowl; line with double thickness of cheesecloth.
• Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In large bowl, combine flour, ginger, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice; mix well.
• With pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in 1/2 cup butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add raisins, prunes, almonds and fruit peel; toss until fruit is well coated with flour mixture. Add bread crumbs and brown sugar; mix well. Stir in brandy and eggs; mix well. (Mixture will be very thick and almost crumbly.)
• Spoon mixture into greased and lined mold, packing firmly with back of spoon as mold is filled. Cover tightly with lid or heavy-duty foil; tie foil in place, if necessary.
• Place rack in bottom of Dutch oven or 6-quart saucepan. Add water until it reaches top of rack. Bring to a boil. Set mold on rack; carefully pour hot water around mold until about half way up mold. Return to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cover Dutch oven. Simmer 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 hours or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Add boiling water as needed.
• Meanwhile, in small bowl, combine all hard sauce ingredients; beat until smooth. Line 10-oz. custard cup or decorative mold with plastic wrap. Spoon hard sauce mixture into lined cup. Cover; refrigerate until serving time.
• Remove pudding from Dutch oven; cool in mold for 1 1/2 hours. Turn out of mold; carefully remove cheesecloth. Place on serving plate. Unmold hard sauce onto small plate; remove plastic wrap. Top each slice of pudding with small slice of hard sauce.

STEAMED PLUM PUDDING

Steps:

• Generously grease bottom and side of 4-cup heatproof mold. In large bowl, pour milk over bread crumbs. Stir in shortening and molasses until well mixed. Stir in remaining pudding ingredients until well blended. Pour into mold. Cover with foil.
• Place mold on rack in Dutch oven. Pour in boiling water up to level of rack. Cover and heat to boiling. Keep water boiling over low heat about 3 hours or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. (If adding water during steaming is necessary, uncover and quickly add boiling water.)
• In 1 1/2-quart saucepan, mix all sauce ingredients. Cook over low heat 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Unmold pudding; cut into slices. Serve warm with sauce.

CHRISTMAS PLUM PUDDING

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine flour, bread crumbs, suet, eggs, carrot, apple, brown sugar, chopped blanched almonds, stem ginger, ground almonds, cherries, raisins, currants, golden raisins, mixed peel, plums, lemon juice and zest, mixed spice, baking powder and ale. Let each family member take a turn stirring and make a wish. If you have used more dry fruit than fresh, add a little extra ale to make the mixture less stiff.
• Grease 2 large or 4 small pudding basins. Fill with pudding mixture about 7/8 full. Cover tightly with greased waxed paper, then foil; secure with string. Stand pudding on a trivet in a large pot of boiling water that reaches halfway up the sides of the pudding basin. Steam puddings over medium-low heat in boiling water 10 hours for large puddings, 5 hours for small puddings, topping off water regularly until quite firm and set.
• If not serving immediately, let cool completely, then replace covers with fresh waxed paper and foil and store in a cool, dry place, basting from time to time with rum or brandy, for up to 3 months. To serve, reheat by steaming 2 to 3 hours.

PLUM PUDDING

Steps:

• Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda and spices. Mix together the rest of the ingredients, except the egg whites, adding just the yolks. Whip the egg whites until stiff and fold into the batter. Grease a pudding mold dredged with sugar and pour in batter. Cover the mold with its lid or cover tightly with foil. Steam for 3 to 4 hours, depending on the size of your mold. Serve hot with hard sauce. If you are not serving the pudding immediately, store in the refrigerator soaking in 1 ounce of brandy. Add 1 ounce each week.
• Serve with warmed Hard Sauce.
• Cream the butter in an electric mixer until pale in color. Add the sugar and mix well. Add the flavorings and mix in then adjust, to taste.

BRITISH CHRISTMAS PUDDING

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Place the dried fruit, candied peel, apple, and orange and lemon zests and juices into a large mixing bowl. Add the brandy and stir well. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and leave to marinate for a couple of hours, preferably overnight.
• Lightly butter a 2 1/2 pint pudding basin.
• In a very large mixing bowl, stir the flour, mixed spice, and cinnamon together. Add the suet, sugar, breadcrumbs, and almonds, and stir again until all the ingredients are well mixed. Add the marinated dried fruits and stir again.
• In a small bowl, beat the eggs lightly, then stir quickly into the dry ingredients. The mixture should have a fairly soft consistency.
• Spoon the mixture into the greased pudding basin, gently pressing the mixture down with the back of a spoon. Cover with a double layer of greaseproof paper or baking parchment, then a layer of aluminum foil. Tie securely with string, wrapping the string around the basin, then loop over the top and then around the bowl again. This will form a handle, which will be useful when removing the pudding from the steamer.
• Set a steamer over a saucepan of simmering water, place the pudding in the steamer, and steam the pudding for 7 hours. Make sure you check the water level frequently, so it never boils dry. The pudding should be a dark brown color when cooked.
• Remove the pudding from the steamer and cool completely. Remove the paper, prick the pudding with a skewer in a few places, and pour in a little extra brandy.
• Cover with fresh greaseproof paper and retie with string.
• Store for at least 4 to 5 weeks in a cool, dry place until Christmas Day. On Christmas Day, reheat the pudding by steaming again for about an hour. Enjoy!

SUPERB ENGLISH PLUM PUDDING

Steps:

• Blend the fruits, citron, peel, spices and suet and place in a bowl or jar. Add 1/4 cup cognac, cover tightly and refrigerate for 4 days, adding 1/4 cup cognac each day.
• Soak the bread crumbs in milk and sherry or port. Combine the well-beaten eggs and sugar. Blend with the fruit mixture. Add salt and mix thoroughly. Put the pudding in buttered bowls or tins, filling them about 2/3 full. Cover with foil and tie it firmly. Steam for 6-7 hours. Uncover and place in a 250°F. oven for 30 minutes. Add a dash of cognac to each pudding, cover with foil and keep in a cool place.
• To use, steam again for 2-3 hours and unmold. Sprinkle with sugar; add heated cognac. Ignite and bring to the table. Serve with hard sauce or cognac sauce.

PLUM PUDDING

Steps:

• Oil a 2-quart steamer mold or pottery bowl very well with vegetable oil and let it stand as you make the pudding.
• Combine the fruits and nuts in a large bowl. Sift flour, baking soda, salt, and spices into the fruit and nuts. Add the suet, bread, brown sugar, eggs, and jam and blend well. Beat with a wooden spoon to lighten the mixture. Pour into mold. Cover with circle or parchment paper and put on a rack in a large kettle with enough water to come halfway up the sides. Cover and keep water boiling, replenishing as necessary. Steam for 6 hours.
• Uncover pudding and pour brandy over it; put a piece of waxed paper over pudding; replace parchment and set in a cool place or on low shelf of refrigerator to ripen.
• To serve, steam for 2 more hours and invert on a serving platter. Add the 1 teaspoon sugar to the cognac, heat, pour over warm pudding, and flame with a match. Serve with hard sauce.

ENGLISH PLUM PUDDING

Steps:

• Sift first five ingredients together; stir in fruit.
• Soak crumbs in milk for ten minutes.
• Beat eggs and sugar together until lemon-colored; add suet and soaked crumbs and stir into flour-fruit mixture.
• Add brandy and mix well.
• Pour into greased molds, cover tightly and steam 3 to 4 hours (depending on the size of molds used) OR tie in a large piece of heavy muslin, heavily buttered and floured, allowing plenty of space for expansion.
• Place in a large kettle of boiling water with rack in bottom to hold pudding off the bottom.
• Boil 3 to 4 hours, replacing water as necessary.

AUTHENTIC CHRISTMAS PUDDING (FIGGY PUDDING)

Steps:

• Place the raisins, sultanas, currants, almonds, and candied citrus peel in a bowl. Pour the brandy over and stir to combine the mixture. Cover and let sit overnight to allow the brandy to fully penetrate the fruit.
• The next day, place the breadcrumbs, flour, baking powder, brown sugar, and spices in a bowl and stir to combine.In another bowl add the soaked dried fruit mixture, grated apple, black treacle, suet, lemon and orange zest, and egg. Stir to combine.Add the dry mixture to the fruit mixture and stir to thoroughly combine it. It will be thick and sticky.Generously butter your pudding mold (2 liter/3.5 pints mold) and scoop the batter into the mold, pressing down and smoothing the top.Cut a circle out of parchment paper the same diameter as the top of the pudding mold. Lightly butter the paper and place it, butter side down, on top of the batter. Next tear off two more pieces of parchment paper large enough to cover the to of the pudding mold and partially down the sides of the mold. If your pudding mold is small and the batter comes to the top of it, fold a pleat in the center of the parchment papers to allow room for expansion as the pudding cooks. Trim off excess paper.Secure the paper by folding down the sides and tying securely with a string (to make it easier you can secure it first with a rubber band while you're tying it and then remove the rubber band).Note: If your mold comes with a lid as mine does, I still like to adda layer of parchment paper before securing the lid.Bring a large pot of water to a very low simmer. Place a folded cloth or trivet on the bottom of the pot to prevent the pudding mold from coming in direct contact with the pot in order to prevent scorching.Lower the pudding mold down into the water on top of the folded cloth. The water level should come up to the halfway point of the pudding mold. Cover the pot with the lid.Steam the pudding over very low heat for approximately 8 hours. Check periodically to ensure the water level is still at the halfway point and add more water as needed.The longer the pudding steams the darker in color it will become.
• When the pudding is done steaming, carefully lift out the pudding mold and let it sit for 5 minutes. Then invert the pudding on a plate. Let it sit until the pudding slides out onto the plate. Let the pudding cool completely.To store, remove the parchment paper and wrap the pudding with clean parchment paper followed by aluminum foil. Wrap tightly. Store it in a cool, dark place, preferably a basement. If you do not have a cool, dark environment in your home you can keep it in the fridge but make sure it is tightly wrapped in two layers of plastic wrap and some aluminum foil to prevent it from drying out. Follow these same guidelines along with placing the pudding in a ziplock freezer bag to freeze the pudding. When you're ready to serve the pudding you will need to reheat it either by re-steaming it for 30-60 minutes or until heated through or you can also microwave it in a microwave safe container to keep the moisture in.You can light the pudding on fire just before serving (see blog post section on how to light a pudding) and then serve with Hard Sauce (i.e., brandy butter) or powdered sugar, whipped cream, vanilla custard, ice cream, or lemon sauce.

PLUM PUDDING SAUCE

Steps:

• In a small saucepan over medium heat combine margarine, sugar and the egg. Pour in milk and cook until mixture begins to bubble; be careful not to scald. Stir in flour and vanilla; mix well and serve.