Traditional Christmas puddings can be a disaster of bloated raisins held together by bread crumb mush… and who has the 7 hours to steam a pudding? Individual puds with good fruit and good spirits solve both problems and elevate this tradition into a dish to be proud of.
John shares his recipe for this very simple, easy to make and quick individual clementine and sour cherry Christmas puddings for you this holiday.
Makes 8-10 servings
- 1 tablespoon clementine zest
- 75g dried sour cherries, roughly chopped
- 1 carrot, grated
- 1 Bramley apple, grated
- 2 tablespoons orange liqueur
- 2 tablespoons brandy
- 3 eggs
- 3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
- 100g soft-packed, muscovado brown sugar
- 115g plain flour
- 2 teaspoons mixed spice (ginger, clove, nutmeg, star anise, cinnamon are good)
- 125g ground almonds
- 60g flaked almonds
- 100g suet
For the brandy sauce
- 60g butter
- 60g flour
- 500 ml milk
- 60g caster sugar
- 5 tablespoons brandy
Prepare the ingredients as described above. Preheat the oven to 170oC. Combine shredded carrot, apple, dried cherries, orange zest with eggs, liqueur, brandy and molasses and mix well. Rub suet into flour and combine with sugar, spice mixture and almonds. Fold into egg mixture until smooth.
Ladle mixture into greased muffin tin. Place filled muffin tin in 1 inch of water in a deep roasting tray, cover with foil and place in the pre-heated oven. Bake at 170oC for 40 minutes. Remove foil and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Serve with brandy sauce or simple pouring cream.
For the brandy sauce:
Over low heat, melt butter and briskly whisk in flour until smooth and pale (not toasted) (about 2 minutes). Whisk in milk continue whisking until smooth and thickened (about 5 minutes). Whisk in sugar and brandy.
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