This is a great traditional Christmas pudding recipe, and is quite quick and easy to make (although steaming the Christmas pudding will take some time), with no fiddly steps involved.
It has been adapted from Stephanie Alexander’s grandmother’s (Emily Bell) recipe, and is absolutely delicious. I find that the fruit content is just right, and the grated apple and almonds balance the richness in the finished Christmas pudding.
Makes enough mixture to fill a 2 litre pudding basin (I use 1 x 1 litre, 1 x 500ml and 2 x 250ml pudding basins, as I give some for gifts), which should serve around 8-12 people.
Easy Traditional Christmas Pudding Recipe Ingredients
135g plain flour
135g brown sugar
135g fresh breadcrumbs
270g raisins
270g currants
135g sultanas
100g candied peel (also marketed as mixed peel)
250g butter, grated
Grated zest 1 lemon
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Large pinch salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup brandy
450ml milk
1 granny smith apple, peeled and grated
1/3 cup slivered almonds (or roughly chopped macadamias)
Easy Traditional Christmas Pudding Recipe Method
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and brown sugar together. Add breadcrumbs, raisins, currants, sultanas and candied peel. Stir thoroughly to coat fruit in flour mixture (this will help stop it sinking to the bottom of the pudding).
Add all remaining ingredients and stir thoroughly to distribute evenly. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and stand overnight in the fridge to allow the fruit to absorb the liquid and plump up.
Taste the pudding mixture and adjust the flavourings if necessary; if you prefer a ‘spicier’ pudding, add more cinnamon/nutmeg etc.
Trace the top rim of each pudding basin onto baking/greaseproof paper, and cut out the circles (slightly smaller than your tracing). Grease the pudding basins well with butter, then pack the Christmas pudding mixture into the pudding basins and fill almost to the top. Top the puddings with the circles of baking/greaseproof paper, ensuring the paper fits quite snuggly on top of the pudding mixture.
Cover the tops of the pudding basins with foil, then trim the excess foil using scissors (don’t use your best kitchen scissors for this, as cutting foil will blunt the scissor edge). Tie the foil securely around the rim of the pudding basins with kitchen twine/string/wool.
Place the pudding basins in a large saucepan/stockpot (with a lid) and fill with enough water to come 2/3 of the way up the sides of the pudding basins. Place on the heat and bring to the boil with the lid on. Allow to simmer for 4-6 hours, topping up the water level every hour or so. You might like to place an old small tea towel or something similar under the pudding basins while they are cooking in the saucepan/stockpot, as they can make a rattling sound.
Once cooked, remove from the saucepan/stockpot and allow to cool. Refrigerate until Christmas. These puddings keep very well, I usually make the 4-8 weeks in advance, but I have even had one after about 8 months in the fridge and it was fine!
One Christmas day (or whenever you serve it), boil again, following the steps above, for about 1 hour or so until hot. Turn out onto a serving plate and flame with brandy. To ensure that the brandy flames, warm it gently first, pour quickly onto the pudding, then light.
Serve with brandy butter, icecream or (my personal favourite) white sauce spiked with brandy.
Thanksgiving is not traditionally celebrated in Australia, however we certainly enjoy this simple desert. A crisp pie base with a delicious sweet and nutty pecan filling… just makes you want to celebrate! This recipe doesn’t contain any corn or glucose syrups, as I find these make the finished pie too sweet and overpowering.
Pecan Pie Pastry Recipe Ingredients
240g plain flour
Pinch salt
180g butter, grated
3 tbsp water
Pecan Pie Filling Recipe Ingredients
1 cup pecans, roughly chopped
2 tbsp cornflour
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
60g butter, melted
2 tbsp cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup pecans, extra
2 tbsp apricot or raspberry jam, warmed and sieved
Pecan Pie Recipe Method
Sift the flour and salt together onto a clean bench. Add the grated butter and lightly rub the flour and butter together between your finger tips and thumb tips (you don’t want it to be completely combined at this stage, it should be quite messy).
Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and add water. Using a butter knife cut the water into the flour so that it is partially combined. If it looks too crumbly, add another tablespoon of water and cut the water into the mixture again.
Quickly knead the mixture a couple of times to bring all ingredients together (just a few times – don’t over work the pastry). Wrap pastry in cling wrap and then refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour. You could also put the pastry in the freezer if you want to make it in advance; it will last a couple of weeks (just make sure it is well wrapped in cling wrap).
Preheat oven to 200°C. Thoroughly grease a 28cm diametre pie dish with butter.
Pull your pastry out of the fridge and roll out onto a well floured surface (to stop it sticking) to 1/2 cm thick. Roll the pastry around your rolling pin, then gently unroll over the greased pie dish. Smooth down the pastry in the dish, removing any air bubbles trapped under the surface.
Place a piece of non stick baking paper over the top of the pastry and fill with pie weights, rice or beans (you can keep approx 1kg rice or beans for this purpose in your cupboard and reuse every time a recipe calls for ‘blind baking’ pastry; just make sure you label the rice/beans clearly as you can’t cook them after they have been blind baked).
Blind bake pastry in oven for approx 10-15 minutes until top edge of pastry starts to colour. Once top edge of pastry has started to colour, remove rice/beans and baking paper and bake pastry for a further 5-10 minutes until golden all over. Turn down the oven to 160°C.
Combine chopped nuts and cornflour in a mixing bowl. Add sugar, butter, cream, extract and eggs; stir until combined. Pour the mixture into pastry shell, sprinkle with extra nuts.
Bake in the oven for approximately 45 minutes. Allow the pie to cool, then brush the top with the warmed jam.
Thanksgiving is celebrated on the 2nd Monday of October in Canada and the 4th Thursday of November in the USA.
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