Wednesday 20 November 2013

Irish (Suet Free) Christmas Pudding

Well just as I promised this is my Mum's Christmas Pudding Recipe which she has used for donkey's years and has always proved a massive success in your house on Christmas morning and as presents for friends and family.



Ingredients:
6oz/175g self raising flour
1 level tsp mixed spice
1tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp ground nutmeg
8oz/225g fresh white breadcrumbs
12oz/350g dark brown sugar
375g currants
375g sultanas
4oz/125g mixed cut peel
4oz/125g cherries, washed, dried and halved
2oz/50g chopped almonds
finely grated rind of 1 orange
finely grated rind of 1 lemon
8oz/225g margarine, melted and cooled a little
3 large eggs
2tbsp brandy
1/2pt/275ml Guinness or stout

  • Sieve the flour and spices into a large bowl
  • Add the breadcrumbs, sugar, fruit, nuts, orange and lemon rind and mix thoroughly.
  • Beat together the eggs, brandy and guinness.
  • Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the melted margarine and the egg mixture. mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.
  • Cover and leave overnight in a cool room.
  • Next morning prepare 2 x 2 1/2 pt pudding bowls by greasing well with butter.
  • Grease two large pieces of greaseproof paper and make a large pleat crossways in it.
  • Give the pudding mixture a good stir once more.
  • Divide the mixture between the two pudding bowls, weighing each to make sure that they are the exact same size and weight so that they both have the same cooking time.
  • Push down the mixture well down in the bowls and bang them on the table so that there are no air gaps. 
  • Make a little dip in the centre of the mixture in the bowl before covering so that the puddings don't push the lid off the pot when they start rising.


  • Cover the bowl with the well buttered greaseproof paper, making sure that the crease runs down the middle of the bowl.
  • Tie a long piece of strong around the bowl very tightly as close to the rim as possible.

  • Place the plastic lid over the bowl and wrap the paper up and over the lid.
  • Fill two large pots to about a half way up the pudding bowls and bring to a strong simmer. 
  • Place an old saucer at the bottom of the pot to lift the pudding from the base of the pot and allow it to cook all the way around.  Make sure that there is no air bubbles caught under the saucer.
  • Cook the puddings for 7 hours with the water simmering all the time.  You will need to top up the water on a regular basis.
  • On Christmas Day cook the puddings for one hour more.
Because there is so much alcohol in these puddings if one is left uneaten it can be kept for the following year so long as it is kept in a clean airtight bowl.  We have done this many times and it has been perfect always and even improves over the year!!

Linking for the first time (hoping this will work) to Cosmos and Cottton.

Hope you enjoy.  There is still plenty of time left to cook yours.
Rosie xx



13 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing your family recipe, Rosie. I tried making a Christmas cake for the first time last year and it didn't come out well but I'm not ready to give up yet so I am trying to gather lots of recipes to try in the future. :)

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    1. Give me a couple of days Jennifer and I will put up the recipe for our Christmas cake. We always make an Irish porter cake which is much much lighter than a Christmas cake and also you can make it last minute.
      Rosie xx

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  2. That one looks a corker! I don't make Christmas pudding but I always make Christmas cake. Jo x

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  3. I particularly like the final ingredient...might just go with that and forget the rest!
    Thanks for sharing... PS Does that say 12 pints? Even better! xx

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    1. Thanks so much for pointing that out Ethel. I totally missed that one!! What a mistake that would be?? I was making a batch of mincemeat last week and my daughter asked if she could help. I told her that she needed to put 10tbsp of brandy into the mixture but she spilt so much when she was measuring it out that she had in fact added half of the bottle!! I'm really looking forward to some really boozey mince pies this Christmas!!
      Rosie

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  4. Oooh YUM! This looks delicious. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe I will definitely give it a go. If you want you can link it up on Friday for this weeks bake so others can see it too. Much love xoxo

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    1. That would be brilliant Hannapat but I wouldn't have a clue how to do it. Please share!!

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  5. Hello Rosie just wanted to say you can try and link this up on today's post and see how it goes. Just click on the link that says Link up and it should ask you for all the info. Let me know if you have a problem. xoxo

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  6. Looks amazing a real taste of Christmas :) x

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  7. This looks very nice. I want to try making this one year though perhaps not this year. Thanks for sharing the recipe. Happy baking!

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  8. It looks and sounds delicious Rosie :)

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  9. Hello Rosie, and thanks so much for your message over at mine! I've just had a quick look at some of your posts and I'm in - and wondering why I haven't been here before, especially since I see a lot of my friends already here! Very interesting about the 'bogging'; your lovely cushions; beautiful Molly; Dublin itself . . . and this looks like a fab Christmas pudding . . . what a lovely variety of subjects to keep us interested and coming back for more - I'll be back! Thank you! Joy x

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I adore to see a comment popping up. If you have the time, please do leave a few words. I try my best to reply to all the comments that I get.
Rosie xx

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