At Christmas time, we don’t go easy when it comes to food. Having an enormous meal on Christmas Day is essential, but always have room for dessert! In recent years many of us may choose to make or buy more modern cakes or confectionery, but the traditional treats will always have a big part of the holidays. One of the most popular is the Irish Christmas Pudding.
The Christmas Pudding is an instantly recognisable dessert that many of us may have grown up with and still enjoy today. It is a take on the English plum pudding or figgy pudding. The dessert came to Ireland in the Victorian Era, but it is said to have originated in the 14th century.
The pudding may look like chocolate to the untrained eye, but those who love the cake will describe it as rich and intense in the best way possible. It contains fruit, spices, brandy and whiskey.
The tradition goes that it should be prepared on the final Sunday of November usually before Advent begins. Everyone in the house must stir the mixture for good luck. The traditional 13 ingredients used in the mixture as supposed to represent Jesus and his Disciples.
Some may even add coins to the mixture. This concept is said to give whoever finds them health, happiness, wealth and wishes. Just make sure to tell those eating it of the extra, harder ingredient!
To make this delicious dessert, what you’ll need are sultanas, raisins, currants, chopped mixed peel, chopped cherries, white breadcrumbs, dark brown sugar, plain flour, chopped almonds, mixed spice, grated nutmeg and ground cinnamon. Wet ingredients include eggs, butter, stewed cooking apple, stout, whiskey, rum and brandy.
All you need to do is mix all of the ingredients together and leave them in a well-greased 2 pint pudding bowl. Alternatively, soak the fruit with stour to whiskey for up to two days prior to making the pudding. After this, cover it with a disc of parchment paper and then place a lid on top. Make sure it fits tightly. Next, fill a large saucepan halfway with water.
Boil the water before leaving it to simmer. Steam it for six hours, making sure the water doesn’t boil. After this, remove it from the water and take both the lid and greaseproof paper off so the pudding can cool down. When it’s cold, reseal with fresh paper inside before storing it until Christmas.
Here’s the full recipe from RTÉ by Edward Hayden. On Christmas Day, separate the pudding into portions before gently reheating. You can also place it into a pot of water for an hour. The dessert will warm right through to the centre. He recommends serving it with brandy butter.
Do you make a Christmas Pudding every year and want to share your tips? Or, maybe you make a different dessert year in year out. Let us know down in the comments!
