Who else still makes Christmas puddings?

My own thread has reminded me that I need to buy the ingredients for making mine!

Interesting to see that people soak the fruit in booze. My recipe doesn't include soaking, and the only booze in it is brown ale. But it's delish.

Plenty of booze goes over it in the flaming though - a really good slosh of fifty-fifty brandy and vodka.
And I get someone to turn all the dining room lights off before I bring it in all its flaming glory to the table.,

Hooray for Rose Elliot, janeainsworth! Her Chestnut, Walnut and Red Wine Loaf have been the centre of Christmas lunch here for decades!

I always respected her for not clawing her way on to the celebrity bandwagon.

You cannot cook a good Xmas pud in a microwave. They need long hours of slow steaming to bring out the flavour. The longer you steam/boil the pudding, the darker (in appearance and flavour) it will be.

I would just add that I was horrified to discover when buying suet the other day that the vegetarian stuff is made from palm oil.

For many years we have followed my MIL's tradition of serving the Christmas pudding on Boxing Day, after a good long walk. Cold cuts, all the leftover trimmings, a sharp salad and then pudding. Probably my favourite meal of the year. And yes, my puddings are made, Delia's recipe.

I make puddings, usually on stir-up sunday if I'm not working. I use a Nigella recipe which is so easy, just need to remember to put the fruit to soak in the sherry at least a week before. Its really light and last year most people had seconds! I cook it, and reheat it in the slow cooker.
Funnily enough my Mother didn't make christmas pudding which was strange as she made everything else. I hated it as a child but loved christmas cake.

I do mine in the pressure cooker , the trick is to cook it for 30 to 40 mins un pressured , then close it for the rest of the time

Sorry! Already posted !

I make my Christmas pudding from a very old GH recipe, it’s very light and delicious. I once tried to cook it in a pressure cooker to avoid the 6 hr steaming, but it wasn’t nearly as light . I would love to know if anyone has had success using a pressure cooker for a home- made pudding .

I make my own cake and pudding(s) using a Rose Elliot recipe.
The only added sugar is a tablespoon of black treacle and the sugar in the brandy. The rest of the sweetness comes from the dried fruit.
It’s beautifully tart as well as sweet.

I can never decide whether to have it with white sauce, cream, custard or brandy butter!

I wonder if that's the same recipe as mine, curvygran - its out of a GH book from the early 1970s with a whole Christmas section. It's still my 'bible' at Christmas. Original book was very battered but I found an almost pristine 2nd hand replacement via abebooks.

After the initial 5-6 hours' boiling (water halfway up the pans) I just re do mine on the day in the microwave. About 5 mins, a maybe 10 min rest, and another 5 mins.

I make mine using a very old GH recipe - works every time and is very light. The only time it was a bit different [and not so light] was when I attempted to pressure cook it instead of the 6hr steaming time.
I would be interested to know if anyone has any advice on pressure cooking a Christmas pudding!

As DS is hosting this year I need to ask if he would like me to make Christmas puddings as per usual.
My recipe makes two, an old Womens' Weekly recipe, made in the microwave and I have been making them for nearly thirty years, so something must be right! They will of course be fed!

I also make a cake, but last year I made a half quantity loaf Christmas cake, which was the perfect size.

And mince pies with orange pastry, and sausage rolls, which are far better than shop-bought ones (in my opinion!).

I made Delia's pudding and cake for years but leave it to somebody else now.

I have only made Christmas pudding once, back in the early eighties, in collaboration with my next door neighbour. The recipe was her grandmother’s and we made four large puddings. It seemed like a major faff at the time but they were, without doubt, the best puddings I have ever tasted. I’ve never been tempted to repeat the exercise ?.

I'm a huge Delia fan too. Two puds waiting to be enjoyed. One on Christmas Day and one when my daughter visits for my birthday on 30th December.

Made mine three days ago. No nuts. Can of Murphy's replaces the barley wine and I put more rum in after first steam and then more on finally steam.

Finish off with alcoholic cream.

I started making my own cakes and puddings because I found shop bought ones were giving me indigestion. Maybe this ( the indigestion) is a getting older thing I don't know, but I have found that I have triggers in shop bought things I don't have in home made.

I also make my own Christmas cake now and a nice ( well my family like it) butter cream sponge cake. All the recipes come either from an old 1950's cookbook of my mothers or from a 1980's Asda recipe card I had as a youngster.

Orange pastry sounds nice! Now I have a citrus zester (made all the grating of orange and lemon zest for puds and mincemeat last year so much quicker and easier) I think I might add some orange zest to pastry this year.

In case anybody hasn't got one or (like me!) didn't know there was such a thing, mine is a Good Grips zester, cost £7 locally, also available from Amazon.

Generous son supplies us with Fortnum’s puds each year. Christmas cake (made at half term from DH’s great grandmother’s recipe) and mincemeat from the same professional cook’s instructions. Mince pies made with Jocelyn Dimbleby’s very rich orange pastry always go down well - last year I made 120 for various family members and local events.

Oh, yes. Cooking them in the slow cooker is the best. They take about the same time, perhaps an hour longer if you are unsure. I cooked mine for 6 hours on low (started on high) but that's gluten free so the longer cooking helps. I used Darina Allen's recipe which made 3 so I just kept the mixture in the fridge and made one each day, washing the bowl and wrapping the pudding.

And you don't have to use your bench space. Any surface near a power point will do.

My dad still has my mothers last pudding in his freezer. She's been dead for 10 years so it must be 15 years old now. It's only a half size but in its china bowl with the paper and foil lid with string. I don't think either of us can bear the thought of it not being there.

Delia once had a very innovative recipe for mince slice using oatmeal. I've made it for years, as well as the butter-pastry mince pies, and love it.

I also make the pudding, milder than the black offerings in the shops, and microwave it.
We have that with sweet white sauce (not that sweet, just a teaspoonful of Low-GI sugar) but the adults can add brandy.

The brandy butter goes with the mince pies, freshly made for Christmas morning breakfast, after the croissants, yoghurt, fruit, whatever the family and I fancy.

We rarely have the pudding at the same meal as the ham and pork lunch because the weather is usually far too hot for stodgy stuff all at one go.

So the traditions are kept but staggered, so to speak, so that we don't!

I have been making two Christmas cakes every year. One a traditional dark one but covered in almonds. The other a white Christmas cake made from a recipe given to me in the eighties. However, a couple of years ago I bought Paul Hollywood’s book “Baking” and there it was as it had been given to him. It is covered in brandy butter icing and has been my favourite cake for years. However, a couple of years ago I discovered that Lydll at Christmas time sell a special mixed bag of various dried fruits soaked in brandy. I used a usual recipe like Delia’s and weighed out the same weight of Lydll’s fruit as in the instructions then the usual almonds, glacé cherries (dark ones) and whole peel if I can get hold of it. The result was the most luscious cake I have made in 58 years so last year I made two, one Dundee style and the other covered in brandy butter. We eat the brandy butter one until New Year. I then cut it into slices with slivers of greaseproof between and store in a box in the freezer. We just eat it slice by slice as required as it only takes about 10 minutes to defrost.

I never make puddings, but usually a Christmas cake and always mince pies ( which DH barely allows to cool before tucking in.)
Non of the family like Christmas pud, so it would be a waste of my time making one, so for the two people who do enjoy it I buy a small Tesco one ( they have tested other stores Ch pud and pronounce Tesco to be the best.)

I steam my Xmas puds in the slow cooker. Put the pudding into the slow cooker dish on an upturned ramekin or a bed of scrunched-up foil (I don't know if that's actually necessary!). Fill the dish with boiling water, put lid on and turn cooker onto high. When it's bubbling away you can turn it down to low. Cook for as long as your pudding recipe recommends. Check the water levels occasionally, although I find it doesn't go down much.

I've also made rice pudding in my slow cooker and steamed golden syrup pudding, which was a huge success. Use your usual recipe and steam as you normally would.

An alternative for Xmas puds, if you're making several, is to cook them all in the oven. Turn the oven on low. Take a deep roasting dish and put your puds into it. Using wide foil, make a tent over the whole roasting dish, leaving a small opening. Pour in boiling water to two thirds depth, then tuck in the remaning foil to close the opening.

Very carefully and using oven gloves, place the whole thing in the oven. Steam for the length of time your recipe recommends. Check the water levels now and then.

gmelon I used to make mine from the same book. Unfortunately it's only me that likes Christmas pudding now so no longer make my own.