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Stir Up Sunday – A New Tradition for My Girls

25th November 2012 By Urvashi Roe

I’m not a big fan of Christmas Pudding.  But I am a big fan of traditions.  Whether it’s keeping them going or starting a new like we did with advent last year, I think it’s important to remember the past as we step into the new.

So this year we visited Grandma Sue to make our Christmas Pudding.

The pudding originates in England and was also called Plum Pudding according to this old book.  This is because of the prunes that were key ingredients.  It’s made five weeks before Christmas to let all the flavours mellow and ripen.

Stir Up Sunday, xmas pudding, christmas pudding

Grandma’s old cookery book

Preparing our bowls 

Strong, steam proof bowls are essential and Grandma suggested a bit of greaseproof paper to line the base.

Stir Up Sunday 2012

Lining the base

Stir Up Sunday 2012

Buttering the sides

Measuring all the ingredients

My girls love measuring and have inherited by accuracy on the scales so this took rather a long time because they wanted it exactly right.   traditional the pudding has thirteen ingredients to represent Jesus Christ and his disciples

Stir Up Sunday 2012

Measure everything out under a watchful eye

Stir Up Sunday 2012

The girls replaced prunes with glacé cherries

A welcome distraction

There was a lot of ingredients to measure – sultanas, raisins, currants, sugar, butter, flour….they got a bit side tracked making flies with Granddad for next year’s fishing trip!

Stir Up Sunday 2012

Concentrating on the pretty fly

On to the very important stirring

Families would come home from church on Stir Up Sunday and stir the pudding from East to West in honour of the three wise men who travelled to meet Baby Jesus.  As they stirred, they prayed:

“Stir Up, we beseech thee. Oh Lord the wills of thy people.  That they plenteously bring forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be pleanteously rewarded, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.”

Stir Up Sunday 2012

Amber makes a wish

I’m pretty sure Amber was singing her own mixing song.  Maybe one day she’ll share it with us all.

Stir Up Sunday 2012

She rather enjoyed the mixing

Stir Up Sunday 2012

Amy makes a wish

Placement of the silver coin for wealth

Many households used to stir silver coins into the mixture for wealth or even an array of other objects with different meanings.  Tiny wishbones for good luck, a silver thimble for thrift, a ring for marriage, or an anchor for safe harbor.  When the pudding is served at Christmas, whoever got the lucky serving, would be able to keep the charm.  I think my girls were hinting at the idea of getting pocket money!

Stir Up Sunday 2012

A silver coin (wrapped in foil) to wish for wealth

And that was that.  We steamed the pudding for a couple of hours and now it’s sitting in a secret dark and cool place until Christmas Day.  We’ll steam it again to warm it through and add a little sprig of holly before digging it.

This is the simplest cooking the children have ever done and even I amlooking forward to trying this pudding.  There’s something special about making your own.

Do you make your own Christmas Pudding? What are your family traditions on Stir Up Sunday? 

Related articles
  • The best Christmas pudding recipe (telegraph.co.uk)
  • Stir Up Fizz (recipesfromanormalmum.com)
  • Christmas Pudding Recipes (bbc.co.uk)
  • Nigella’s Christmas Pudding Recipe
  • Delia’s Pudding Recipe 

Related

Filed Under: Sweet Tagged With: Christmas, Christmas pudding, family, Stir-up Sunday

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Hi I'm Urvashi!

I love food. This blog is a little glimpse into my foodie world which is an escape from two teenage girls, a busy job and my little cafe.

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