It’s that wonderful time of the year again. Christmas is upon us, and that means friends, family, food, and feeling good. Besides the festive cheerleading up to Christmas, there’s also plenty of scrumptious food to eat. What better way to get excited about the upcoming holiday than the perfect Christmas pudding? For some, Christmas pudding is a relic of the past, replaced in part by the modern-day deserts adorning our supermarket aisles. Deep down, many of us love the fruity stodge that is Christmas pudding.
The perfect Christmas pudding is a combination of flavorful delights and thick texture. Each must be perfectly balanced with enough density to fill the tummies of all hungry guests. You can always whip up a Christmas pudding with a standard cake base. Next, blend sugar and butter, add the dates, mix some sifted flour, and enjoy a light and fluffy dessert. Granted, it’s not the quintessential Christmas pudding that you may be used to, especially if you’re from a traditional family.
Christmas puddings take time to mature. Do it right, and you won’t regret it. There are lots of ingredients necessary for making these dense, delicious, and delightful dishes. You’re going to need five cups of pudding base, kitchen string, aluminum foil, pots, and baking paper. While ingredients vary from dish to dish, you may want to consider the following options in your Christmas pudding preparation:
- Rum
- Eggs
- Flour
- Butter
- Spices
- Raisins
- Nutmeg
- Cinnamon
- Breadcrumbs
- Pitted Prunes
- Glazed Cherries
- Muscovado sugar
- Walnuts or almonds
The precise measurements and amounts of each ingredient will vary according to the size of the dish, the number of guests, and your preferences. While you’re whipping up a fanciful feast, you may want to get into the swing of things with a little inspiration from the legendary Gordon Ramsay. Sure, you can catch one of his TV shows, or you can get interactive with Ramsay in the sizzling-hot Hell’s Kitchen video slot by NetEnt. This ‘Ramsay Rendition’ has cranked up the heat big time since he was popularized in Boiling Point. Gordon Ramsay: Hell’s Kitchen may not feel very ‘Christmassy’ given the title, but boy, oh boy, does this chef know how to whip up a delightful dish. And it’s precisely that type of inspiration that will get you to create the best Christmas pudding ever. So, put on your chef hat, clean the countertop, play a little Hell’s Kitchen, and whip up a tasty treat.
How are Classic Christmas Puddings Made?
A classic Christmas pudding is a mound of feelgood, taste amazing pure delight! While it only takes about 20 minutes to prepare, it takes hours and hours to cook. Christmas puddings are cooked well ahead of time and heated up for about an hour on the actual day they are being served. You’ll need to place it in a steamer so that it becomes a wonderfully fruity, rich dessert. As with any pudding, all the ingredients need to be chopped up, mixed up, and cooked to perfection. Here’s a quick recipe that you can use, and it’s a taste sensation:
- Chop the almonds and walnuts, chop up the cooking apples and get the nutmeg ready
- Mix the breadcrumbs, sugar, eggs, apples, raisins, flour, and brandy in a large bowl.
- Grate some butter into the bowl. Mix and repeat. While you’re all mixing the Christmas Pudding (everyone should have a turn), make your wish for Christmas.
- Then pour your pudding mixture into a bowl, cover with a double layer of baking parchment, pleat it and tie it with a string to keep the paper locked in place.
- Ensure that the pudding in the bowls is sealed up tight with foil. This makes it easy to remove it once it’s done.
- Now, the pudding in the bowl must be boiled in the oven for eight hours. Add water as needed. Remove and let cool overnight. Store in a cool and dry place until Christmas Day.
- You can use brandy or rum in your batter, but be sure to add a ginger stem.
- On Christmas Day, simmer the Christmas pudding for an hour, unwrap it and serve it up.
- A couple of tablespoons of brandy or rum should be heated up in a saucepan and poured over the Christmas pudding. Delicious!