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This traditional Christmas pudding is one of the most popular desserts in the festive season and for good reason! It’s so yummy I could eat the whole thing myself! Getting everyone together to make this scrumptious Christmas pudding has become a firm family tradition of ours. This quintessential British dessert packed with is a perfect way to finish off Christmas dinner with a full belly!
This family favorite of ours is actually a carrot Christmas pudding which is another variation that’s pretty popular here in Canada, served with a scrumptious brown sugar sauce! I have to admit I do like to follow it up with a shimmery Santa baby cocktail or two also!
Christmas or Plum Pudding
Christmas pudding actually first originated in Medieval England (yep, it goes way back!) when it was better known as plum pudding, despite not actually having any plums in the ingredients. Hey, who am I to question the Medieval Brits…
Christmas Pudding is Best Made in Advance!
It’s always best to cook your Christmas pudding ahead of time if you can so that it has time to mature. This pudding was actually traditionally made on “stir it up Sunday” which falls at the end of November on the Sunday before Advent. If you make your pudding a few weeks in advance you really will notice the difference in taste (i.e. it’ll be freaking AMAZING), but it’s not absolutely essential so don’t worry if you’re doing a bit of a last-minute job!
That said, it shouldn’t be eaten immediately and definitely needs to be stored and let rest for a while. If you eat it right after cooking it will make the pudding collapse and the flavors just won’t have enough time to mature, so I advise definitely making it at least 24 hours in advance.
How to Make a VERY Traditional Prairie Christmas Pudding
In the olden days, a silver coin or trinket was placed inside the pudding before baking. This was thought to mean good luck for the person who found it! So if you want to be SUPER traditional, you could give this a go, but be careful – I can’t take responsibility for any unfortunate choking or chipped teeth incidents!!!
How to Make Traditional Christmas Pudding
- Cream the sugar and butter.
- Add the carrots and half the potatoes.
- Mix in the flour, salt, raisins, and add the fruit and raisins.
- Dissolve the baking soda on the remaining potatoes and add to the mixture.
- Cover and steam in a small glass bowl for 4-5 hours.
- Freeze and serve for Christmas dinner with vanilla ice cream and a brown sugar sauce!
How to Freeze Your Plum Pudding
The very best way to freeze your Christmas pudding is to freeze it in the very bowl that you steamed it in. There is a reason that I use a small Pyrex bowl for this, the glass is meant to go from the freezer into the oven. Remember however that Pyrex cannot go from heat to cold or it will shatter – but they were made for the modern lady of the 50s and 60s to be able to freeze her meals and pop into an oven straight from the freezer.
How to Easily Reheat Your Pudding
So guess what that means you can do with your Christmas pudding? That’s right, simply cover the pudding with tinfoil tightly to keep all the moisture in and warm in it a 300°F oven until it’s thawed and hot. If you’ve made your pudding in advance (and you always should), you can reheat it on Christmas Day by heating it for an hour or so. Then serve it up with some vanilla ice cream and brown sugar syrup! YUM! Any leftovers (how?!) can be reheated by wrapping them in foil and heating in the oven.
Happy baking! It is now the perfect time to get your Christmas pudding made and frozen in time for Christmas!
Love,
Karlynn
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Grandma Marion's Traditional Christmas Pudding
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- 5 hours
- Total Time
- 5 hours 15 minutes
- Course
- Dessert
- Cuisines
- British, Canadian
- Servings
- 8
- Calories
- 455
- Author
- Karlynn Johnston
Ingredients
- 1 cup coarsely grated carrots
- 1 cup grated raw potato
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup flour
- 2 teaspoons all-spice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup seedless Thompson raisins
- 1 cup sultana raisins
- 1/4 cup 2 rounds candied pineapple(about 1/4 cup dried candied pineapple chunks)
- 1 cup candied cherries
- small glass bowl to put the pudding to steam and a trivet and a lidded pot to accomplish said steaming
Instructions
- Cream the butter and sugar together.
- Add in the carrots and half of the potatoes.
- Mix in the flour, salt and spices.
- Add in your fruit and raisins.
- Dissolve the baking soda into the last half of the potatoes, and then add to the mixture last.
- Cover, and steam in a small glass bowl for 4-5 hours. I use my smallest in my set of nesting Pyrex bowls, it is exactly the right size. I then place it in a large pot on a trivet to keep the bottom of the bowl off of the water, add an inch of water or so, put the lid on and steam away. You do have to refill the water since it takes a few hours.
- Freeze and serve for Christmas dinner, vanilla ice cream and a brown sugar sauce are amazing on it!
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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jeanie says
Geraldine Graham You put your pudding in a pot of water to “steam” which I amcertain means just biling on med-low & that is why you must check & add water to make sure it doessn’t eun dry before the pudding is cooked.
Rose says
I once read that in Ancient Times any dried fruit was referred to as Plum, therefore the raisins made this a Plum Pudding.
Geraldine Graham says
I would like to make this recipe of Christmas pudding. But it does not give the oven temp to cook it at. It does give the oven temp to reheat it at which is 300° F until It’s thawed and hot.
Carolyn says
Do you have recipe for Brown Sugar Sauce?
Judy Vander Ploeg says
I just had to tell you that I loved the pictures of you & your family “making memories”. Times like this are what Christmas is all about.
I haven’t had Christmas pudding in many years, but have fond memories of my dad’s side of the family all getting together for Christmas and finishing off the meal with the Christmas pudding.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful day with us!
Karlynn says
Thanks Judy, I was sad to have missed doing it this year as well, better planning next year! I wanted to do cookies and have the photos done, it’s fun and our families loved getting the pictures.
Carol says
Could you please clarify in weight for overseas readers what is “2 rounds of candied pineapple”. Thanks
Donna says
Hi Carol. Candied pineapple can be bought in chunks or in round slices. I think “2 rounds” means enough chunks that would make up 2 round slices. I’m making the recipe today and that is how I’m interpreting the measure.