I am not a huge fan of Christmas Pudding or Christmas Cake. I don’t like fruit cakes as a whole. Teacakes would be the only exception to that. So I’ve experimented with a traditional recipe using a range of dried fruits that I like – mainly cranberries as it is Christmas!
Cranberry Christmas Pudding
You’ll need
- 175g dried cranberries
- 60g candied peel, chopped
- 60g soft dried figs, chopped
- 60g dessicated coconut
- 60ml Malibu Rum
- 1 apple
- 1 orange
- 2 large eggs
- 60g shredded vegetarian suet
- 1.5 tbsp black treacle
- 85g dark muscovado sugar
- 60g fresh breadcrumbs
- 60g self-raising flour
- soft unsalted butter for greasing
METHOD:
- Combine the dried cranberries, figs and peel in a large bowl, pour over the rum and leave to soak overnight.
- The next day, lightly grease the inside of your pudding basin with butter and place a disc of greaseproof paper at the bottom.
- Grate the apple into a bowl and then add the orange juice and zest, eggs and suet.
- Stir in the treacle, sugar, breadcrumbs, and flour and mix well.
- Drain the dried fruit you soaked overnight, then fold this through the mixture.
- Pour the mixture into your pudding basin and cover with greaseproof paper, then a layer of foil.
- Tie a piece of string around the collar of the basin to seal it.
- Put a saucer in the bottom of a pan big enough to hold your pudding basin.
- Fill the pan with water and bring to the boil. Pop your pudding basin into the pan, on top of the saucer and then cover and steam for 2 hours topping up the water if needed.
- Once cooked and cooled, leave the foil and greaseproof paper as is and then store the pudding in a cool dry place until Christmas Day.
- On Christmas Day, steam the pudding again for another hour to warm through.
I hope you like my rather non traditional version. Perfect if you’re not a fan of raisins!