Christmas Pudding I

Christmas pudding is a dessert served typically around the Christmas festive period and on Christmas day in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada. Outside of this festive period, it is known as a plum pudding which can have further recipe variations as well.
Ingredients
Pudding ingredients
- 100 g (3.5 oz / ¾ cup) self-rising flour
- 250 g (8.8 oz / 2½ cups) raisins
- 250 g (8.8 oz / 2½ cups) currants
- 25 g (0.88 oz / ¼ cup) candied fruit peel
- 1 small cooking apple, chopped
- 1 orange, zested and juiced
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- 75 g (2.6 oz / ⅓ cup) unsalted butter plus extra for greasing
- 100 g (3.5 oz / ½ cup) muscovado sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- 40 g (1.4 oz / ½ cup) breadcrumbs
- 40 g (1.4 oz / ½ cup) almonds, chopped roughly
Flavour options
- 3 tbsp brandy, rum, or sherry and some extra for flaming
Brandy butter ingredients
- 350 g (12 oz / 1½ cups) brandy butter
Steps
- Combine raisins, currants, candied peel and apple with zest and juice of lemon and orange in mixing bowl. Stir well. Leave 1 hour.
- Cream butter and sugar with spoon in another bowl. When fluffy, slowly add eggs.
- Sift flour and spice together in another bowl. Add bit by bit to creamed mixture, folding in breadcrumbs and almonds. Fold in fruit mixture.
- Butter pudding basin liberally. Place small round piece of baking paper in bottom.
- Slowly add mixture to basin. Level. Cut layer of baking paper and foil for top with crease in middle for expansion. Place on basin. Secure with string.
- Steam 8 hours: put pudding in steamer with simmering water. Cover. Top up water as needed. Or boil 7 hours: place metal jam lid or thin circular metal object as trivet in bottom of large pan. Lay 2 strips of string or foil on trivet, hanging over pot side for lifting. Place pudding on trivet. Pour boiling water halfway up basin. Cover. Simmer 8 hours until dark deep brown, adding water as needed.
- Remove pudding. Cool 1–2 hours. Replace paper and foil with fresh. Store in cool, dry area. Freezes up to 1 year.
- To serve, steam or boil 2 hours to reheat. Turn out onto serving plate.
- To flame, warm small amount of brandy in pan. Pour over hot pudding at table. Light with match. Serve with brandy butter.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Christmas Pudding I” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-10-26, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. Christmas-pudding-flames.jpg by Matt Riggott from Edinburgh, Scotland, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.






