Christmas Puddings
Chef: Lyn Battle
Christmas is a time for family and friends to get together around a table of rich, home-cooked food! If you have a Diabetic or Coeliac in your family, there is no need for them to be left out.
The following basic recipe method can be used for various types of pudding mix – the traditional type, the Gluten-free (for Coeliacs) and Low-sugar (for Diabetics)- just vary the ingredients and cooking times that are listed below.
Traditional Pudding:
500g mixed dried fruit
375g raisins
200g seedless dates, chopped
200g dried fruit medley, chopped
200g currants
100g figs, chopped
1/2 cup whiskey
1 tablespoon treacle
1 cup soft brown sugar
4 eggs, lightly beaten
200g butter, preferable unsalted, melted
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup self raising flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground nutmeg (fresh if you can get it!)
1 tsp ground ginger
Sugar-Reduced Pudding for Diabetics:
500g mixed dried fruit
375g raisins
200 pitted prunes, chopped
200g dried fruit medley, chopped
200g currants
100g figs, chopped
1/2 cup whiskey
1/2 cup soft brown sugar
4 eggs, lightly beaten
180g mono-unsaturated margarine, melted
1 1/2 cups plain wholemeal flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground nutmeg (fresh if possible!)
1 tsp ground ginger
Gluten-Free Pudding for Coeliacs:
500g mixed dried fruit
375g pitted prunes, chopped
200g dried fruit medley
200g currants
100g figs, chopped
1/2 cup sweet sherry
1 Tbsp treacle
1 cup soft brown sugar
4 eggs, lightly beaten
250g unsalted butter, melted
120g soya flour
90g rice cereal
90g maize cornflour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground nutmeg (fresh if possible!)
1 tsp ground ginger
Grease a 10-cup pudding basin with butter or margarine and line the base with a circle of greaseproof paper.
Place the fruit in a large mixing bowl, stir in the spirits, add the treacle, sugar and eggs, mixing well. Stir in the butter or margarine, then add the sifted dry ingredients.
Stir to blend, but don’t over-mix – though, make sure that everyone takes a turn at ‘stirring the pudding’ – as this is their chance to make a special ‘Christmas Wish’!
Spoon the mixture into the prepared basin. Wrap a dollar coin in alfoil, push down into the mixture.
Cut a circle of baking paper and alfoil, fold in the middle to form an expandable ‘pleat’ and lay across the top of the pudding basin, tying string (not plastic!) tightly around the outside lip of the basin. Tie another piece of string across from one side to the other to form a ‘handle’ to make it easy to lift the pudding out of the cooking pot. (You won’t need to do this if you have a basin with a lid/handle.)
Put a saucer in the base of a deep saucepan, sit the pudding on top and fill hot water to at least 1/3 way up the side of the basin. Boil the pudding for 5 hours, making sure to keep the water topped up. A tip is to drop a couple of coins into the water to rattle away, and if you can’t hear them rattling – then the pudding has boiled dry!
When cooked, remove carefully, allow to cool and store in the fridge until Christmas, when you can boil it again for another hour to re-heat – or even easier, just slice it and re-heat in the microwave…
If you make individual moulded puddings, they can be baked in a baking dish with water halfway up the sides.
The Traditional Pudding can be made now for Christmas, though the low-sugar version will not keep as well, and should be make 3 weeks before Christmas.
Method for Gluten-Free Pudding for Coeliacs: spoon the mixture into 10 one-cup moulds, and baking them at 160C in a baking dish with water half-way up the sides, for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Method for Sugar-Reduced Pudding for Diabetics: spoon mixture into 8 one-cup moulds and bake at 160C in a baking pan of hot water, for 1 1/2 – 1 3/4 hours.